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SpaceX to Launch New ISS Resupply Mission in March

This will be the company's third flight to the space station

Feb 14, 2014 08:12 GMT  ·  By
Dragon berthed to the ISS during its second resupply mission
   Dragon berthed to the ISS during its second resupply mission

Officials at the Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) announced recently that they are aiming for a March 16 launch date for their third Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) flight to the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceX is working under a CRS contract with NASA to develop the Falcon 9 medium-lift delivery system and the Dragon unmanned cargo capsule, and to use these spacecraft for conducting at least 8 resupply flights to the station over the next few years.

March 16 was selected as a potential launch date by ISS Mission Control, which had to deal with a wide variety of issues while making a decision – including joggling flight delays to find a clear ascending route for the Falcon 9 rocket to reach orbit.

The new Dragon capsule will take off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida. Falcon 9 will carry the spacecraft into a geocentric low-Earth orbit with an inclination of 51.6 degrees, which will enable Dragon to fly by the ISS shortly afterwards.

Since it lacks automated docking systems, the cargo spacecraft will have to be captured by Expedition 38 astronauts aboard the ISS, using the Canadarm-2 robotic arm built by the Canadian Space Agency. Once Dragon is grappled, it will be directed to the nadir docking port of the US-built Harmony module.

At this point, launch is set to occur at around 4:41 am EDT (0841 GMT). NASA estimates that Dragon will spend less than 48 hours chasing the ISS in LEO. Rendezvous is scheduled to occur on March 18.

Unlike the Progress resupply capsules built by the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos), the Dragon spacecraft are reusable, and are not destroyed upon atmospheric reentry. After astronauts clear the vehicle of its supplies, they will load it up with experiments that need to be returned to Earth.

They will also add many unnecessary pieces of equipment, as well as other objects that require repair. Dragon will make a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean once it reenters Earth's atmosphere, Space reports.