As per NASA schedule, the SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services-9 (CRS-9) mission took off successfully, carrying crucial instruments to perform the first-ever DNA sequencing in space, and the first worldwide docking adapter for commercial spacecraft, all the way to the global Space Station.
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Among the cargo is the first of two global docking adapters, which will allow US commercial spacecraft to dock to the station while transporting American astronauts in the near future.
A stunning long exposure image posted online by SpaceX through its Twitter account shows the trails of the Falcon 9 taking off and landing at the site just eight minutes later.
Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station Monday, Aug. 29. About 8 minutes, 20 seconds later, thrusters slowed the rocket’s descent and landing legs were deployed, as the Falcon 9 came to a landing. At 12:53 a.m. EDT (0453 GMT), the booster touched down softly a few miles south of its launch pad, eliciting a huge round of cheers from the SpaceX personnel gathered at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Following liftoff, the first-stage booster will attempt to fly back to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Since then, SpaceX has successfully landed Falcon first stages three times at sea.
All of these touchdowns are part of SpaceX’s effort to develop fully and rapidly reusable rockets, which company founder and CEO Elon Musk has said could dramatically reduce the cost of spaceflight. Since the rocket is launched to Low Earth orbit, it had enough fuel left over to bring it safely back to land.
While successful, today’s rocket landing was only a secondary goal of the launch.
SpaceX is working to recover its first-stage Falcon 9 boosters in order to pave the way for rocket reusability and cheaper access to space.
And considering that the next Dragon capsule that SpaceX is going to launch into space will be crewed, the IDA is going to be pretty necessary.
The 5,000 pounds of cargo packed aboard the Dragon also includes the palm-sized MinION DNA sequencer.
This is the ninth supply mission under the terms of a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA.
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Since the U.S. space agency retired its fleet of space shuttles five years ago, the United States has depended on Russian Federation to ferry astronauts to and from the station at a cost of more than $70 million per person.
