SpaceX has accomplished another mission with its Dragon spacecraft after its successful launch on Thursday, June 3, all within six months. During the space flight, the cargo, together with the Falcon 9 rocket encountered no issue on the first trial of the trip on their way to the International Space Station (ISS).
SpaceX Smoothly Deployed Dragon and Falcon 9 Rocket
CRS-22 Cargo Dragon 2 en route to ISS
According to Teslarati's report on Thursday, June 3, SpaceX has been carrying the B1067, its newest booster together with the Falcon 9 rocket which stands at 70 meters in length (230 ft). Along the journey, the Dragon 2 spacecraft (which could be C209) has flown into space without any known issues during the first flight trial.
Around 12 minutes after a victorious take-off, SpaceX releases the second-upgraded Cargo Dragon from the upper stage of the rocket. The team checked its condition, specifically its 12 Dracgo maneuvering thrusters. Meanwhile, the nose cone was opened to give way to the entry of the four "bulkhead" thrusters.
Moreover, the nose thrusters are made to endure the momentary orbit in space during the phasing burn stage. For them to rendezvous in space, they should be in the same orbital plane, and their orbit match should be aligned as well.
After the meeting, they should be docked with the ISS. After several months, they will return to the planet. At the moment, the dock schedule of the CRS-22 Cargo Dragon with the ISS is on Saturday, June 5 at around 5 AM EDT (09:00 UTC), TechCrunch reported. During that time, it would be carrying loads that weigh 3.3 metric tons or 7,300 lbs.
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Lift off of the #CRS22 mission! The #Falcon9 successfully delivered Dragon to orbit and is on the way to the @Space_Station! #SpaceX #NASA
— Richard Angle (@RDAnglePhoto) June 3, 2021
📸 for @Teslarati pic.twitter.com/g9w1yKCAya
The six ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs) of SpaceX will help to slow down the deteriorating solar power production of the space station. NASA stated that the power production of the ISS would be improved by 20-30%.
From the trunk of Cargo Dragon, the iROSAs would be released in two where each of them weighs 690 kg or 1,520 lbs. Furthermore, CRS-25 and CRS-26 would be the next two to be released next year.
What SpaceX did this time was a fast mission completion. The Dragon's fourth take-off in six months means that the space agency has already finished over 15% launches --that's less than 5% since the spacecraft zoomed above.
SpaceX Could Accomplish More Dragon Flights This Year
We are aware that SpaceX has been doing a lot of things this 2021, and we would expect that maybe four or five Dragon cargo flights would happen until the start of 2022.
The improved Cargo Dragon would be attached to the CRS-23 in August. In addition, September will be the release date for the private launch of Inspiration4.
As early as October, NASA and ESA will send four astronauts as part of the Crew-3. In December, it will be followed by the launch of CRS-24.
Indeed, SpaceX is making sure that all things would go according to plan and if that happens, the Dragon's launch could hint that it could reach 12 take-offs within the year. It needs to pass the next ISS mission which involves freeing five spacecraft in five months.
Related Article: SpaceX Starlink Mission: Falcon 9 Completes 100th Successive Flights in a Row After Another 60 Satellites Released
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Written by Joseph Henry
