We’ve all been there. The delivery man says he’s going to call on a given day at a given time, so you sit waiting at home. He never shows up and now you’ve got no stuff and you’ve lost a day of your life.
Such is life on board the International Space Station (ISS) of late, with our brave space dudes awaiting a delivery of fresh supplies, only to hear that the spacecraft carrying it all exploded shortly after launch. Yodel might be one of the most unreliable courier firms on Earth, but as far as we know its lorries don’t burst in to flames, torching all your stuff. At least you’ll get it, eventually.
The positive news (sort of) for the good burghers of the ISS is that Nasa is branching out in its use of private launch contractors. A Russian Progress 60P resupply ship has been drafted in as a replacement service following the catastrophic loss of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo ship. This was NASA’s third private launch failure in eight months.
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Engineering & Technology magazine 