Wed, Jan 10, 2018
Dragon Cargo Ship Will Undock On Saturday, January 13
After delivering more than 4,800 pounds of science and supplies to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft will depart the orbiting laboratory on Friday, Jan. 12.
On Friday, Jan. 12, flight controllers will use the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach Dragon from the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony module. After Dragon is maneuvered into place, a ground-controlled command will release the spacecraft as NASA's Expedition 54 Flight Engineers Joe Acaba and Scott Tingle monitor its departure at 5 a.m. Saturday.
Dragon's thrusters will fire to move the spacecraft a safe distance from the station before SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, command its deorbit burn. The spacecraft will splash down about 10:36 a.m. in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery forces will retrieve Dragon and approximately 4,100 pounds of cargo, including science samples from human and animal research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities. NASA will not provide coverage of the deorbit burn and splashdown.
NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization that manages research aboard the U.S. national laboratory portion of the space station, will receive time-sensitive samples from experiments conducted aboard the station and begin working with researchers to process and distribute them within 48 hours of splashdown.
Dragon, the only space station resupply spacecraft capable of returning science and cargo to Earth, launched Dec. 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and arrived at the station Dec. 17 for the company's 13th NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission to the station.
(Source: NASA news release. Image provided by NASA)
More News
Airport Rotating Beacon A visual NAVAID operated at many airports. At civil airports, alternating white and green flashes indicate the location of the airport. At military airports>[...]
Aero Linx: Fly for the Culture Fly For the Culture, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves young people interested in pursuing professions in the aviation industry>[...]
Klyde Is Having Some Issues Comprehending The Fed's Priorities FMI: www.klydemorris.com>[...]
Also: Viasat-uAvionix, UL94 Fuel Investigation, AF Materiel Command, NTSB Safety Alert Norges Luftsportforbund chose Aura Aero's little 2-seater in electric trim for their next gli>[...]
Also: EP Systems' Battery, Boeing SAF, Repeat TBM 960 Order, Japan Coast Guard H225 Buy Despite nearly 100 complaints totaling millions of dollars of potential fraud, combined with>[...]