SpaceX launches Christmas presents, provides to station

SpaceX launched Christmas items, goodies and provides to the International Space Station on Tuesday and bought a gift in return: the corporate’s a hundredth profitable rocket touchdown.

The predawn liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center was barely seen within the fog and clouds, because the Falcon rocket hoisted a Dragon capsule loaded with greater than 6,500 kilos (2,950 kilograms) of drugs for the station’s seven astronauts. Several minutes later, the first-stage booster landed upright on an ocean platform, six years to the day that Elon Musk’s firm completed its first booster landing in 2015.

This explicit booster was making its first flight. Just a few days in the past, a SpaceX booster made its eleventh flight.

“It’s critical to lower the cost of spaceflight to continue to reuse these boosters more and more times. A hundred is a big milestone, so we’re excited about that,” stated SpaceX’s Sarah Walker, a mission supervisor. “We’re also excited to see how few new boosters we have to produce as the years go by.”

Among the objects as a result of arrive on the space station Wednesday: Christmas presents from the astronauts’ households, in addition to smoked fish and turkey, inexperienced beans and fruitcake for a vacation feast. NASA’s space station program supervisor Joel Montalbano would not reveal the rest. “I won’t get in front of Santa Claus and tell you what’s going to be sent up,” he advised reporters on the eve of launch.

The supply additionally features a laundry detergent experiment. Station astronauts presently trash their soiled garments; Procter & Gamble Co. is growing a completely degradable detergent for eventual use on the station, on the moon and past.

SpaceX is ending the 12 months with 31 launches, essentially the most ever by the corporate.

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