Category Archives: Space Station

This story was updated at 10:46 p.m. ET.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A privately built rocket lit up the night sky over Florida Sunday (Oct. 7) to kick off the first-ever cargo delivery trip to the International Space Station by a robotic, American-made spacecraft.

The unmanned Dragon space capsule, built by the commercial spaceflight firm SpaceX, roared into space atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket from a launch pad here at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, beginning a three-day flight to the space station. Liftoff occurred at 8:35 p.m. EDT (0035 Monday GMT).

The mission is the first of a dozen SpaceX cargo flights under a $1.6 billion deal with NASA for its Commercial Resupply Services program. This flight, being the first mission, is dubbed SpaceX CRS-1 and is expected to arrive at the orbiting lab on Wednesday morning (Oct. 7).

NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini said Dragon's ability to launch supplies to the station and return cargo back to Earth is a cornerstone of boosting scientific research on the orbiting laboratory, as well as its day-to-day maintenance.

"Not to be overdramatic, but it's critical to the International Space Station,"Suffredini said during the countdown to launch. [Photos: Dragon Launches on 1st Space Station Cargo Trip]

Sunday night's launch was nearly flawless. One of the Falcon 9 rocket nine engines apparently shut down unexpectedly during the ascent, but the booster's eight other engines compensated for the glitch and delivered the Dragon spacecraft into its intended orbit, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said after the flight. The rocket is designed to do exactly that in the event of an engine anomaly, she added.

An American spaceship rises

When NASA retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011, it marked the first time in 30 years that the United States did not have an American spacecraft capable of flying missions to and from low-Earth orbit. NASA is relying on the availability of new private space taxis to deliver U.S. supplies, and ultimately astronauts, to the International Space Station.

Currently, the U.S. space agency depends on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ferry crews to the station, and sends cargo on various robotic spacecraft operated by space agencies in Russia, Japan and Europe. But those unmanned space freighters are not designed to return science experiments and other station gear back to Earth. Instead, the spacecraft are disposed of in Earth's atmosphere by burning up during re-entry.

Read the original here:
Liftoff! SpaceX Dragon Launches 1st Private Space Station Cargo Mission

A commercial cargo ship rocketed into orbit Sunday in pursuit of the International Space Station, the first of a dozen supply runs under a mega-contract with NASA.

It was the second launch of a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab by the California-based SpaceX company. The first was last spring.

This time was no test flight, however, and the spacecraft carried 1,000 pounds of key science experiments and other precious gear on this truly operational mission. There was also a personal touch: chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream tucked in a freezer for the three station residents.

The company's unmanned Falcon rocket roared into the night sky right on time, putting SpaceX on track to reach the space station Wednesday. The complex was soaring southwest of Tasmania when the Falcon took flight.

Officials declared the launch a success, despite a problem with one of the nine first-stage engines. The rocket put Dragon in its intended orbit, said the billionaire founder and chief executive officer of SpaceX, Elon Musk.

"It's driving its way to station, so that's just awesome," noted SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.

In more good news, a piece of space junk was no longer threatening the station, and NASA could focus entirely on the delivery mission.

NASA is counting on private business to restock the space station, now that the shuttles have retired to museums. The space agency has a $1.6 billion contract with SpaceX for 12 resupply missions.

Especially exciting for NASA is the fact that the Dragon will return twice as much cargo as it took up, including a stockpile of astronauts' blood and urine samples. The samples nearly 500 of them have been stashed in freezers since Atlantis made the last shuttle flight in July 2011.

The Dragon will spend close to three weeks at the space station before being released and parachuting into the Pacific at the end of October. By then, the space station should be back up to a full crew of six.

Read the original here:
SpaceX Launched to Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A commercial cargo ship rocketed into orbit Sunday in pursuit of the International Space Station, the first of a dozen supply runs under a mega-contract with NASA.

It was the second launch of a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab by the California-based SpaceX company. The first was last spring.

This time was no test flight, however, and the spacecraft carried 1,000 pounds of key science experiments and other precious gear on this truly operational mission. There was also a personal touch: chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream tucked in a freezer for the three station residents.

The company's unmanned Falcon rocket roared into the night sky right on time, putting SpaceX on track to reach the space station Wednesday. The complex was soaring southwest of Tasmania when the Falcon took flight.

Officials declared the launch a success, despite a problem with one of the nine first-stage engines. The rocket put Dragon in its intended orbit, said the billionaire founder and chief executive officer of SpaceX, Elon Musk.

"It's driving its way to station, so that's just awesome," noted SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.

In more good news, a piece of space junk was no longer threatening the station, and NASA could focus entirely on the delivery mission.

NASA is counting on private business to restock the space station, now that the shuttles have retired to museums. The space agency has a $1.6 billion contract with SpaceX for 12 resupply missions.

Especially exciting for NASA is the fact that the Dragon will return twice as much cargo as it took up, including a stockpile of astronauts' blood and urine samples. The samples nearly 500 of them have been stashed in freezers since Atlantis made the last shuttle flight in July 2011.

The Dragon will spend close to three weeks at the space station before being released and parachuting into the Pacific at the end of October. By then, the space station should be back up to a full crew of six.

Visit link:
SpaceX Dragon capsule launched to space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida A privately owned rocket was poised to blast off Sunday night on the first of a dozen space station supply missions under a mega-contract with NASA.

It will be the second time that the California-based SpaceX company tries to launch a Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.

Last May, a test flight went well. Now the real work is about to begin under a $1.6 billion contract between NASA and SpaceX. This will be the first of 12 resupply missions under that contract.

"Are you ready to hear the (hash)Dragon roar!" SpaceX said in a Twitter update.

SpaceX raised the Falcon rocket, vertically, at its launch pad Sunday afternoon in advance of the 8:25 p.m. liftoff. Forecasters said there's a 40 percent chance that storm clouds or rain could interfere. The good news was that a piece of space junk was no longer threatening the orbiting lab, and NASA could focus entirely on the delivery mission.

NASA is counting on private business to restock the space station, now that the shuttles have retired to museums.

This newest Dragon will carry up about 1,000 pounds of food, clothes, experiments and equipment. The three space station residents will get a frozen treat when the capsule arrives later in the week: chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream.

Even more cargo will come back when the Dragon parachutes into the Pacific at the end of October.

None of the Russian, European or Japanese cargo ships can bring anything back; they're destroyed during re-entry.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX -- owned by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk -- is working to convert its unmanned Dragon capsules into vessels that could carry astronauts to the space station in three years. Other U.S. companies also are vying to carry crews. Americans must ride Russian rockets to orbit in the meantime, for a steep price.

Read more here:
SpaceX to launch cargo ship for space station delivery

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) A private company is on the verge of launching another cargo ship to the International Space Station.

On Sunday night, California-based SpaceX will attempt to send a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab and its three-member crew.

Liftoff of the company's unmanned Falcon rocket is scheduled for 8:35 p.m. EDT. Forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at 60 percent. Thick clouds and rain are the main concerns.

A Dragon cargo ship successfully docked to the space station last May, but that was considered a test flight. The coming mission is the first under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for a dozen resupply flights by SpaceX, essential in the post-shuttle era.

"We got there once. We demonstrated we could do it, so there might be a teeny, teeny bit of relaxation. Not a lot, though," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told reporters Saturday night.

NASA was monitoring a potentially threatening piece of orbiting junk, but said that even if the space station had to steer clear of the object, that would not delay the SpaceX mission.

This newest Dragon will haul about 1,000 pounds of food, clothes and gear, including ice cream for the American, Russian and Japanese astronauts on board. (The ice cream will go up in freezers meant for research). Even more cargo will be coming back.

The capsule will remain docked to the space station for most of October. Astronauts will fill the capsule with blood and urine samples, other experiments and old equipment, for its return to Earth at the end of the month. By then, the complex will be back to a full crew of six.

The nearly 500 tubes of blood and syringes of urine have been stashed in space station freezers since the last space shuttle flight, by Atlantis, in July 2011. The decommissioned Atlantis, and sister ships Discovery and Endeavour, are now museum relics.

NASA nutritionist Scott Smith said these blood and urine samples part of medical studies will be the first to be returned since Atlantis' final voyage.

Link:
Private Space Station Launches Capsule Sunday

This story was updated at 5 p.m. ET.

An unmanned private spacecraft all set to launch the first commercial delivery to the International Space Station tonight (Oct. 7), marking a major shift in how NASA sends supplies and gear to the orbiting lab.

The gumdrop-shaped Dragon space capsule built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX is poised to blast off from a pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to begin a three-day voyage to the space station. SpaceX raised the Falcon 9 rocket that will boost the Dragon capsule spaceward into launch position this afternoon. Liftoff is set for 8:35 p.m. EDT (0035 Monday GMT) and the weather forecast looks favorable for launch, NASA officials said.

"Tomorrow's SpaceX launch begins a new era for spaceflight and the International Space Station," Sam Scimemi, NASA's space station director, said in a briefing Saturday (Oct. 6). "These flights are critical to the space station's sustainment and to help begin its full utilization."

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will launch nearly 1,000 pounds (453 kilograms) of cargo for astronauts living on the space station. The crew plans to welcome the spacecraft on Wednesday (Oct. 10) by grappling it with a robotic arm and attaching it to the station.

The mission is the first of at least 12 cargo runs for NASA that SpaceX will perform under a $1.6 billion deal to deliver 20 metric tons of supplies to the station for the U.S. space agency. [SpaceX's Dragon Poised to Sunday Launch (Photos)]

SpaceX is also working to upgrade the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rockets to launch seven-astronaut crews into orbit. The spacecraft was designed from the start to enable future crewed flights, according to SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who founded the company in 2002.

With NASA's space shuttle fleet retired, the space agency is depending on commercial spacecraft like SpaceX's Dragon capsules to ferry cargo and eventually astronauts into and from low-Earth orbit. The agency is outsourcing those services to commercial companies while developing its own new rocket and spacecraft for deep-space exploration.

What goes up can come down

SpaceX is one of two companies with contracts to provide cargo shipments to the space station for NASA. The other firm, the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., has a $1.9 billion deal for station resupply flights using its new Antares rocket and unmanned Cygnus spacecraft. Of the two companies, only SpaceX's Dragon is capable of returning cargo to Earth for retrieval.

View post:
Private SpaceX Cargo Ship Launching 'New Era' for Space Station Today

The first commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station is set to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center Sunday evening.From the space station crew's standpoint, some of the most precious cargo could well be ice cream.

The first commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station is set to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Sunday evening kicking off a series of at least 12 resupply missions NASA has ordered up under a $1.6-billion contract with Space Exploration Technologies, based in Hawthorne, Calif.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

The mission, utilizing SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket topped with the company's cargo-carrying Dragon capsule, follows on the heels of a successful test flight to the space station in May.

During that mission, Dragon delivered just over 1,000 pounds of cargo that NASA officials said wouldn't represent a significant set-back for the space-station program if something went wrong during the mission. This time, Dragon is carrying 882 pounds (nearly a ton when packaging is included) of more-precious cargo: experiments and hardware for the US, European, and Japanese laboratories; additional components needed to maintain the station; and crew supplies.

IN PICTURES: Launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Rocket

From the space station crew's standpoint, some of the most precious of all the cargo could well be ice cream Dragon is bringing up not the freeze-dried kind, but real ice cream, kept in a new lab freezer Dragon will deliver. It's part of a shipment of "bonus food" the space agency periodically sends. The freezer is designed to preserve samples from biology and life-science experiments running on the station for return to Earth.

Indeed, Dragon's ability to return cargo to Earth is unique among the unmanned cargo craft the station's international partners provide. NASA's space shuttles were the only other vehicles able to do this. But NASA flew its final shuttle mission in July 2011, and the orbiters now are museum pieces.

All of the other cargo craft operating, as well as the capsule a second US company is building to supply commercial cargo service for NASA, become trash incinerators once they leave the station. They and the refuse they carry burn up on reentry.

Read more from the original source:
SpaceX set to launch with cargo for International Space Station

SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule is slated to blast off Sunday night (Oct. 7) on the first-ever bona fide private cargo run to the International Space Station.

In May, Dragon become the first commercial spacecraft to visit the station. But that was a demonstration flight, while Sunday's launch kicks off the first of 12 unmanned supply missions SpaceX will make for NASA under a $1.6 billion contract.

Dragon will deliver about 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) of supplies, then return to Earth on Oct. 28 carrying more than 1,200 pounds (544 kg) of different gear down from the space station. Here's how the mission will work.

Getting into space

The Dragon capsule is set to blast off atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket at 8:35 p.m. EDT Sunday (0035 GMT Monday). The mission has an instantaneous launch window, so if anything causes a delay Sunday, liftoff will be pushed to another day.

At about 1 p.m. EDT Sunday (1700 GMT), Dragon and the Falcon 9 will be powered up, and fueling of the rocket will begin three and a half hours later. [SpaceX's Dragon Poised to Launch Sunday (Photos)]

The terminal countdown begins at T-minus 10 minutes and 30 seconds, at which point all launch systems will be autonomous. A final "go" for launch will come at T-minus 2 minutes and 30 seconds, NASA officials said.

Seventy seconds after liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket will reach supersonic speed. By 2.5 minutes into the flight, it will be traveling 10 times the speed of sound, at an altitude of 56 miles (90 kilometers). At about this time, the rocket's main engines will cut off.

A few seconds later, the Falcon 9 rocket's first and second stages will separate, with the second stage soon performing a six-minute burn to take Dragon to low-Earth orbit.

Nine minutes and 49 seconds after launch, Dragon will separate from the rocket's second stage. Seconds later, the capsule will reach its preliminary orbit, at which point it will deploy its solar arrays and begin a series of thruster firings to get it close to the space station.

See the original post:
How SpaceX's First Space Station Cargo Mission Will Work

A private company is on the verge of launching another cargo ship to the International Space Station.

California-based SpaceX will attempt to send a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab on Sunday night. Liftoff is scheduled for 8.35pm EDT (1235 AEDT Monday).

Forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at 60 per cent. Thick clouds and rain are the main concerns.

A Dragon cargo ship successfully docked to the space station last May, but that was considered a test flight.

The coming mission is the first under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for a dozen resupply flights by SpaceX, essential in the post-shuttle era.

The Dragon will remain docked to the space station for most of October. Astronauts will fill the capsule with blood and urine samples, other experiments and old equipment, for its return to Earth.

The nearly 500 tubes of blood and syringes of urine have been stashed in space station freezers since the last space shuttle flight, by Atlantis, in July 2011.

The decommissioned Atlantis, and sister ships Discovery and Endeavour, are now museum relics.

NASA nutritionist Scott Smith said the blood and urine samples - part of medical studies - will be the first to be returned since Atlantis' final voyage more than a year ago.

"This is the first real return vehicle for this type of sample," Scott told reporters on Saturday.

Go here to see the original:
Private space station delivery to launch

A private Dragon space capsule is poised for a weekend launch to the International Space Station with the first big cargo shipment ever aboard an unmanned American spacecraft.

The gumdrop-shaped Dragon spacecraft, built by the commercial spaceflight company SpaceX, will blast off on Sunday (Oct. 7) from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is set for 8:35 p.m. EDT (0035 Monday GMT), with a planned arrival at the station set for on Wednesday (Oct. 10).

SpaceX and NASA mission managers met Friday to review the preparations for the Dragon flight atop its Falcon 9 rocket, ultimately giving the mission a final "go" for launch. There is a 60 percent chance of good weather for launch.

"It's going to be a very exciting night on Sunday," SpaceX founder Elon Musk said during a Google+ hangout event with NASA chief Charles Bolden today ahead of the review. "I always get kind of nervous before these flights, thinking, like 'What have we missed?'" [SpaceX's Dragon Poised to Sunday Launch (Photos)]

Musk said he and his SpaceX team have done their best to ensure a successful launch Sunday, and while there is always the chance of something going wrong, "I feel like we've done everything we can to make the mission as successful as possible, and I hope people enjoy watching it."

Private delivery for space station

The Dragon mission, the first official cargo run by a private American-built spacecraft, is a watershed flight for NASA and SpaceX. The Hawthorne, Calif.-based company has a $1.6 billion deal with NASA for at least 12 resupply missions to the space station using its robotic Dragon capsules and their Falcon 9 rocket boosters.

The deal is part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet last year, the space agency is depending on the availability of new private space taxis to provide unmanned cargo deliveries to the station, as well as ferry American astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit.

Another U.S. company, the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., has a $1.9 billion agreement to fly at least eight resupply missions to the station using its own Antares rockets and Cygnus spacecraft, and plans to launch a rocket test flight later this year. But SpaceX is the first of the two firms to actually launch vehicles to the International Space Station.

In May, SpaceX (short for Space Exploration Technologies) launched a different Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket on a test flight to the station. That mission demonstrated SpaceX's ability to launch Dragon to the station, have it rendezvous with the orbiting lab safely, and then be captured for docking using a robotic arm controlled by astronauts inside the outpost. [SpaceX's 1st Dragon Flight to Space Station (Video)]

Read more:
Private Dragon Spacecraft 'Go' to Launch Toward Space Station Sunday