SpaceX launches space docking port for NASA, lands Falcon rocket

PanARMENIAN.Net - SpaceX successfully launched a critical space station docking port for astronauts early Monday, July 18 along with a DNA decoder for high-flying genetic research, the Associated Press reports.

As an extra treat, the company brought its leftover first-stage booster back to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a vertical landing — only the second such land landing for an orbital mission and the ultimate in recycling. Twin sonic booms rocked the moonlit night, old shuttle landing-style.

Everything got off to a good start as the unmanned Falcon rocket streaked through the middle-of-the-night darkness, carrying 5,000 pounds of food, experiments and equipment for the International Space Station. The orbiting outpost was soaring over the North Atlantic at liftoff, its six residents asleep.

It was SpaceX's second shot at delivering a new-style docking port for NASA. The last one went up in smoke over the Atlantic last year, a rocket accident casualty, AP says.

NASA needs this new docking setup at the International Space Station before Americans can fly there in crew capsules set to debut next year. SpaceX is building astronaut-worthy versions of its Dragon cargo ships, while Boeing — which makes these docking ports — is working on a crew capsule called Starliner. The pair would dock to this ring and another due to fly in a year.

The Dragon and its latest shipment are due Wednesday at the 250-mile-high outpost.