British astronaut Tim Peake should be unloading around three tonnes of new supplies and equipment for the international space station (ISS) on Saturday.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 03:05 GMT on Wednesday. It was carrying a Cygnus cargo spacecraft packed with new experiments and essentials such as fruit and vegetables.
The spacecraft will make dozens of orbits of Earth before it catches up with the ISS. Once there, Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra will catch Cygnus with the Canadian-built robotic arm, and guide it to a docking port.
The new experiments include Meteor, which will observe dust burning up in Earth’s atmosphere; Strata-1, which will explore how rock chips behave in microgravity in order to understand how to secure spacecraft to the surfaces of asteroids; and Gecko Gripper, which will test an adhesive gripping device that is based on the anatomy of gecko feet.
There is also a new 3D printer that will allow the astronauts to manufacture new tools and other components.
The Cygnus spacecraft will remain attached to the space station for the next few months. The astronauts will gradually fill it with rubbish. When full, it will undock and return to burn-up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Before that fiery end, operators on Earth will activate the on-board Saffire-1 experiment, which will set a fire inside the spacecraft after it has left the ISS. The study is aimed at understanding how to deal with such an accident should it occur on a crewed vessel.
