A
commercial cargo ship rocketed into orbit Sunday in pursuit of the
International Space Station, the first of a dozen supply runs under a
mega-contract with NASA.
It was the
second launch of a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab by the California-based
SpaceX company. The first was last spring.
This time
was no test flight, however, and the spacecraft carried 1,000 pounds of key
science experiments and other precious gear on this truly operational mission.
There was also a personal touch: chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream tucked in a
freezer for the three station residents.
The
company's unmanned Falcon rocket roared into the night sky right on time,
putting SpaceX on track to reach the space station Wednesday. The complex was
soaring southwest of Tasmania when the Falcon took flight.
Officials
declared the launch a success, despite a problem with one of the nine
first-stage engines. The rocket put Dragon in its intended orbit, said the
billionaire founder and chief executive officer of SpaceX, Elon Musk.
"It's
driving its way to station, so that's just awesome," noted SpaceX
President Gwynne Shotwell.
In more
good news, a piece of space junk was no longer threatening the station, and
NASA could focus entirely on the delivery mission.
NASA is
counting on private business to restock the space station, now that the
shuttles have retired to museums. The space agency has a $1.6 billion contract
with SpaceX for 12 resupply missions.
Especially
exciting for NASA is the fact that the Dragon will return twice as much cargo
as it took up, including a stockpile of astronauts' blood and urine samples.
The samples -- nearly 500 of them -- have been stashed in freezers since
Atlantis made the last shuttle flight in July 2011.
The Dragon
will spend close to three weeks at the space station before being released and
parachuting into the Pacific at the end of October. By then, the space station
should be back up to a full crew of six.
None of
the Russian, European or Japanese cargo ships can bring anything back; they're
destroyed during re-entry. The Russian Soyuz crew capsules have limited room
for anything besides people.
Space
Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX -- owned by PayPal co-founder Musk --
is working to convert its unmanned Dragon capsules into vessels that could
carry astronauts to the space station in three years. Other U.S. companies also
are vying to carry crews. Americans must ride Russian rockets to orbit in the
meantime, for a steep price.
Musk, who
monitored the launch from SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, Calif., called
the capsules Dragon after the magical Puff to get back at critics who, a decade
ago, considered his effort a fantasy. The name Falcon comes from the Millennium
Falcon starship of "Star Wars" fame.
An
estimated 2,400 guests jammed the launching center to see the Falcon, with its
Dragon, come to life for SpaceX's first official, operational supply mission.
Across the
country at SpaceX headquarters, about 1,000 employees watched via TV and
webcast.
It was no
apparition.
"Just
over a year after the retirement of the space shuttle, we have returned space
station cargo resupply missions to U.S. soil," said NASA Administrator
Charles Bolden Jr.
SpaceX is
shooting for its next supply run in January.
Another
company looking to haul space station cargo, Virginia's Orbital Sciences Corp.,
hopes to launch a solo test flight in December and a demo mission to the
station early next year.
Every time
SpaceX or a competitor flies successfully, Bolden told reporters, "that
gives the nonbelievers one more opportunity to get on board and root for
us" and help enable commercial launches for space station astronauts. This
will further free NASA up to aim for points beyond low-Earth orbit, like Mars.
"This
was a big night," Bolden concluded.
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