Elon Musk’s SpaceX will attempt to launch a resupply mission to the International Space Station on Friday. It follows hard on the heels of the Cygnus resupply mission a fortnight ago, conducted by another commercial company, Orbital ATK Inc.
Nasa retired the Space Shuttle in 2011. Since then, it has been relying on Russian capsules to transport astronauts, and commercial companies to haul freight to the ISS. Yet there is more than just three tonnes of supplies riding in the Dragon capsule atop Friday’s Falcon 9 rocket launch.
SpaceX has suffered some failures recently. In June last year, the company launched a Falcon 9 towards the ISS, only to see it explode 139 seconds later, destroying the rocket, the Dragon capsule and its contents. Then there have been the botched landing attempts.
The lower third of the rocket, known as the first stage, is designed to return to Earth and land softly so it can be re-flown. But only one attempt to do this has actually worked. In December 2015, the mission delivered 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit and returned to Cape Canaveral on a pillar of orange flame. It landed safely and upright.
SpaceX will attempt to re-create this success of the landing on Friday, only this time on to a flat-topped barge in the Atlantic ocean. This ability is a cornerstone in SpaceX’s plan to offer cheaper launches because it will allow the company to reuse rockets.
The Dragon capsule is currently being upgraded to carry seven astronauts. The maiden crewed flight is scheduled to take place in 2017, and Nasa has signed for SpaceX to provide six crewed flights to the ISS.
