SpaceX successfully launches Falcon 9 rocket for resupply mission to the International Space Station

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — On Sunday morning, SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket for the NASA CRS-21 resupply mission to the International Space Station.

According to SpaceX, Sunday’s launch lifted off at the scheduled time of 11:17 a.m.

Sunday’s launch was the 21st Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-21) resupply mission to the International Space Station.

The launch was originally scheduled for 11:39 a.m. Saturday from Kennedy Space Center, but due to inclement weather in the recovery area the launch was scrubbed.

Sunday’s launch marks the 100th successful flight of the Falcon 9 rocket. Today’s launch also marks the 68th successful first stage recovery, as well as the 35th successful landing on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship.

After a success separation, the Dragon spacecraft will now head toward the International Space Station, and will autonomously dock with the ISS Monday around 1:30 p.m.

As well as bringing supplies to the ISS, the out-of-this-world mission may help University of Florida researchers understand why adults lose muscle strength as they age.

The experiment was carried to the ISS inside the Falcon 9 rocket which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday.

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Researchers said the lab for the experiment is about the size of a shoe box. Inside is human tissue in chip form.

“We’ve actually created them as a three-dimensional muscle,” Dr. Siobhan Malany with UF Health said.

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In space, astronauts experience extreme muscle weakness. Those same muscle changes happen to people on Earth as we age, but it happens at a much slower pace. So, researchers said, if you’re in the business of studying age-related occurrences, the best place to do it is in space.

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The researchers will study how those muscle chips decline at that sped-up pace in space. The data collected in orbit will then return to Central Florida and help in the development of new therapies for age-related muscle loss on Earth.

Cox Media Group