Space station grocery run includes Italian espresso maker

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Mornings are about to improve for the Italian astronaut who's been suffering through instant coffee at the International Space Station since fall. An espresso machine is on the supply capsule scheduled for launch Monday.

SpaceX has a single second at precisely 4:33 p.m. to launch its unmanned cargo ship for NASA from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at 60 percent, with thick storm clouds the main concern.

Minutes after liftoff, SpaceX will try again to land its leftover booster on an ocean barge.

This will be the company's third attempt to fly a first-stage booster to a platform floating off Florida's east coast and land it vertically. The January effort ended in flames when the booster tumbled off the platform; February's attempt was nixed because of rough seas.

The platform, dubbed "Just Read the Instructions," can hold position better now, thanks to improvements, and the rocket's steering system should have plenty of hydraulic fluid for touchdown. That's why Hans Koenigsmann, a SpaceX vice president, is predicting 75 percent or even 80 percent odds of success this time.

The California company led by billionaire Elon Musk wants to save money by reusing rockets.

"The implications are huge and, of course, in the long term this might change completely how we approach transportation to space," Koenigsmann said.

The specially designed, Italian-made espresso maker is intended for Samantha Cristoforetti, who arrived last November. It was supposed to fly in January, but ended up on backlog following another company's launch explosion last year.

Altogether, the SpaceX capsule, named Dragon, holds more than 4,000 pounds of food, science experiments and equipment.

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Space station grocery run includes Italian espresso maker

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