US spacecraft carries 3D printer, mice to space station

Carrying a 3D printer and 20 mice, US spacecraft Dragon blasted off Sunday, starting a four-week mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The unmanned spacecraft, launched by private US firm SpaceX, lifted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:52 am EDT (0552 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a live NASA TV broadcast showed.

About 10 minutes later, the spacecraft separated from the rocket's second stage as planned.

"The Dragon spacecraft has been delivered to orbit!" US space agency NASA said in its blog.

It was Dragon's fourth cargo mission to the ISS. These four "operational cargo missions have made the spacecraft a regular visitor to the orbiting laboratory," NASA said.

The Dragon spacecraft carried 2.5 tons of supplies, science experiments and technology demonstrations, including critical materials to support 255 science and research investigations.

One of the new technology demonstrations heading into orbit is a 3D printer the size of a small microwave, which will be the first such device in space.

"The hardware serves as a test bed for evaluating how well 3D printing and the microgravity of space combine," NASA said in a statement prior to the launch. "Its use in space signals a new era of off-world manufacturing."

The 3D printer, developed by commercial company Made In Space, can churn out plastic objects within a span of 15 minutes to an hour, the space agency said.

A group of 20 mice are also aboard the spacecraft, the first time for Dragon to carry live mammals.

NASA said the rodent research enables scientists to study the long-term effects of microgravity on mammalian physiology.

In addition, the spacecraft carried a science instrument called ISS-RapidScat to monitor ocean winds from the International Space Station.

Dragon will arrive at the ISS early Tuesday and return to Earth in mid-October for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of southern California.

Dragon is the only operational spacecraft in the United States capable of returning a significant amount of supplies back to Earth, including experiments.

SpaceX, a California-based company, currently holds a 1.6-billion-US-dollar contract with NASA to fly 12 cargo missions to the ISS using the Dragon spacecraft and the Falcon 9 rocket.

Earlier this week, the company won a 2.6-billion-dollar NASA contract to develop and fly a manned Dragon spacecraft by 2017.

NASA also awarded Boeing a 4.2-billion-dollar contract to develop a second space taxi in the hope of ending the US dependence on Russia in manned missions.