SpaceX launches next week the Dragon cargo spacecraft to the ISS

US space flight company SpaceX is expected to launch its 4th commercial replenishment mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 4, NASA announced Wednesday.

The Falcon 9 rocket will be launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida, carrying a Dragon cargo ship loaded with supplies and equipment for the crew's scientific research aboard the laboratory. orbit.

Research on this flight includes a test of robotic space ship refueling technology, a World Forest Mapping Project, and two student studies inspired by Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" series.

After about a month of liaison with the space station, Dragon will return with the results of previous experiments in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California, NASA announced.

The ISS is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that is demonstrating new technologies and enabling impossible searches on Earth. The space station has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It remains the stepping stone to the next big jump in NASA's exploration, including future missions on the Moon and, possibly, on Mars.