2 NASA Ames Experiments Aboard Elon Musk's SpaceX

Update from NASA Fri, 01 Mar 2013 1:38 p.m. PST

SpaceX has confirmed all four of Dragon’s thruster pods are up and running. The company will continue to check out Dragon, test its systems for the next several hours, and perform some orbital maneuvers. The next opportunity for Dragon to rendezvous with the space station is early Sunday, if SpaceX and NASA determine the spacecraft is in the proper configuration and ready to support an attempt.

Update from NASA at 9:34 PST:

SpaceX has confirmed its Falcon 9 rocket lifted off as planned and experienced a nominal flight. After Dragon achieved orbit, the spacecraft experienced an issue with a propellant valve. One thruster pod is running. The company is trying to bring up the remaining three. Dragon's solar arrays deployed. Once SpaceX gets at least two pods running, it will begin a series of burns to get to the space station.

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Two NASA Ames bioscience experiments are on their way to the International Space Station.

The experiments will hitch a ride Friday morning aboard the Dragon unmanned spacecraft propelled into space by the Falcon 9 rocket. In total 1,268 pounds of supplies is headed to the ISS along with experiments to be conducted in orbit.

This is the second cargo delivery by the private Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) owned by Tesla-Founder Elon Musk.

The experiments, Seedling Growth-1—designed to improve understanding of plant growth in space—and the Cell Bio Tech Demo, aim to expand knowledge of how living things respond to the harsh environment of space.

The research experiment will focus on the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

The ability to conduct experiments in microgravity helps scientists address questions of how gravity influences life on Earth and how cells and tissues might be affected on long-duration spaceflight missions. Cellular and bacterial microgravity experiments also can help improve understanding of medically relevant processes and point to new targets for the treatment of injuries and diseases on Earth. Likewise, insights into how plants grow and develop at a molecular level may lead to significant developments in agriculture production as well.

The Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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