The U.S. ship company
SpaceX Dragon, the first space freighter urban by a private company launched
from Cape Canaveral, Florida, successfully separated the Falcon 9 booster
rocket, entered into an intermediate orbit prior to approaching Space Station
(ISS) and solar panels deployed, NASA reported on its website that broadcast
the event online.
The launch, postponed
several times, finally came at 7.44 GMT on Tuesday. The separation of the
propellant occurred after about 10 minutes, and the solar panels are opened
shortly thereafter. Two hours after take-off will be launched on-board sensors
that allow the freighter to the ISS approach and make the connection but the
approach will be initiated only on the third day.
It is an experimental
flight, so the ISS Dragon takes just a load of just 520 kilos: some equipment
for experiments, notebooks, batteries, clothes and 117 standard food rations
for astronauts. In the future, can carry up to six tons to low orbit and bring
back some three tons.
Originally, SpaceX
planned to launch the spacecraft on Saturday, May 19, but returned to cancel,
by excess pressure in one of nine propellant rocket motors, when the countdown
to the launch was over.
In 2006, NASA launched
a program that encourages private projects of ships capable of transporting
cargo to the orbit and the ISS. SpaceX took four years to develop its Dragon
spacecraft in December 2010 made the first flight into orbit and splashed down
in the Pacific. To date, the company invested in the project about 1,200
million dollars. Almost a third of this amount was funded by NASA.
