SpaceX Targets May 1st for Next Launch of Dragon Cargo

<! –

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After the successful static test of its Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX is planning the start of May for its next cargo mission to the International Space Station.

->

File photo of an old Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Photo credit: Mike Howard / SpaceFlight Insider

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After the successful static test of its Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX is planning the start of May for its next cargo mission to the International Space Station.

The nine F9 Merlin 1D engines were checked on Saturday, April 10, at 00:00 EDT (14:00 GMT). With the rocket firmly attached to the launch pad, the nine Merlin 1D engines in the first stage were lit for several seconds before stopping as planned.

SpaceX confirmed About 25 minutes later, the test had taken place and the company planned to begin the mission at 3:59 am (New York time). May, the 1st. If all goes as planned, it will be his 17th commercial replenishment mission to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Replenishment Services Agreement (nicknamed "CRS-17"). The CRS-17 Dragon has more than 2,500 kilograms of supplies, equipment and crew experience.

The CRS-16 Dragon spacecraft perched atop the Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket at Canaveral SLC-40. Photo Credit: Mike Howard / Insider SpaceFlight

Once in orbit, the vehicle should take about two days to reach the lab in orbit before being captured by Canadian Canad2 outpost robot. Ground crews must then maneuver the arm at a distance to attach the spacecraft to the port of the tower facing the Earth. Harmony module. He should stay at the station for a good part of the month.

It is sometimes said that the cargo dragon "docked" with the station. In fact, considering how the vehicle is attached to the 21-year-old outpost, it is actually docked.

The successful test run took place about a week after the "anomaly" of April 20 occurred during the static fire test of the SuperDraco engines of the Crew Dragon capsule used for the Crew Demo mission. -1 in March.

While Crew Demo-1 was a complete success, SpaceX planned to reuse the capsule that flew this flight for an in-flight drop test this summer. Prepare for abort flight test SpaceX was subjecting the capsule to various ground tests in Landing Zone 1 in Canaveral Landing Zone 1.

As Crew Dragon's investigation is still ongoing, SpaceX has decided to postpone the Falcon 9 first-floor recovery program scheduled for CRS-17. Instead of touching the ground at LZ-1, SpaceX decided to use its spacecraft drone ship (ASDS) of course, I still love you. The company will position the drone ship approximately 28 km east of Cape Canaveral.

Once the CRS-17 mission is launched, it is expected to mark SpaceX's fifth launch in 2019 and Falcon 9's 70th mission since 2010 (not counting the two Falcon Heavy triple core flights in 2018 and 2019).

NASA is not the only SpaceX customer. The company's 2019 launch manifesto, based in Hawthorne, Calif., Contains at least seven other missions, all but one of which is about to fly off Space Coast, Florida (the Radarsat C1, C2 & C3 mission is planned for Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Base on May 16).

Tagged: CRS-17 Key Stories of the International Space Station Dragon Falcon 9 NASA SpaceX

Derek Richardson

Derek Richardson is a graduate in mass media with a specialization in contemporary journalism from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. When he was in Washburn, he was the editor of the newspaper led by students, the Washburn Review. He also has a blog on the International Space Station called Orbital Velocity. He met with members of the SpaceFlight Insider team during the flight of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket with the MUOS-4 satellite. Richardson joined our team shortly thereafter.

His passion for space was ignited when he watched the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery in space on October 29, 1998. Today, this fervor is still alive and well. is accelerated to orbit and shows no signs of slowing down. After attending math and engineering courses at the university, he quickly realized that his true calling was to communicate with others about the space. Since joining SpaceFlight Insider in 2015, Richardson has worked to improve the quality of our content and ultimately become our editor-in-chief. @TheSpaceWriter