SpaceX Dragon Capsule Makes Historic Repeated ISS Delivery

June 8, 2017 - Earlier this week, a reusable SpaceX Dragon capsule made history by becoming the first commercially built cargo ship to make a repeated delivery to the International Space Station. The capsule was launched by a reusable SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on June 3rd that landed safely 10 minutes after launch. 

On June 5th, the Dragon cargo ship successfully arrived at the space station containing 6,000 lbs. of supplies including essentials like food and water for the crew. Additionally, live mice and fruit flies were delivered for the study of a new osteoporosis drug, as well as scientific studies of how spaceflight affects cardiovascular systems. The cargo ship also delivered scientific equipment including a new earth imaging platform, a new Roll-Out Solar Array panel, and instrumentation to study neutron stars. This marks SpaceX’s 11th resupply mission under their commercial contract with NASA. 

Notably, SpaceX used this same Dragon capsule for their fourth cargo mission. VPT is proud to have parts on both the Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket, and congratulates SpaceX on this historic mission which further advances the efforts to decrease the cost of space missions. 

More information can be found at Space.com.