NASA is on the verge of having double dragons in its space station



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NASA and SpaceX are making final preparations for a cargo mission that will carry nearly three tons of supplies to the International Space Station.

This “CRS-21” mission is the 21st cargo supply mission SpaceX will launch for NASA as a whole. But it is the first under a new supply contract that runs until 2024, and it will be the first to use an improved “Cargo Dragon 2” vehicle to transport food, water, science experiments and other materials to the orbiting laboratory.

The new cargo vehicle is a modified version of the Crew Dragon spacecraft that has transported humans to the space station twice this year, in May and November. The cargo variant lacks cockpit seats and controls, a life support system, and Super Draco thrusters which are used as an emergency evacuation system should something go wrong during launch.

Compared to the first SpaceX cargo vehicle, Cargo Dragon 2 has a dozen motorized lockers for science experiments, twice as many as before. It’s also designed to be retrieved and prepared for repeated flights faster than its predecessor, and the vehicle has the ability to autonomously connect to the station, rather than having to be grabbed by a robotic arm and strapped to a port. .

After its launch and arrival at the space station, two Dragon vehicles will be attached to the lab for the first time. This is because Crew Dragon Resistance, which launched on November 15 with four astronauts, is also docked at the station and will remain there for about five months.

It’s also worth noting that NASA continues to become more comfortable with reusing spacecraft and rockets built by SpaceX. The first stage of the Falcon 9 used for this mission has already flown three times. In all of the missions SpaceX has done for NASA, the space agency has never allowed the company to use a first-stage thruster that has flown more than once. In the photos above, the dirty and oozing booster makes a stark contrast to the shiny and white Cargo Dragon 2 spaceship.

This mission is scheduled to launch at 11:39 a.m.ET (4:39 p.m. UTC) Saturday from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The weather is worrying, both at the launch site and for the recovery of the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. Official forecasts predict a 50% chance of favorable conditions at the launch site on Saturday. The weather is better for a back-up launch opportunity on Sunday, so the launch could just slip by a day.

When a webcast link is posted, it will be part of this story.

List image by NASA

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