SpaceX Shipment Reaches Space Station with a “Cosmic Catch” by a Pair of Canadians

“Welcome on board, Dragon,” Saint-Jacques radioed. He congratulated ground teams for their help, in both English and French

NewsGram Desk

May 7, 2019

SpaceX shipment arrives at International Space Station following weekend launch.A SpaceX shipment arrived at the International Space Station on Monday with a “cosmic catch” by a pair of Canadians. The Dragon capsule delivered 5,500 pounds (2,500 kilograms) of equipment and experiments.

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques used the station’s big robot arm — also made in Canada — to capture the Dragon approximately 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the North Atlantic Ocean. An external cable that normally comes off during launch dangled from the capsule, but it did not interfere with the grappling.

“Welcome on board, Dragon,” Saint-Jacques radioed. He congratulated ground teams for their help, in both English and French. Saint-Jacques later told Canadian schoolchildren it was “a big moment of pride” to grab the Dragon using the station’s 58-foot (18-meter) robot arm — Canada’s main contribution to the space station.

He became the first Canadian to use it to grab a visiting spacecraft — “a cosmic catch,” in the words of the Canadian Space Agency. “To be at the controls myself, after all these years of training, it was a very, very special moment — and, fortunately, it all went well,” Saint-Jacques told the schoolchildren later in the day.

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It’s the second station visit for this recycled Dragon, which was launched by SpaceX on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It also flew in 2017. This is SpaceX’s 17th delivery to the space station; the first was in 2012. Northrop Grumman is NASA’s other shipper; its Cygnus cargo ship arrived just two weeks ago.

The Dragon will remain about a month, being filled with science samples for return to Earth. It’s the only cargo ship capable of coming back intact. Besides one Canadian, the space station is home to three Americans and two Russians. (VOA)

Elon Musk Mocks Bezos’ Moon, Space Colony Plans

Earlier in May, Bezos unveiled a new Moon-lander called “Blue Moon” after three years of development

NewsGram Desk

May 24, 2019

elon_musk_-_the_summit_2013 — Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. Wikimedia

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has mocked Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos’ moon plans saying they make no sense.

Amazon CEO Bezos had described his vision of humans living on miles-long, orbiting space stations called “O’Neill colonies”, named after physicist Gerard O’Neill, who first floated the concept.

“Makes no sense. In order to grow the colony, you’d have to transport vast amounts of mass from planets/moons/asteroids. Would be like trying to build the US in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,” Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, tweeted.

Elon Musk, tesla, tunnel — AI could be first ‘resident’ of Mars, hints Musk. (Wikimedia Commons)

The remark comes after Bezos attended a conference in Washington where he discussed his ambitious roadmap for Blue Origin to create a “sustained human presence” – housing up to a trillion people – on the Moon, the report added.

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Earlier in May, Bezos unveiled a new Moon-lander called “Blue Moon” after three years of development, along with a smaller rover at the Walter E. Washington Convention Centre.

“We must return to the Moon – this time to stay. We’re ready to support @NASA in getting there by 2024 with #bluemoon,” Blue Origin had tweeted. (IANS)

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