Tthe launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission for Nasa to the International Space Station from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Centre, seen from Merritt Island, Florida (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP)A SpaceX shipment of ants, avocados and a human-sized robotic arm is rocketing towards the International Space Station. The delivery, due to arrive on Monday, is the company’s 23rd for Nasa in just under a decade. A recycled Falcon rocket blasted into the pre-dawn sky from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. After hoisting the Dragon capsule, the first-stage booster landed upright on SpaceX’s newest ocean platform, named A Shortfall of Gravitas. Nasa turned to SpaceX and other US companies to deliver cargo and crews to the space station, once the space shuttle programme ended in 2011.

Source: Irish Independent August 29, 2021 09:05 UTC