KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Astronauts can restock their supplies and unload thousands of science projects after the Cargo Dragon successfully docked with the International Space Station early Saturday morning, NASA and SpaceX confirmed.
What You Need To Know
- Cargo Dragon arrives at International Space Station
- More than 7,300 pounds of supplies, experiments are on board
- Two solar arrays to boost ISS power also are aboard the cargo capsule
Contact and capture are confirmed at 5:09am ET. @SpaceX's cargo Dragon has arrived at the @Space_Station, delivering over 7,300 pounds of @ISS_Research, equipment, supplies, and new roll-out solar arrays for the orbiting lab. pic.twitter.com/N9xPNC4Axq
— NASA (@NASA) June 5, 2021
The Cargo Dragon capsule, which lifted off Thursday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, contains 7,300 pounds of new supplies and equipment, as well as science experiments and two new solar arrays.
More than 2,000 pounds of the cargo is science experiments that will be conducted in microgravity conditions. Some of those experiments will work to expand the resilience of cotton, study how resilient microscopic creatures known as “water bears” adapt to microgravity conditions, and a study that could help doctors predict when kidney stones will occur before they become problematic.
The new solar arrays make up about 3,000 pounds of the cargo and will power future work on the ISS.
NASA plans a total of six new arrays to boost the station’s power supply, and the arrays included on this mission are the first pair. The robotic Canadarm2 will remove the arrays, and astronauts will install them during spacewalks planned for June 16 and 20.
"They (new solar arrays) will roll out like blankets on our current solar arrays, and once they are rolled out, combined with our current arrays, it's going to increase our power generation by about 30 percent," says Jennifer Buchli, NASA Chief Deputy Scientist, ISS Program.