After numerous failed attempts at resupplying the international space station, astronauts finally got supplies this Sunday when a Russian ship docked with an assortment of goodies for the crew.
This unmanned rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan this past Friday. It carried 6100 pounds of oxygen, food, water, fuel and various other supplies.
The crew said that it felt like Christmas was coming in July this year.
Even though these missions usually are routine, past resupply missions have failed which is why this mission was that much more crucial.
The latest failed mission involved an unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket which was carrying a supply capsule that exploded shortly after taking off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It isn’t clear why this spaceship exploded and the FAA is still investigating the whole thing.
Three astronauts have been eagerly waiting fresh supplies at the International space station.
There was a rocket which was supposed to fly to the space station in April but it lost control after launch and burned up during re-entry. The third failed mission was in October when a rocket with crew provisions was intentionally destroyed after problems developed during launch.
NASA says that the crew had enough supplies with them to last till October even with all the failed missions. A couple of the astronauts onboard are part of a program known as the One Year Crew. This has them living in space for one year to explore its effects on our body.
There are 3 more astronauts which are going to be joining them later this month on a Russian spaceship.
The space station is around two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth and circles the entire planet every ninety minutes.
The astronauts on the space station spend most of their time conductions experiments, according to NASA. The space station measures three hundred and fifty seven feet from one end to the other and is bigger than a 6 bedroom house.
