Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX successfully launches the Falcon 9 mission to send supplies to the ISS in its 100th mission.
Last month has been interesting for those who follow space events. We were able to see the Crew Dragon mission accomplished, then we saw the preparations for the Starship and its 15km high flight and Musk’s plans for the first manned mission to Mars.
- Elon Musk says SpaceX will land on Mars in 2022
- SpaceX Starship is ready for a 15 km high flight next week
- Microsoft Azure connects directly to the SpaceX Starlink satellites
That flight, which was also the 21st launch of the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission, has sent nearly three tons of supplies and research materials to the International Space Station. They have achieved this figure thanks to a new model of the Dragon capsule that holds 20% more weight, in addition to having the ability to automatically dock with the station. You can see the launch at 20:45 in this video:
This new variant of the capsule, designed for non-human loads, no longer has the necessary thrusters for emergency maneuvers that would protect the astronauts and achieves another advantage in terms of efficiency. It can be reused three to five times. It also has improvements for transporting materials that require specific temperature ranges.
Despite some delays, SpaceX can already boast of having done 100 missions with the Falcon 9. 43 of those 100 missions (including this one) have been done by reusing thrusters, which have already been successfully recovered on 68 occasions.
