"It has a great return capability, it essentially replaces that capacity that we lost when the shuttle retired so that now we'll be able to bring home a wide variety of biological samples, physical sciences samples and we'll be able to bring home research equipment that we need to refurbish and then relaunch again." ![]() "The SpaceX Dragon is a really important vehicle for us because it supports the laboratory use of ISS, both in bringing cargo up to the space station and in bringing research samples home," said Julie Robinson, the space station program scientist at NASA Headquarters. ![]() The first operational cargo flight of a SpaceX capsule is scheduled for launch Sunday. All other station vehicles - unmanned Russian Progress supply ships and European and Japanese cargo craft - burn up during re-entry.ĭuring a test flight in May, a SpaceX Dragon capsule successfully rendezvoused with the International Space Station. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft that ferry crews to and from the space station can only carry a few hundred pounds of small items back to Earth. 28 for re-entry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the southern coast of California where recovery crews will be standing by. Again using the robot arm, Williams and Hoshide plan to unberth the capsule Oct. Taking advantage of the freezer, ice cream was included, a rare treat for space crews.Īs the capsule is unloaded, the astronauts plan to stow nearly a ton of no-longer needed gear, failed components and experiment samples that, until now, have had no way to get back to Earth. Over the next three weeks or so, the station crew will unload a half ton of equipment and supplies, including experiment hardware, a freezer, spare parts, clothing and food. Wednesday, maneuvering it to a berthing at the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module. If all goes well, station commander Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will use the lab's robot arm to grapple the Dragon capsule around 7:22 a.m. It's critical to the success of the station." "This really is the keystone to what is going to allow space station to do what it was built to do. "Not only is it going to give us a consistent supply chain up, but very critical, particularly to biological research, is the return mass, to be able to have frozen samples returned home," said space station Program Manager Mike Suffredini. Unlike Russian, European and Japanese cargo craft that routinely visit the station, the SpaceX Dragon capsule was designed to make round trips to and from the lab complex, giving it the ability to bring major components and experiment samples back to Earth for the first time since shuttles stopped flying last year. Launched into an initially elliptical orbit with a high point of 204 miles and a low point of around 126 miles, the spacecraft will carry out a complex computer-orchestrated series of rendezvous rocket firings to catch up with the space station early Wednesday. There was no effect on Dragon or the space station resupply mission." I believe F9 is the only rocket flying today that, like a modern airliner, is capable of completing a flight successfully even after losing an engine. "Like Saturn 5, which experienced engine loss on two flights, the Falcon 9 is designed to handle an engine flameout and still complete its mission. ![]() "As designed, the flight computer then recomputed a new ascent profile in realtime to reach the target orbit, which is why the burn times were a bit longer," he said. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in an email to Spaceflight Now that the rocket "detected an anomaly on one of the nine (first stage) engines and shut it down." A few moments later, cameras showed the capsule's two solar arrays unfolding and locking in place. The second stage appeared to operate normally and the Dragon capsule was released about 10 minutes and 24 seconds after liftoff. ![]() Live television views from a camera mounted at the base of the second stage showed the engine nozzle glowing cherry red against the black of space as the rocket climbed toward orbit. The first stage fell away about three-and-a-half minutes after launch, about a half minute later than expected, and the single second stage engine then continued the push to space. 1 suffered a dramatic malfunction of some sort, triggering a bright flash in the exhaust plume and what appeared to be debris falling away in the rocket's wake. (Credit: SpaceX)Ībout one minute and 28 seconds into flight, engine No. Unidentified spectators watch the SpaceX Falcon 9 climb toward orbit.
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