It’s not clear if that experiment hardware includes Microsoft’s HoloLens, two pairs of which were lost in the SpaceX supply flight last week when the rocket exploded minutes after takeoff. Microsoft’s AR tech is set to be used by ISS crew members as a new tool for communicating with ground operators and to help with complicated repairs on the space station.
Sunday’s supply mission is the first to reach the ISS since April 17. Besides last week’s failed SpaceX flight, a Russian spacecraft that left Earth on April 28 also failed to reach the space station.
Despite the loss of two supply rockets in recent months, NASA said the crew on board the ISS were never in any danger and had enough supplies for another three months. Still, everyone involved in Sunday’s effort, not least the astronauts on board the station, will have been mightily relieved to have seen this latest mission go without a hitch. Indeed, American astronaut Scott Kelly welcomed the arrival of the cargo spacecraft with an understandably upbeat tweet:
The third time’s the charm as the say! #Progress60 arrives overnight. Great news. #YearInSpace (with supplies!) pic.twitter.com/BRRFA13ER1
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) July 5, 2015
Two Russian cosmonauts are also on board the ISS – Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko. Padalka hit the headlines last week for breaking the record for the longest number of days in space. He’s now been off terra firma for 811 days, and aims to make it to at least 1,000.
