The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday, June 3, carrying the uncrewed Dragon cargo ship to orbit for its delivery run to the International Space Station
Dragon is loaded with 6,000 pounds of supplies and science equipment and is expected to arrive at the station on Monday. The cargo ship will stay at the space station for about a month before it is sent back to Earth in a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, the Orbital/ATK Cygnus was released from the space station on Saturday after a 44-day stay. It delivered about 7,600 pounds of supplies and scientific experiments to the space station.
The module, dubbed the “SS John Glenn” after the former astronaut and US senator who died last year, will remain in orbit for a week in support of the SAFFIRE experiment and the deployment of four small Nanoracks satellites. Cygnus will reenter the Earth’s atmosphere on June 11, where it will burn up over the Pacific Ocean.
