posted 04-06-2016 10:42 PM               

SpaceX CRS-8 Mission Overview

SpaceX's CRS-8 Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station is set to deliver nearly 7,000 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbiting laboratory.

SpaceX is targeting the launch of its Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 GMT) on Friday (April 8) from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Ten minutes later, the Dragon will reach its preliminary orbit, deploy its solar arrays and begin a choreographed series of thruster firings to reach the space station.

Following stage separation, the first stage of the Falcon 9 will attempt a propulsive landing on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Dragon will arrive at the station on Sunday (April 10), at which time astronauts Jeff Williams and Tim Peake will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture the spacecraft. Ground commands will be sent from Houston to the arm to then install Dragon on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony module for its month-long stay at the station.

The next day, the crew will pressurize the space between the station and the Dragon and open the hatches between the two spacecraft.

The Dragon's unpressurized cargo includes the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which will be attached to the station for a two year test of an inflatable habitat.

Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth on May 11. About five-and-a-half hours after it leaves the station, it will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California.

posted 04-08-2016 04:20 PM               

'BEAM' up! SpaceX Dragon soars to space station with inflatable space module

A prototype inflatable space habitat is now on its way to the International Space Station, flying aboard the first SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft to launch since a failure last summer.

Riding atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the Dragon capsule with Bigelow Aerospace's BEAM – or Bigelow Expandable Activity Module – lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida at 4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 GMT) Friday (April 8).

The launch marked a return to flight for Dragon, following the loss of SpaceX's previous uncrewed cargo freighter in an in-flight breakup of a Falcon 9 rocket in June 2015.

posted 04-08-2016 11:03 PM               

SpaceX lands Falcon 9 first stage on sea-based drone ship for reuse

SpaceX took "another step towards the stars" Friday (April 8), successfully landing the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket so that it can be reused. The vertical touchdown was the second such feat in SpaceX's history, and the first to be done on a ship floating in the ocean.

"I think it's a really good milestone for the future of space flight," said Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO and chief technical officer, in a press conference at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "In order for us to really open up access to space, we have to achieve full and rapid reusability."

posted 04-10-2016 03:46 PM               

Dragon arrives at space station

Two days after launching to the International Space Station, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft was grappled and berthed to the orbiting outpost on Sunday (April 10).

Astronaut Tim Peake of the European Space Agency, with the help of NASA's Jeff Williams, captured the Dragon using the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm at 6:23 a.m. CDT (1123 GMT).

"I have been waiting to get a pic of The Palms [in] Dubai and then this happened just prior to capture," wrote Peake on Twitter.

The Dragon's arrival marked the first time that two U.S. commercial cargo vehicles have simultaneously been at the station. Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft arrived just over two weeks ago. With the arrival of Dragon, the space station ties the record for most vehicles on station at one time — six.

The Dragon was hard-mated to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony node at 8:57 a.m. EDT (1357 GMT) as the station flew 250 miles over southern Algeria.

posted 05-11-2016 02:08 PM               

Critical NASA Science Returns to Earth aboard SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft

A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 2:51 p.m. EDT (1851 GMT) Wednesday, May 11, about 261 miles southwest of Long Beach, California, with more than 3,700 pounds of NASA cargo, science and technology demonstration samples from the International Space Station.

The Dragon spacecraft will be taken by ship to Long Beach where some cargo will be removed and returned to NASA, and then be prepared for shipment to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing.

A variety of technology and biology studies conducted in the unique microgravity environment of the space station returned aboard the commercial resupply spacecraft, including research in the burgeoning field of nanotechnology. The Microchannel Diffusion study, for example, examined how microparticles interact with each other and their delivery channel in the absence of gravitational forces. In this one-of-a-kind laboratory, researchers were able to observe nanoscale behaviors at slightly larger scales — knowledge which may have implications for advancements in particle filtration, space exploration and drug delivery technologies.

CASIS Protein Crystal Growth 4 also has applications in medicine – specifically, drug design and development. Growing protein crystals in microgravity can avoid some of the obstacles inherent to protein crystallization on Earth, such as sedimentation. One investigation explored the effect of microgravity on the co-crystallization of a membrane protein with a medically-relevant compound in order to determine its three-dimensional structure. This will enable scientists to use "designer" compounds to chemically target and inhibit an important human biological pathway thought to be responsible for several types of cancer.

The spacecraft also returned to Earth the final batch of human research samples from former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly's historic one-year mission. These samples will be analyzed for studies such as Biochemical Profile, Cardio Ox, Fluid Shifts, Microbiome, Salivary Markers and the Twins Study. Additional samples taken on the ground, as Kelly continues to support these studies, will provide insights relevant for NASA's Journey to Mars as the agency learns more about how the human body adjusts to weightlessness, isolation, radiation and the stress of long-duration spaceflight.

The spacesuit worn by NASA astronaut Tim Kopra during a January spacewalk also was returned for additional analysis by engineers on the ground, as NASA continues to investigate the source of water that caused and early end to the spacewalk after Kopra reported a small water bubble inside his helmet.

Dragon currently is the only station resupply spacecraft able to return a significant amount of cargo to Earth. The spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida April 8, and arrived at the space station April 10, carrying almost 7,000 pounds of supplies and scientific cargo on the company's eighth NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission.