Space X Launches Space Station Re-Supply, Lands It Safely on Drone Barge

SpaceX, one of Elon Musk's high-profile business projects, has recently resumed International Space Station deliveries for NASA on Friday. Its current cargo: a futuristic pop-up room, the first one designed for astronauts.

The remote-controlled Falcon rocket shot up into a cloudless Friday afternoon sky. It carried a full load of supply items that the astronauts in the International Space Station require. The supply spaceship also brought along the first inflatable living quarters in space.

The pop-up living quarters was made by Bigelow Aerospace for NASA. It is designed to expand to the size of a small bedroom upon inflation. This is only a test-bed that the Nevada-based company intends to launch in four years. Bigelow has plans of using this inflatable space rooms for succeeding moon and Mars explorations.

Lift off took place at 4:43 p.m. EDT at Cape Canaveral. With this launch, the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Elon Musk resumed its re-supply flights for NASA after the June launch accident.

After approximately 2 and a half minutes, the main portion of the SpaceX's two-stage rocket separated and then turned around and headed toward a landing platform located in the middle of the Atlantic around 185 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral.

On Friday, employees of SpaceX witnessed the touchdown in the company's Mission Control in Hawthorne, California. They chanted and cheered "U.S.A." when the rocket landed on a barge just off the coast of Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The launch and the subsequent rocket landing is a complete success.

For Elon Musk's re-supply rocket, this is its first supply delivery to the International Space Station this year. A previous launch ended in an accident in June, which damaged another cargo payload for the ISS and prevented succeeding cargo shipments.

Its cargo, the Dragon and the pop-up room is scheduled to reach the station on Sunday.

Real Time Analytics