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Welcome to a new day at the International Space Station
SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) after a meticulous orbital pursuit lasting over a day.
The uncrewed spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and finally rendezvoused with the ISS on a serene Saturday morning. Monitored by NASA astronauts Laurel O’Hara and Mike Barratt from the ISS Cupola module, the spacecraft autonomously docked at the zenith port of the station’s Harmony module at 7:19 a.m. EDT.
Weights and Measures
- Crew Supplies: 1,201 pounds / 545 kilograms
- Science investigations: 2,502 pounds / 1,135 kg
- Spacewalk equipment: 198 pounds / 90 kg
- Vehicle hardware: 915 pounds / 415 kg
- Computer resources: 55 pounds / 26 kg
SpaceX’s CRS-30 mission marked its 30th commercial resupply journey to the ISS, delivering 6,263 pounds of fresh food, research experiments, and maintenance hardware for the station’s crew. Additionally, Dragon’s trunk contains a new spare pump for the space station’s external thermal loop system.
Dragon is expected to remain docked to the ISS for around five weeks before its return journey to Earth. Unlike other cargo vehicles, such as Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus or Roscosmos Progress, SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon is designed for atmospheric reentry and recovery via a parachuted splashdown in the ocean. NASA leverages this capability to bring back experiments from the station and dispose of waste.
A plethora of breaking space news, rocket launches, skywatching events, and more await us in the cosmic realm!
Reference:
NASA’s SpaceX CRS-30 cargo breakdown. (Image credit: NASA)
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