SpaceX successfully delivered 6,400 pounds of cargo to the international space station. The Dragon Capsule which docked with the International Space Station last Wednesday took equipment, tons of scientific research utilities, a supercomputer and frozen treats.
SpaceX Dragon Rocket successfully landed on the ISS
After a successful launch from the Kennedy Space Center (ISS) in Florida last Monday, SpaceX’s Dragon Rocket unloaded its cargo at the ISS on Wednesday.
The capsule was propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket. It flew for two days before reaching the ISS. The capsule was retrieved by the 58-robotic arm of the space station which was navigated by NASA Astronaut Jack Fischer and European Space Agency Astronaut Paolo Nespoli.
The Dragon Capsule will be docked at the ISS for about 30 days. It will be loaded with specimens and results of scientific experiments conducted on the ISS. It will also carry discarded equipment and crew supplies. The capsule is scheduled to depart from the station by September and return to Earth with a huge splash in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Baja California.
The current CRS-12 mission is the 12th SpaceX resupply flight for NASA. According to Gears of Biz, the recent launch was covered by NASA’s $3 billion-dollar contract with SpaceX.
Dragon delivers sweet treat for ISS scientists
The Dragon Capsule was fitted with a pressurized cabin that transported the cargo from Earth. The capsule carried specimens for various scientific pursuits in space. The scientific load included proteins that hasten Parkinson’s disease and 20 live mice which will be useful to study why male astronauts tend to encounter vision problems in space, according to the Smithsonian.
The rocket also carried a supercomputer built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, but the astronauts in the orbiting space station were looking forward to something else.
The Dragon capsule also carried frozen treats. On board were freezers filled with small cups of Ice Cream in several flavors, including vanilla, chocolate and birthday cake flavors.
NASA puts the welfare of its astronauts on top priority. The agency provides their crew with a wide variety of food options and was even thoughtful enough to send turkey and cobbler for Thanksgiving in space. But sending in frozen desserts such as ice cream is quite difficult as these treats must be kept frozen. For space travels, freezer space is limited. Life science experiments and biological samples from the ISS crew already fill the freezers with microbes, plants, blood, urine and many others.
The scientists in space were delighted at the frozen delivery.
Although rare, sending ice cream to space is not novel. In 2006, NASA sent a freezer for the ISS installation via the Atlantis craft. Instead of sending it empty, the agency filled the freezer with cups of Blue Bell ice cream. The Dragon capsule freezers will be subsequently loaded with Earth-bound specimens so the ISS astronauts have to finish their sweet treats within the deadline.