SpaceX Dragon freighter docks at the space station to deliver solar panels, seeds and more
SpaceX’s newest Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) early Sunday (Nov. 27) to deliver tons of fresh supplies, new solar wings and even some ice for the orbiting lab.
The robot Dragon spacecraft docked with the orbiting lab around 7:39 a.m. EST (1230 GMT) Sunday, as both spacecraft sailed high over the Pacific Ocean.
“We’re excited to unpack and get to work,” NASA astronaut Josh Cassada radioed Mission Contro from the station after the successful docking.
“Hope you can enjoy your much-deserved and long-awaited ice cream soon,” replied Megan Harvey of Mission Control.
Sunday’s encounter ended a brief space chase for Dragon; the SpaceX cargo ship launched on top of one Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 26) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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Dragon is packed with about 7,700 pounds (3,500 kilograms) of cargo. The manifesto contains two new ones International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs), equipment designed to augment the orbiting laboratory’s existing solar wings.
The ISS will eventually contain six iROSAs, which together will increase the station’s power supply by 20% to 30%. Spacewalking astronauts have so far installed two of the new arrays.
Dragon also delivered a wide variety of science experiments to the ISS during this trip. For example, a study going to the station will grow dwarf cherry tomatoes from seeds in an effort to ramp up food production beyond Earth. Another study will continue earlier microgravity research with 3D cultured heart tissue (opens in new tab)testing potential therapies that could prevent or slow the development of heart disease.
Dragon’s current mission is called CRS-26 because it is the 26th robotic cargo flight SpaceX is flying for NASA to the ISS. The launch of CRS-26 was scheduled for Tuesday (November 22), but it did pushed back by bad weather.
Cargo Dragons usually remain docked to the ISS for about a month, but CRS-26 will remain airborne for about 45 days, NASA officials have said. Part of the extra time was reserved for the spacewalks required to install the iROSAs.
CRS-26 will end with a parachute jump into the ocean. Dragon is the only currently operational cargo craft to return to Earth in one piece after its missions. The other two active cargo ships — Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus craft and Russia’s Progress craft — are designed to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere when their time in orbit is over.
Mike Wall is the author of “Outside (opens in new tab)(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
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