This is the second spacecraft in the series, but the first in the missions funded by NASA * The spacecraft also includes experiments that will be carried out on the space station, including three from Israel
SpaceX launched tonight (02:35 Israel time) the first spacecraft out of the dozen missions commissioned by NASA to deliver approximately 300 kg of equipment and supplies to the space station. The spacecraft will arrive at the International Space Station on Wednesday.
The flight, known as CRS-1, was launched in the same way and will carry out the same series of operations upon rendezvous with the station as the previous spacecraft from the Dragon series that was launched to the station in May of this year, except that then it was during the spacecraft's test, and now it is the first commercial launch.
The spacecraft took off on top of a Falcon 9 missile, also from the SpaceX company. Nine Marlin liquid fuel and oxygen engines are integrated into the launcher. Falcon 9's second stage uses a single Merlin engine to accelerate it to final orbit.
11 minutes after launch, the Dragon deployed its pair of solar collectors and the mornings will begin testing the rendezvous sensors with the space station. At this time the spaceship makes its way alone without the rocket that carried it.
When the Dragon arrives at the station on Wednesday, it will be towed by the station's robotic arm. This will be the first official private mission to the space station. The spacecraft will be attached to the station for about three weeks, during which the astronauts and cosmonauts on the station will dismantle the equipment and load it with waste.
Among the equipment on the spacecraft - a freezer that will be used to preserve scientific samples. Before the spacecraft's departure, it will carry over a ton of scientific samples collected in research on the space station, together with the freezer in which the samples will be kept. The astronauts will install used equipment in a capsule that will return to Earth in a soft landing, where engineers can test them.
A different type of cargo spacecraft is being developed at the same time by Orbital Science. This is the Cygnus spacecraft and the Antares launcher, which will make a Nissan flight later this year.
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anonymous user,
The US is in an economic crisis, and after two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they have less money for waste, especially for expensive waste like the space shuttle program. (Of course, this is all a matter of national priorities, and some argue that the US spends more money on other less important things , but that's already politics...)
When the budget for NASA was small, they were looking for where to cut, and the shuttle program was at the top of the list. There are several reasons for this:
1. The ferries were built in the late seventies and are now in their thirties, and as a result they require more maintenance, which makes their operation more expensive.
2. For the same reason I mentioned in section 1 the shuttles are less safe than before, and we will add to that the 2 disasters when the shuttles Challenger and Columbia exploded.
3. The shuttles in the design were supposed to be a multi-purpose means of transportation, in contrast to the Saturn rockets used by the space program before them, which were disposable, and therefore also expensive. Due to cutbacks in the design phase of the shuttles, they had to compromise the capabilities of the shuttles, and they were built with the central body being multi-purpose, but 2 rockets and a huge fuel tank are disposable, so the design of the shuttles failed to significantly reduce the flights. The time it takes for the ferries to be ready for another launch after their return to Israel was supposed to be several weeks, but in reality it is several months.
4. A cut in the shuttle program, and a switch to flying Russian rockets and then rockets from the private sector, left more time and money for NASA to engage in deep space flights (plans to land a man on Mars, an asteroid, or even return to the moon), and less in the routine operations of the launch itself.
In conclusion, the shuttle program was expensive, unreliable, dangerous, outdated and missed the goals of its design.
To my father Blizovsky,
I could not understand if the second stage of the rocket is what propels the spacecraft to the space station or if, as you wrote, the spacecraft makes its way to the space station by itself.
The ferry flights were too much of a financial burden and were therefore discontinued, the private ferry flights are much cheaper.
My father, I'm sorry for calling, but I don't know and I didn't check how many flights the Discovery made and why they stopped the flights
To Avi Cohen why NASA decided to stop the shuttle flights
This is an important development in space exploration. Although this is not a scientific development that enriches our knowledge, this development builds a new economy (or develops one that already exists), a space economy, which makes space more attractive for financial investments.
Recently we have heard a lot about the cancellation of projects at NASA, which are undoubtedly a setback in space exploration, but such news strengthens the basis for space exploration, and makes it more stable, when funding for the space programs can be obtained From private sources and not only from political sources subject to the whims of politicians and a political agenda...