CNN
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SpaceX is carrying a recent haul of supplies to the International Space Station this weekend after dangerous climate on the launch website pressured the corporate to wave off its first try.
The mission took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida round 2:20 p.m. ET Saturday. The unique liftoff date had been Tuesday.
The bounty of supplies on board features a pair of recent photo voltaic arrays for the house station, dwarf tomato seeds and a spread of science experiments. There may also be treats for the astronauts on the house station, like ice cream and Thanksgiving fare like spicy inexperienced beans, cranberry apple desserts, pumpkin pie and sweet corn.
The photo voltaic arrays can be put in outdoors the floating laboratory throughout spacewalks scheduled for November 29 and December 3. They will give the house station an influence enhance.
SpaceX has launched greater than two dozen resupply missions to the house station over the previous decade as a part of a multibillion-dollar take care of NASA. This launch comes amid SpaceX’s busiest yr to date, with greater than 50 operations up to now, together with two astronaut missions.
The cargo on board contains various health-related gadgets, such because the Moon Microscope kit. The moveable handheld microscope will enable astronauts to gather and ship pictures of blood samples to flight surgeons on the bottom for diagnostics and therapy.
Nutrients are a key element of sustaining good well being in house. But recent produce is in brief provide on the house station in contrast with the prepackaged meals astronauts eat throughout their six-month stays in low-Earth orbit.
“It is fairly important to our exploration goals at NASA to be able to sustain the crew with not only nutrition but also to look at various types of plants as sources for nutrients that we would be hard-pressed to sustain on the long trips between distant destinations like Mars and so forth,” mentioned Kirt Costello, chief scientist at NASA’s International Space Station Program and a deputy supervisor of the ISS Research Integration Office.
Astronauts have grown and tasted various kinds of lettuce, radishes and chiles on the International Space Station. Now, the crew members can add some dwarf tomatoes — particularly, Red Robin tomatoes — to their record of space-grown salad elements.
The experiment is a part of an effort to present steady recent meals manufacturing in house.
The dwarf tomato seeds can be grown below two completely different mild therapies to measure the affect on the variety of tomatoes that may be harvested in addition to the vegetation’ dietary worth and style. Red Robin tomatoes may also be grown on Earth as a management experiment. The two crops can be in contrast to measure the results of a zero-gravity surroundings on tomato development.
The house tomatoes can be grown inside small luggage known as plant pillows put in within the Vegetable Production System, often called the Veggie development chamber, on the house station. The astronauts will incessantly water and nurture the vegetation.
“Tomatoes will be a new adventure for us on the veggie team, trying to figure out how to keep these thirsty plants well watered without overwatering,” mentioned Gioia Massa, NASA’s house crop manufacturing scientist and principal investigator for the tomato examine.
The tomatoes can be prepared for his or her first style check within the spring.
The crew is anticipating tomato harvests 90, 97 and 104 days after the vegetation start to develop. During style exams, the crew will fee the flavour, aroma, juiciness and texture of the tomatoes grown utilizing the completely different mild therapies. Half of every tomato harvest can be frozen and returned to Earth for evaluation.
Growing vegetation on the house station not solely gives the chance for recent meals and creative taco nights, it may well additionally enhance the temper of the crew throughout their lengthy spaceflight.
Surveys will monitor astronauts’ moods as they take care of and work together with the vegetation to see how nurturing the seedlings enhances the crew’s expertise amid the isolation of the house station.
The {hardware} remains to be in improvement for bigger crop manufacturing on the house station and finally other planets, however scientists are already planning what vegetation would possibly develop finest on the moon and Mars. Earlier this yr, a staff successfully grew plants in lunar soil that included samples collected throughout the Apollo missions.
“Tomatoes are going to be a great crop for the moon,” Massa mentioned. “They’re very nutritious, very delicious, and we think the astronauts will be really excited to grow them there.”