A SpaceX cargo ship rocketed toward the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday, carrying the first 3D printer for astronauts in orbit.
In all, the unmanned Dragon capsule is delivering more than 2,300kg of space station supplies for NASA.
Dragon should reach the space station tomorrow. It is the fifth station shipment for the California-based company SpaceX, one of two new commercial winners in the race to start launching US astronauts again from domestic sites.
Photo: AFP
The space station was soaring over the South Pacific when the SpaceX Falcon 9 thundered into Florida’s pre-dawn sky. The weather was ideal for flying, unlike on Saturday, when rain forced a delay. The rocket was visible for nearly three minutes as it sped out over the Atlantic.
Yesterday was an important day for NASA in more ways than one.
Besides the flawless launch, the space agency’s Maven spacecraft was on the verge of reaching Mars. The robotic explorer was scheduled to go into orbit around Mars late last night.
The space station-bound 3D printer is sturdier than earthly models to withstand the stresses of launch and meets NASA’s strict safety standards. The space agency envisions astronauts one day cranking out spare parts as needed. For now, it is a technology demonstrator, with a bigger and better model to follow next year.
A US$30 million device for measuring ocean winds is also flying up on Dragon, along with 20 mice and 30 fruit flies for biological research, and metal samples for a golf club manufacturer looking to improve its products.
Much-needed spacesuit batteries are on board as well, along with the usual stash of food, clothes and electronic gear. Routine US spacewalks were put on hold following last year’s close call with an astronaut’s flooded helmet. That problem was solved, then the battery fuses were called into question. NASA hopes to resume spacewalks next month.
NASA is paying SpaceX and Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp to make regular station deliveries. The SpaceX service began two years ago.
Just this past week, SpaceX — led by billionaire Elon Musk — won an even bigger and more prestigious contract to transport US astronauts to the orbiting outpost, along with Boeing. Dragon rides could begin as early as 2016 or 2017.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
Russian hackers last year targeted a Dutch public facility in the first such an attack on the lowlands country’s infrastructure, its military intelligence services said on Monday. The Netherlands remained an “interesting target country” for Moscow due to its ongoing support for Ukraine, its Hague-based international organizations, high-tech industries and harbors such as Rotterdam, the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) said in its yearly report. Last year, the MIVD “saw a Russian hacker group carry out a cyberattack against the digital control system of a public facility in the Netherlands,” MIVD Director Vice Admiral Peter Reesink said in the 52-page
RSS