SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft "landed" safely at the International Space Station

(Baonghean) - On Tuesday, January 13, the Drangon spacecraft, built by the American private company SpaceX, successfully “docked” at the International Space Station (ISS). The US space agency NASA determined that Dagron can provide supplies, scientific experimental instruments and necessary spare parts for the ISS.

According to NASA, at around 4:54 p.m. Vietnam time or about 20 minutes earlier, one of the six astronauts on the ISS controlled the robotic arm to “catch” the Dragon spacecraft. Images of the Dragon spacecraft “landing” on the ISS were also broadcast a few hours later.

SpaceX said Dragon carried 2.2 tons of cargo to the ISS, including supplies for six astronauts, materials, scientific experiments, an IMAX camera, and spare parts. This is the fifth refueling mission that SpaceX has conducted on behalf of NASA out of a total of 12 cargo deliveries to the ISS that SpaceX has signed with NASA. This contract is known to be worth up to 1.6 billion USD.

The Drangon spacecraft "docked" at the ISS. Photo: Internet

Among the items that Dragon brought to the ISS this time is an instrument to assess the distribution of clouds in the atmosphere called Cloud-Aerosol Transport System instrument (CATS). The CATS device allows to detect signs of climate change as well as help in weather forecasting. At the same time, according to NASA, among the goods that Dragon brought to the ISS are some materials for use in biological experiments in a zero-gravity environment. These experiments will help scientists find the cause of Alzheimer's disease.

On Saturday morning, SpaceX launched a Falcon-9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule from the Cap Canaveral launch pad in Florida. Previously, in late October 2014, the US company Orbital Sciences also launched an unmanned Antares rocket carrying a fuel capsule to the T ISS. However, this ship exploded just seconds after leaving the Orb3 launch pad.

Because of the previous failed Antares launch, this Dragon flight has become the subject of special attention. It is known that Orbital Sciences and SpaceX are the only two private American companies selected by NASA to sign contracts to supply fuel to the ISS and other potential destinations in orbit.

The Dragon capsule will return to Earth in about a month. The spacecraft is scheduled to land in the Pacific Ocean. Three large parachutes on the spacecraft will help Dragon land off the coast of southern California.

Chu Thanh(According to LeMonde 13/1)