Resupply ship heads to space station to aid research missions – Fox Business

NASA is moving one step closer to another moon mission; Phil Keating reports on the details.

Humans have entered their 20th year with a continuous living presence in space atthe International Space Station.

To celebrate the 19th anniversary of the arrival of the first crew to live aboard the International Space Station, NASA has sent a Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft to the outer space outpost to aid in research for long-term space missions, the agency reportedin a press release on Saturday.

The spacecraft launched from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Saturday morning carrying nearly 8,200 pounds of science investigations and cargo and is scheduled to arrive at the space station around 4:10 a.m. Monday, with coverage of its approach and arrival to be streamed live on NASA Television and the agencys website.

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Amongsome of the scientific investigations being carried to the ISS are entitledMore Probing of Mysteries of the Universe, where astronauts will make repairs on an Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, Testing Personal Protective Equipment for Astronauts, where astronauts will wear an AstroRad Vest to test unpredictable solar particle events, Food Fresh from the Oven which examines food cooked in microgravity, and 3D Printing with Recycled Materials, which will test systems needed to reprocess plastic into 3D printing filament that can then be transferred for use to the Made in Space Manufacturing Device, which is a 3D printer that has been used on the orbiting laboratory since 2016,in the space agencys own words.

The exterior of the International Space Station.

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Astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will be intercepting the spacecrafts cargo from the International Space Station with the stations robotic arm, while NASAs Andrew Morgan will monitor telemetry during the interstellar cargo transfer.

This delivery marks the 12th cargo flight to the ISS by the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spaceship and the first under its current Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract with NASA, which will support dozens of new and existingscientific investigations, according to the space agency.

The ISS is amicrogravity laboratory in earth's orbitthat has hosted 239 people from 19 different countries and has conducted over2,600 experiments from 3,900 researchers in 107 countries. NASA has spent an estimated $100 billion overall on the International Space Station, with $3 to $4 billion per year being spenton maintainance alone, NASA revealed in a July 2018 report.

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The giantlaboratory has been travelling around the globe at five miles per second since the first part of it was launched into orbit back in 1998and wasmanned by its first crew in Nov. 2000, the three of whichstayed a total of 136 days.

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Resupply ship heads to space station to aid research missions - Fox Business