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(Image source: Collect Space)
BY HARUMENDHAH HELMY
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
It’s a new episode in the space shuttle business. Now that Endeavour, Discovery, Atlantis
and Enterprise have retired — make room for privately-owned Dragon.
Dragon launched Sunday evening, and is the spacecraft that’s set to carry about 1,000
pounds of supplies to the International Space Station. These photos are from its successful
test launch back in May -- where it made history as the first privately owned craft to dock
at the station.
Owned and operated by California-based company
SpaceX, Dragon is on the first mission in a series of cargo shipments under the company’s
$1.6 billion contract with NASA... (Video: SpaceXChannel/YouTube)
...which, as you might recall, ended its Space Shuttle program back in 2011 — and will
now have to solely rely on private companies to deliver extraterrestrial cargo to the station.
(Video: ITN News)
A blogger on Discovery Magazine says this
launch could either make it or break it for SpaceX.
“The [Dragon test launch] was almost completely flawless, but it’s when you can do it again
that you can really show you know your stuff.”
If all goes as planned, Dragon will dock at
the station by Wednesday and stay there for a few weeks as the station crew unload their
new equipment, science experiments, clothing and food. In the spacecraft’s fridge, along
with frozen biological samples -- there’s a special treat for the crew.
“...some ice cream!” (From: WJXT)
Just in case you were wondering -- it’s
vanilla and chocolate swirl. For its return home, the AP reports Dragon will be stocked
with blood and urine samples the astronauts have been collecting since July 2011, the
last time a shuttle picked up stuff from the station.