Next SpaceX launch will bring critical docking adapter to International Space Station

The International Space Station is getting an important piece of cargo next week: a new International Docking Adapter, or IDA, that will allow future crewed spacecraft to automatically dock with the station. The large metallic ring, which measures 63 inches in diameter, will eventually be installed on the Harmony module. This is the second IDA to be sent to space, though the first one never actually made it to orbit; it was destroyed when the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying it to the ISS disintegrated during launch in June 2015. "This is the second IDA to be sent to space, though the first one never actually made it" This new IDA is slated to launch early Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The vehicle will carry around 3,800 pounds of fresh cargo and science experiments, including a space-based DNA sequencer called minION that will be used by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins to sequence DNA in space for the first time. But the IDA is perhaps the key item onboard. More

(Source: The Verge - Jul 14)