The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and cargo Dragon spacecraft launched into space for their 21st resupply mission! It is called CRS-21 because “CRS” stands for “Commercial Resupply Services” and it is their 21st mission!
They are going to resupply the ISS, which stands for the International Space Station, including engineered, three-dimensional heart tissues to test how the heart reacts when it is exposed for a long period of time to microgravity.
They will also deliver meteorites and microbes to study how asteroids are made and the biomining of them. Microbes is another way to say bacteria, and biomining is using microbes to take out metals from ores. An ore is something hard, like a rock, that has something valuable inside. They will also find out how brain organoids react to microgravity. Organoids are three-dimensional cultures that can be created to act like an organ, or to carry out a job of an organ, like to make certain cells.
The launch of the CRS-21 was scheduled for December 6, 11:17 a.m. Eastern, and took place at NASA Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A in Florida. It just happened today!
If you could send something to space for astronauts to study, what would you send?
Photo Courtesy: NASA
Aerospace Kid 