 |
SpaceX Dragon CRS-16 cargo
ship approaches the International Space Station on Dec. 8, 2018 as seen through
the windows of the Cupola module along with a toy floating dragon. Dragon
launched from Cape Canaveral on Dec. 5, 2018 atop SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Credit:
NASA Anne McClain
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Three days after a spectacular blastoff from the Florida Space Coast, a commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived and attached to the International Space Station on Sat. Dec. 8, bearing almost three tons of science and Christmas goodies for the six person multinational crew from the US, Russia and Germany.
The Dragon CRS-16 spacecraft reached the vicinity of the station Saturday morning following a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings.
This now twice launched Dragon rendezvoused at the orbiting outpost as planned on Dec. 8 for capture by the crew and installation on the Earth facing port of the Harmony module for a month long stay.
 |
The SpaceX Dragon CRS-16
cargo craft approaches the ISS for capture with the Canadarm2 robotic arm on
Dec. 8, 2018. Credit: Alexander Gerst/ESA
|
They were assisted by recently launched astronaut Anne McClain of NASA.
 |
The SpaceX Dragon CRS-16
cargo craft is being captured with the Canadarm2 robotic arm on Dec. 8, 2018. Credit:
NASA
|
Gerst commanded the stations robotic arm during the arrival and capture sequence backed up Aunon-Chancellor.
Ground controllers then took over the rest of the berthing activities and sent commands to begin the robotic installation of the spacecraft on the bottom of the station’s Harmony module.
 |
The SpaceX Dragon
cargo craft is moments way from being captured with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Credit:
NASA
|
 |
The SpaceX Dragon CRS-16
cargo craft approaches the ISS for capture with the Canadarm2 robotic arm on
Dec. 8, 2018. Credit: NASA
|
NASA Television provided live grappling and installation
coverage which can always be watched online at www.nasa.gov/live.
Including Dragon there
are now six visiting vehicle spaceships attached to the ISS. The others are a Cygnus
supply ship, a pair of crewed Soyuz spaceship and two uncrewed Progress cargo craft.
 |
Dec. 8, 2018:
International Space Station Configuration. Six spaceships are attached at the
space station including the U.S. resupply ships Northrop Grumman Cygnus and the
SpaceX Dragon; and Russia’s Progress 70 and 71 resupply ships and the Soyuz
MS-09 and MS-10 crew ships all from Roscosmos.
|
 |
A
SpaceX Dragon CRS-16 spacecraft launches to the International Space Station at
1:16 p.m. EST Dec. 5, 2018, on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40
at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying more than 5,600 pounds
of research equipment, cargo and supplies on the 16th resupply
mission for NASA. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
 |
A
SpaceX Dragon CRS-16 spacecraft launches to the International Space Station at
1:16 p.m. EST Dec. 5, 2018, on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40
at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying more than 5,600 pounds
of research equipment, cargo and supplies on the 16th resupply
mission for NASA. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
SpaceX’s attempt to recover
the first stage back at the Cape with a land landing 8 minutes later for eventual
recycling and relaunch failed when the hydraulic pump in the grid fins used for
steering malfunctioned and forced the first stage booster to land in the ocean safely
instead just a mile or so offshore at sea with no danger to population centers
or infrastructure.
The booster soft landed
in the water and then tipped over and remained afloat horizontally.
It was towed into Port Canaveral two days later on Friday, Dec. 7. Check out our story and image gallery.
The launch of SpaceX’s 16th commercial resupply mission for NASA was postponed a day from the original target of Tuesday, Dec. 4 to Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 5 to remove and replace contaminated bars of mouse food for 40 rodentonauts riding aboard to the High Frontier as part of the Rodent Research-8 experiment.
The late breaking discovery of what amounts to moldy mouse meals getting ready to be flown to space aboard the commercial Dragon cargo ship bound for the ISS forced NASA and SpaceX to delay the liftoff on the Falcon 9 carrier rocket from Florida’s Space Coast by 24 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 5.
Dragon CRS-16 is loaded with nearly 3 tons of science and supplies for the newly expanded six person Expedition 57 crew currently living and working aboard the ISS including the three new crewmembers launched Dec. 3 on a Russian Soyuz rocket and spacecraft from Baikonur.
 |
Floating SpaceX Falcon 9 towed into Port
Canaveral, FL, on 7 Dec. 2018 is nudged into docking slip by tugboats. The 15-story tall first stage made an aborted
splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean on 5 Dec. 2018 after a grid fin hydraulic
failure forced retargeting landing away from the ground at Landing Zone-1 at
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station following blastoff on the Dragon CRS-16 resupply
mission for NASA to the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
It was towed into Port Canaveral two days later on Friday, Dec. 7. Check out our story and image gallery.
The launch of SpaceX’s 16th commercial resupply mission for NASA was postponed a day from the original target of Tuesday, Dec. 4 to Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 5 to remove and replace contaminated bars of mouse food for 40 rodentonauts riding aboard to the High Frontier as part of the Rodent Research-8 experiment.
The late breaking discovery of what amounts to moldy mouse meals getting ready to be flown to space aboard the commercial Dragon cargo ship bound for the ISS forced NASA and SpaceX to delay the liftoff on the Falcon 9 carrier rocket from Florida’s Space Coast by 24 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 5.
Dragon CRS-16 is loaded with nearly 3 tons of science and supplies for the newly expanded six person Expedition 57 crew currently living and working aboard the ISS including the three new crewmembers launched Dec. 3 on a Russian Soyuz rocket and spacecraft from Baikonur.
This current trio is nearing the end of their Expedition 57 mission. They are scheduled to depart the station in their Soyuz MS-09 capsule just before Christmas on Dec. 20.
They were joined by the recently launched Expedition 58 trio in the Soyuz MS-11 capsule carrying Anne McClain of NASA, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, and Oleg Konenenko of Roscosmos that launched flawlessly on Dec. 3 at 6:31 a.m. EST, 1131 GMT (5:31 p.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Expedition 58 officially begins once the three departing spacefarers undock from the space station, says NASA.
Dragon delivered supplies and payloads, including materials to directly support dozens of the science and research investigations that will occur during the space station’s Expeditions 57 and 58.
This Dragon is refurbished and recycled and previously flew on the CRS-10 mission to the station.
 |
Up Close view of Dragon CRS-16
cargo ship bolted atop SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket poised for liftoff on mission to
the ISS from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL,
on Dec. 5, 2018 at 1:16 pm EST. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
Highlights of the payloads on board include:
The Robotic Refueling Mission 3, or RRM3, to test refueling techniques in microgravity and the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation lidar, or GEDI for global forest measurement, the Rodent Research-8 experiment looking into the aging process and crystallization experiments to aid in finding a cure or Parkinson’s disease.
 |
Unpressurized trunk
section of the Dragon carrying the RRM3 and GEDI experiments to orbit for NASA
on the CRS-16 mission launched Dec. 5, 2018. Credit: SpaceX
|
"The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) will provide high-quality laser ranging observations of the Earth’s forests and topography required to advance the understanding of important carbon and water cycling processes, biodiversity, and habitat. GEDI will be mounted on the Japanese Experiment Module’s Exposed Facility and provide the first high-resolution observations of forest vertical structure at a global scale. These observations will quantify the aboveground carbon stored in vegetation and changes that result from vegetation disturbance and recovery, the potential for forests to sequester carbon in the future, and habitat structure and its influence on habitat quality and biodiversity.
A small satellite deployment mechanism, called SlingShot, will be ride up in Dragon and then be installed in a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft prior to its departure from the space station. SlingShot can accommodate as many as 18 CubeSats of any format. After the Cygnus cargo ship departs from station, the spacecraft navigates to an altitude of 280 to 310 miles (an orbit higher than that of the space station) to deploy the satellites.
Robotic Refueling Mission-3 (RRM3) will demonstrate the first transfer and long-term storage of liquid methane, a cryogenic fluid, in microgravity. The ability to replenish and store cryogenic fluids, which can function as a fuel or coolant, will help enable long duration journeys to destinations, such as the Moon and Mars.
Growth of Large, Perfect Protein Crystals for Neutron Crystallography (Perfect Crystals) crystallizes an antioxidant protein found inside the human body to analyze its shape. This research may shed light on how the protein helps protect the human body from ionizing radiation and oxidants created as a byproduct of metabolism. For best results, analysis requires large crystals with minimal imperfections, which are more easily produced in the microgravity environment of the space station."
After about a five week stay Dragon is scheduled to depart the station around January 13, 2019 and return to Earth with more than 4,000 pounds of research, hardware and crew supplies.
Dragon is the only spacecraft currently flying that can return large quantities of science samples and other hardware back to researchers for analysis and investigations here on Earth.
Watch my commentary about the successful launch and ‘successful failure’ of the retargeted aborted landing here at Fox 35 News Orlando, FL:
http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/spacex-falcon-9-launch-scheduled-for-wednesday-afternoon
The prior CRS-15 resupply flight successfully flew in June
from pad 40.
The two stage Falcon 9/Dragon rocket stands about 213-feet (65-meters) tall.
To date SpaceX has successfully landed 32 1st stage rockets by land and by sea. And they have reused 17 of those 15 story tall boosters since the first relaunch in March 2017 relaunch for SES.
CRS-16 marks the 20th flight overall for SpaceX in 2018 and the 4th ISS resupply mission for NASA in 2018.
SpaceX was awarded a $3.04 Billion contract from NASA to launch 20 Dragon cargo missions to the orbiting outpost through 2019 under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) agreement.
SpaceX has been awarded at least six more cargo resupply missions through 2024 under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) agreement.
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist, journalist and photographer based in the KSC area.
The two stage Falcon 9/Dragon rocket stands about 213-feet (65-meters) tall.
To date SpaceX has successfully landed 32 1st stage rockets by land and by sea. And they have reused 17 of those 15 story tall boosters since the first relaunch in March 2017 relaunch for SES.
CRS-16 marks the 20th flight overall for SpaceX in 2018 and the 4th ISS resupply mission for NASA in 2018.
SpaceX was awarded a $3.04 Billion contract from NASA to launch 20 Dragon cargo missions to the orbiting outpost through 2019 under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) agreement.
SpaceX has been awarded at least six more cargo resupply missions through 2024 under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) agreement.
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist, journalist and photographer based in the KSC area.
………….
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
No comments:
Post a Comment