SpaceX Dragon Ship Carrying NASA Cargo Successfully Launched

SpaceX has successfully launched its next unmanned mission aboard the Dragon spacecraft that carried some essential NASA cargo. Fresh supplies to the International Space Station were sent on the Dragon spacecraft, which marks the final cargo mission for 2019. The spaceship has also stuck a rocket landing on a drone ship off the Florida coast.

The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch was delayed for an hour following high winds in the region. However, clear blue skies have aided in the successful launch of the Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft was carrying critical supplied for ISS.

SpaceX Dragon Ship Carries NASA Cargo

The cargo-carrying flight is the 19th one that SpaceX is delivering for NASA. It marks the penultimate delivery mission under the first commercial cargo resupply service contract signed between the two space agencies. It should be noted that this mission the eighth one to feature a previously flown Dragon and even stars the first Dragon spacecraft to ever fly more than once.

The Dragon capsule is carrying the third batch of supplies to ISS. The first trip took off back in September 2014, which was followed by CRS-11 in July 2017, and now the CRS-19 supplies. The capsule was carrying more than 2,585 kg of supplies. Out of this, there's 952 kg of science equipment.

Falcon 9’s 75th launch sends Dragon to the @space_station with critical supplies pic.twitter.com/Aa46A3OGpe

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 5, 2019

Space X Cargo For Science Experiments

The equipment is believed to conduct several experiments across the Expedition 61 and 62 on topics involving seed germination in space. Anheuser-Busch and Budweiser beer are sending the fourth experiment to the space station to understand the seed germination in the harsh climatic conditions of space.

The science experiment is aimed to better understand why certain plant genes function and which don't in space, compared to the ones on Earth. Barley seeds are sent up aboard the SpaceX spaceship to check if they'd germinate. Additionally, the SpaceX cargo includes a science package for NASA Cold Atom Lab (CAL), which has been in orbit for a year now.