SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft launched at 12:45 a.m. EDT on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida with almost 5,000 pounds of cargo. (Photo : NASA)
On Saturday, a Russian supply cargo ship launched from Kazakhstan where two space flights to deliver food, supplies and equipment will reach the International Space Station, as these two supply runs will be launch one day apart. On Monday early morning, SpaceX launched another cargo supply ship from Florida.
The Soyuz U booster rocket was carrying a Progress MS-03/64P cargo ship and launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:41 P.M. EDT as the rocket released the spacecraft shorty after nine minutes into flight.
To date, the new version of the MS-series cargo ship is en route to the orbiting space laboratory some 242 miles above the surface of Earth, and is estimated to reach the ISS at 8:22 P.M. on Monday, which will dock at the Pirs module, facing Earth.
The Russian cargo supply ship is carrying 1,940 pounds of propellant for fuel, 110 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water, including 2,833 pounds of supplies and equipment along with spare parts.
Meanwhile, after the Progress rocket blasted off from Central Asia, SpaceX engineers have test fired the Falcon 9 rocket that possesses nine Merlin 1D first-stage engines for a short burn to check and confirm engine operations before finally launching on the first hours of Monday.
SpaceX confirms that this short engine burn is successful, already launched at 12:45 A.M. Monday as forecasters predicted a 90 percent chance of favorable weather.
SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship is on top of the Falcon 9's second stage rocket, which will be transporting 3,946 pounds of supplies, scientific equipment and research samples inside its pressurized cabin. The Dragon capsule is also scheduled to reach the space station at around 7 A.M. on Wednesday.
This will also mark SpaceX's ninth resupply mission for the space station, after the failed resupply mission last June 2015, where the second stage rocket exploded during mid launch and destroyed precious scientific equipment and hardware.
