Launch Pad 39A:

The famous launch pad last saw action during the final Space Shuttle launch, when Atlantis successfully departed on her STS-135 mission.

While the launch from Pad 39A marked an emotional end of an era for Shuttle, visible signs towards the future were already in evidence at next door’s 39B – a pad that was already deep into its transition for its role with the Space Launch System (SLS).

Work has continued on 39B, converting it into a “clean pad” that is capable of not only hosting the Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) but also commercial launchers. However, only the SLS has committed its future to the pad.

Meanwhile, Pad 39A was placed into a mothballed state, with the majority of its Shuttle facilities still intact.

Despite its near-abandoned state, the facility has been fresh in the minds of the KSC teams involved with the spaceport’s transition.

According to L2 sources, NASA and Space Florida – the State’s aerospace economic development agency – came very close to a deal in 2012, centered around the handover of 39A. However, this was delayed due to NASA wanting “the State” to assume responsibility for any future environmental remediation at 39A, such as cleaning up any pollution/contamination.

Without a deal currently in place, no funds have yet been requested in the State legislature, which is required in order to carry the demolition work towards 39A becoming suitable for a commercial launch vehicle.

However, there has been some interest, with the L2 sources noting SpaceX have been looking into options at KSC for their future launch vehicles, providing the required incentives are in place.

Initial SpaceX interest was noted when sites were considered for their Falcon Heavy – although that vehicle’s Eastern Range home is currently set to be associated with its current SLC-40 pad at Cape Canaveral.

Sources claim that Space Florida will likely (obtain the use of) the Shiloh site located at the very North end of KSC, providing environmental reports come back favorable. In that event, Space Florida may be willing to provide funds to SpaceX to build a Falcon Heavy complex at the Shiloh site.

More intriguing is the interest in potentially hosting a Super Heavy version of the Falcon, a notional family of rockets called Falcon X, Falcon X Heavy and Falcon XX – vehicles that would utilize the preliminary future engine that was initially referred to as the Merlin 2, but has since moved towards an engine called Raptor.

These vehicles were mentioned by name via L2 source information as part of the interest in using Complex 39A in the long-term future, citing potential scenarios where Space Florida held full control over the complex within the next 10 years, which – it was noted – would be below the time frame SpaceX is envisioned to be looking at actually building their own Super Heavy Lift Vehicle.

The ULA have also expressed interest – again, providing the economics are acceptable – in potential options at Complex 39.

While their expanding order book can be catered for within the confines of their current infrastructure, the company is aware they need to look towards the future, especially if they also become the launch provider for a commercial crew vehicle.

“We still have a lot of untapped capacity in both the production and launch infrastructure. So we can increase rate by increasing staffing,” noted Dr. George Sowers, ULA VP for Human Launch Services, during a Q&A session with NASASpaceFlight.com members.

“At some point depending on where the demand was coming from, we would have to increase launch infrastructure – e.g., additional MLP (Mobile Launch Platform or VIF (Vehicle Integration Facility) for Atlas.”

Taking another pad in the Space Coast area – namely at Complex 39 – was also classed as an option by Dr. Sowers, citing the studies and discussions that have taken place with the famous spaceport. Moving forward with such a plan would depend on the viability of such an agreement.

“ULA is interested in the possibility in launching Atlas or Delta from LC-39. We have participated in the KSC led studies looking at options,” added the ULA VP. “Technically it’s feasible. The biggest hurdle right now is devising a business model that works.”

Notes and graphics from the studies were acquired by L2 (LINK), showing an integration path involving an Atlas V being stacked inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), atop of a former Shuttle MLP, prior to being rolled out to Complex 39.

Such an arrangement is part of KSC’s drive to become a multi-user spaceport, allowing for dual flows inside the VAB for both a commercial vehicle and the SLS – with work ongoing at this time to remove and replace platforms that were dedicated to the Shuttle stack.

The Kennedy Space Center’s Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) program also noted how they expect to transition their three MLPs, with MLP-1 set to retire, MLP-2 to be dedicated to a liquid fueled vehicle – such as Atlas V, and MLP-3 to be used by a Solid Rocket Motor vehicle – such as the Liberty rocket.

ATK are understood to be close to announcing details into a realigned version of that rocket, currently known as Liberty II.

For a crewed Atlas V, the studies note the use of a standard Atlas MLP, placed over one of the SRB Hold Down Post (HDP) locations (Side 4) on MLP-2. The Atlas V – with graphics depicting a human rated vehicle with notional spacecraft on top – would then be integrated on to its standard launch mount.

A crew access tower would then be built over the location of the other SRB HDP, rising above the Atlas V MLP and reaching over – or around – to allow for access to the spacecraft the Atlas V was tasked with launching.

The entire set of hardware and rocket would then be rolled out of the VAB by the Crawler Transporter (CT) likely to a clean pad capable of hosting both commercial crew vehicles and SLS.

All studies are naturally notional, although the Agency appears to be moving forward with their drive to find new uses for 39A, following the release of an announcement for proposals for the commercial use of the pad.

“We remain committed to right-sizing our portfolio by reducing the number of facilities that are underused, duplicative, or not required to support the Space Launch System and Orion,” said Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana.

“Launch Complex 39A is not required to support our asteroid retrieval mission or our eventual missions to Mars. But it’s in the agency’s and our nation’s best interest in meeting our commitment and direction to enable commercial space operations and allow the aerospace industry to operate and maintain the pad and related facilities.”

The release noted the assessments conducted by NASA show 39A could serve as a platform for a commercial space company’s launch activities providing the company assumes financial and technical responsibility of the complex’s operations and management.

The RFP move appears to confirm more than one company is indeed interested in the pad.

(Images via L2 content, NASA, AIAA and ULA)

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Optional Milestones under CCiCap and Phase Two of Certification:

NASA is currently funding three commercial crew providers under its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) program which runs thru May 2014. Optional milestones under CCiCap beyond May 2014 could be exercised by NASA.

As with the two previous phases (CCDev1 & CCDev2), NASA is granting money under CCiCap using Space Act Agreements (SAAs), instead of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).

In parallel, NASA has also started initial certification activities using FAR-based procurement contracts. The first phase of certification is known as the Certification Products Contract (CPC) and its deliverables include early life-cycle certification products (alternate standards, hazards analysis, and verification, validation, and certification plans).

CPC money was awarded last December to SpaceX, SNC and Boeing for amounts that did not exceed $10 million per company.

Under NASA’s planned strategy, the next phase of certification (phase two) should start in 2014 and should include development, test, evaluation, and certification activities. It could also include, as options, a number of crewed missions to the ISS following certification.

McAlister indicated that although FAR will be used for phase two of certification, NASA has yet to decide which part of the FAR would be used. He explained that while they are planning to shift away from SAAs for the second phase of certification, NASA will not change the basic philosophy of the program.

“The specific mechanism (space act agreement versus contract) has gotten a lot of attention but what’s really important to us is the philosophy under which we are exercising this program. We want the philosophy to remain the same. We still want industry to own (their crew transportation system). We still want some form of fixed price arrangement.

“We would like to do a public-private partnership meaning the companies (will) own the design and they (will) make more of the decisions. For customers, it should be (both) NASA and non-NASA customers.

“We are going to provide that investment (by a company) be a milestone payment based on cost. Industries defines how (they intend to do things) and we approve (it). We believe (that) we are going to maintain our program philosophy and approach to be more of a commercial oriented development.”

Phase two of certification is currently planned to start in the spring of 2014 (after the CCiCap base period ends) but the exact date has not yet been finalized.

McAlister explained that NASA is not certain that it will be able to award it in the spring of next year. If NASA is unable to award it at that time, NASA may decide to exercise some of the early optional milestones from CCiCap.

“If it’s in the government’s interest, we might exercise the early milestones. We do not intend to exercise the crewed flights milestones which are the last milestones. As you get later and later in the timeline, there is going to be more time for us to push those efforts into the certification phase. But we have not made any decision yet. We are (still) keeping the options open.”

McAlister’s statement confirms what Ed Mango, program manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, had previously told NASASpaceflight.com last year.

Mango had stated that the optional milestones in the CCiCap agreement had two purposes. “One, to get the entire end-to-end cost and schedule profile for the company to certify their hardware, their way for a crewed demonstration.

“Second, we may need to activate some options if the budget and schedule drives us in the late 2014 timeframe. We are not committing to any of the optional milestones, and there will be a rigorous process to activate those milestones.”

Although the optional milestones funding for each company is proprietary, the hearing charter from a House Hearing on commercial crew on September 14th 2012 revealed that the optional milestones under CCiCap for all three commercial crew providers “have aggregate total cost estimates in the range of $4.5 Billion”.

NASA or Company Astronauts?:

A crew transportation system can either be offered as a taxi or a rental system. Under the taxi system, each company would use its own pilot to ferry the crew. Under a rental arrangement, NASA would rent the entire capsule and would thus provide its own pilot.

McAlister explained that it was up to each company to decide which model they preferred. “NASA has not dictated whether the commercial providers should use a taxi or a rental car system. We have left that up to the provider (to decide which) concept of operation is best for them.

“Because of our requirement that they have to provide a lifeboat function, it kind of complicates the taxi model to some extent but it doesn’t preclude it. It’s up to the providers to figure out whether they want their pilot or a NASA pilot. As long as they meet our requirements, we shouldn’t care (which option they choose). We are probably going to ask for a four crew person rotation if we have the money for it.”

McAlister added that there will be test flights during the second phase of certification. It will likely include an uncrewed and a crewed flight, but they are leaving up to the commercial companies to define how many test flights they need.

The issue of whether NASA or company astronauts can be used also arises for test flights under phase two of certification. This issue was previously discussed by Ed Mango on January 9, 2013.

Click here for additional Commercial Crew News Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/news/commercial/

“Under phase two (of certification), it will probably be combined crews between what NASA needs as well as what the companies want to do. In the end, this is a joint effort between our astronaut core and the crew members that the individual companies (are) hiring.

“It’s that joint test plan that will get us to an end state. It isn’t just one or the other. If anyone has developed aircrafts in the past, you know that it is military pilots as well as pilots from the companies that do the flight testing. We expect that same kind of approach as we move through this overall process (of certification).”

Competition Is Important:

McAlister also emphasized the importance of maintaining competition in the next phase of certification. “If the budget would enable it, we would like to have more than one” commercial crew provider (during phase two of certification),” he noted.

“The posture for the government is to have competition because the big item is going to be in this ISS service line (i.e. the crew transportation contract is part of the budget for the ISS). (It was the) same way with cargo (where) we have seen significant benefits from competition.

“A lot of people think that competition only means you are getting a good price. It actually means that you are getting a safer vehicle as well. These guys are competing on safety because they know that’s (one of the) evaluation criteria by NASA. The government loses a lot of leverage when you only have one (provider).

“If we want any little change, if there is only one (provider), there is really no reason for that company to invest additionally. My big concern is that we will prematurely go down to one.

“Both schedule and competition are very important to NASA. We would like to maintain those. If it gets to the point where we can’t, it will depend on the proposals that we will receive.”

McAlister explained that if they are in a situation where one proposal is evaluated very highly but the others are not, this could have an impact on how may providers they will continue to fund in the next phase. On the other hand, he explained that if you have two proposals that are very close, this could dictate a different outcome.

“The lifetime of the ISS might (also) be factor in the decision. Once we get those phase two proposals and they get evaluated and we get a little bit better understanding of where our budget is going to be, we will be able to make a better informed decision.”

Cost of Commercial Crew Development:

McAlister also discussed the recently completed Booz Allen evaluation of NASA’s cost estimates for commercial crew.

“We have had some internal cost estimate (for commercial crew) that we have used using a variety of different data sources. Some of our stakeholders felt that it would be important for us to get an independent cost estimate. (Booz Allen) did not do an independent estimate; they did an assessment on our estimate.”

McAlister noted they purposely used some of the same people from Booz Allen that did the analysis for the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Orion.

He indicated that the report indicated that the “government cost estimates are high quality and follow standard cost estimating best practices but should be considered optimistic (i.e., likely to experience cost growth).” He said that he was pleased with the report.

“We do have some reserves (Unallocated Future Expenses – UFE) to cover these potential cost growth. In general, we embraced all of the findings (of Booz Allen). We had some slight differences on some of their recommendations regarding some of (the) areas of cost growth and the magnitude of the cost growth. But in general at (the) top level, we thought that (their) findings and recommendations were positive and kind of validated our approach and certainly our cost estimates.

“Where we had differences, I kind of consider them not to be big ticket items.”

McAlister said that in their estimates they calculated the total funding which would be required for each company in order to complete their program. He added that he couldn’t share these numbers because they were proprietary.

Cost of Commercial Crew Operations:

McAlister also discussed the cost of commercial crew once operational, noting that “the assumption is that (commercial crew) will be cost effective with respect to the Russians. However, McAlister admitted that he was being purposely vague on whether this meant lower than Soyuz or not.

“There is still a big pretty range on what the (costs) are going to come in at,” he added. “We will have a better idea (of the cost) in the phase two (certification) contracts.”

Another point that was addressed by McAlister is whether NASA would provide any Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) to the commercial crew companies. He explained that NASA’s philosophy was that they should not generally provide any equipment to the companies.

“We did not want to want to be in the critical path (by) providing any GFE. (However,) we always said that there were two possible exceptions: docking and the communication system because they are so integrated with the ISS. It got a little bit complicated with cargo (for systems that are very integrated with the ISS).”

McAlister indicated that rescue services could potentially be another exception, noting “for global rescue services, it might make more sense for the government to do that using Department of Defense assets as opposed to have each company negotiate individually.

“However, we haven’t made any final decisions on that, because there will hopefully be flights without NASA crew and (the companies) have to figure out how to do that without NASA’s involvement. Whatever, they come up with has to work in both situations.”

McAlister also discussed the impact that a slip to the 2017 schedule could have on each company’s business case.

“With a slip, you lose a bit of certainty on the business case for the providers if the end date for ISS is 2020. It gives them a couple of (fewer) flights that they can rely on. The plan was always for them to get non-government customers.

“Each provider is looking at that market a little bit differently. Some of them are bearish on that market; some are little bit more bullish. If you are more bullish, you might be able to say that’s not a problem, I can still close my business case (without these additional flights).

“If you are more risked adverse and you are not certain about that non-government market, it might be more difficult to close your business case. That also factors into how much they are willing to invest. It’s all kind of inter-related.”

At the same meeting William Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate discussed another issue which could also have an impact the business case of certain of the commercial crew providers.

He mentioned that NASA has not yet decided whether it will extend the Crew Resupply Service (CRS) contract to Orbital and SpaceX after 2016, or if it will allow new entrants such as SNC or Boeing to compete for new cargo contracts after the current CRS expires in 2016.

NASA anticipates releasing a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) for phase two of certification in July, with the final RFP to follow in October. Awards are planned for the spring of 2014.

(Images: NASA and L2 Content)

(NSF and L2 are providing full transition level coverage, available no where else on the internet, from Orion and SLS to ISS and CRS/CCP, to European and Russian vehicles.

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Commercial Crew:

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is currently funding three private companies to build transportation systems that can remove NASA’s reliance on the Russian Soyuz to ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

This process is currently in the Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCAP) stage, maturing from the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) drive that resulted in three companies earning NASA money to develop their spacecraft to be able to carry NASA astronauts.

It is likely that only one of the contenders will be selected to win the long-term NASA contract to carry out the role of ferrying NASA crews to the ISS.

The current favorite is understood to be SpaceX, who have already conducted three successful missions to the ISS with the cargo version of their Dragon spacecraft, launched via the company’s Falcon 9.

However, they are by no means runaway favorites, with Boeing’s CST-100 already setting up base at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser spaceplane offering NASA “dissimilar redundancy” as the only option that isn’t a capsule.

Both CST-100 and Dream Chaser will also use the hugely reliable Atlas V as their launch vehicle of choice.

All three companies have been reporting steady progress during the development phase, with Boeing the latest to make a positive announcement about their crew-capable spacecraft

Friday’s update noted they had successfully completed a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) on the Launch Vehicle Adapter (LVA) – the component that will be used to connect the CST-100 to the Atlas V’s Centuar Upper Stage.

The review is one of six performance milestones Boeing has completed for the CCiCap initiative, a process that totals 19 milestones under NASA’s $460m award. The company also completed the recently completed the Engineering Release (ER) 2.0 software review and the Landing and Recovery Ground Systems and Ground Communications design review.

“The PDR was an outstanding integrated effort by the Boeing, ULA and NASA teams,” said John Mulholland, vice president and program manager of Boeing Commercial Programs. “The ULA design leverages the heritage hardware of the Atlas V to integrate with the CST-100, setting the baseline for us to proceed to wind tunnel testing and the Launch Segment-level PDR in June.”

All three CCiCAP companies have confirmed they are targeting a crewed test of their spacecraft sometime in the 2016 time frame – with SpaceX hinting they may be ready by 2015. Notably, the crews will be selected internally, from within the company roster, as opposed to using NASA astronauts.

Should the test missions prove to be successful, a winning company will be selected by NASA to conduct the first crewed mission to the International Space Station – a mission known as US Crew Vehicle -1 (USCV-1).

As of November of last year, the launch date for USCV-1 was November 30, 2016 – per the Flight Planning Integration Panel (FPIP) presentation (L2), resulting in a docking to the Node 2 Forward port – via the use of an ISS Docking Adapter (IDA) attached to PMA-2 – on December 2, 2016.

However, the March update for the FPIP presentation (L2) shows a full one year slip to the USCV-1 mission, with a launch date penciled in for November 30, 2017, followed by a docking on December 2, 2017.

The USCV-2 through to USCV-6 are shown to launch at intervals of six months, with a Russian Soyuz penciled in to provide a back up role “in the event the US Crewed Vehicle is unavailable” through to the USCV-4 mission in 2019.

The slip is not official and the FPIP presentation is a planning document, meaning its information is preliminary. However, like its Shuttle equivalent – the Flight Assignment Working Group (FAWG) documents (L2) – changes to the schedule always begin at this stage of planning, and almost always become the reality.

Click here for Commercial Space Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/news/commercial/

As to the reason for the slip, sources point to the squeeze on long-term funding projections as the major schedule driver.

Also, according to Russian media, NASA began negotiations with Roscosmos in February, with a view to extending their deal to purchase seats on the Russian Soyuz by another year, taking the arrangement into the middle of 2017.

A confirmed delay to the USCV flights will impact the ISS in several ways, not least because the USCV missions will carry four crewmembers, meaning that once they dock to the ISS, the crew of the station will be boosted to seven – allowing significant extra research activities to be performed.

Notably, one of the crewmembers on the USCV will be Russian – just as one American crewmember will continue to be rotated on the Soyuz. This is done in order to ensure that a US crewmember is always present on the ISS, even when no USCV is docked to the station.

It is not known at this point whether the seat on the USCV will be provided to Russia in exchange for a US seat on the Soyuz.

(Images: L2 Content, SNC, ULA, Boeing)

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SpaceX CRS-2 EOM:
*CLICK HERE FOR THE LIVE COVERAGE SECTION FOR UP TO THE SECOND UPDATES*

Following a nominal launch from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40 – with the launch vehicle showing no signs of repeating it’s Engine 1 issue from the previous ride uphill – Dragon begin its journey to the ISS.

However, a challenging issue was noted – just moments after it separated from the Falcon 9′s Second Stage – relating to the spacecraft’s propulsion system – which consists of a set of four “quads”, each hosting thrusters on the Dragon, vital for attitude control and required burns en route to the Station.

Although SpaceX, NASA and even the US military assets all worked together to resolve the issue, Dragon missed the key Coelliptic Burn, resulting in a one day delay to its rendezvous and berthing with the ISS.

All proceeded to plan during Dragon’s arrival at the orbital outpost, successfully berthing and delivering its cargo.

With its troubles behind it, Dragon was also part of a first for a commercial spacecraft at the ISS – as the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) carefully removed a pair of grapple bars from the spacecraft’s trunk.

Dragon’s trunk is designed to carry additional cargo outside of its pressurized cabin – such as Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs).

These payloads will be – for the most part – removed by the Dextre (SPDM) robot over the course of the CRS contract, prior to being translated to staging points on the ISS, such as the External Platforms, ahead of installation via a Stage EVA.

During the debut operation on CRS-2, the SSRMS was tasked with the removal of two Heat Rejection Subsystem Grapple Fixtures (HRSGFs) – which are essentially bars each featuring two Flight Releasable Grapple Fixtures (FRGFs) – from Dragon’s trunk.

These “grapple bars” will be used to aid in the handling of a stowed ISS radiator in a potential future replacement scenario, by adding grapple fixtures to the radiator for the station’s arm to interface with.

The HRSGFs were successfully removed from Dragon’s Trunk robotically by the SSRMS, whereupon they were installed onto the Payload ORU Accommodation (POA) on the Mobile Base System (MBS) on the ISS Truss, where they will each await respective installation onto the S1 and P1 Truss radiators during a US spacewalk in July.

Dragon still has another important payload task to complete – albeit one day later than planned due to high seas in the splasdown zone – as 2,668 pounds of “downmass” was packed into the spacecraft for its return to Earth. With the hatch closed, the focus will again return to the ISS’ robotic assets.

To kick off the homecoming, the long sequence of events that will ultimately lead to Dragon safely bobbing the Pacific Ocean began with the unberthing of Dragon from the Node 2 Nadir CBM, via the release of 16 bolts around the CBM berthing collar on the ISS side, performed in four sets of four bolts to ensure even unloading on the CBM interface.

Once complete, the ISS crew pulled Dragon away from the ISS via the use of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) – which grappled Dragon at the end of last week – controlled from the Robotic Workstation (RWS) in the panoramic-viewed Cupola.

Dragon was then be manouvered to the release position approximately 30 feet below the ISS.

Once in the release position, the time came for Dragon and the ISS to part ways, Expedition 35 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn squeezed the trigger on the Rotational Hand Controller (RHC) on the RWS to release the snares holding the SSRMS Latching End Effector (LEE) to the Dragon Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF) – effectively “letting go” of Dragon.

With Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency backing up Marshburn by monitoring Dragon’s systems, this process concluded with a 06:56 Eastern release.

With the SSRMS retracted safely clear, Dragon then conducted a departure burn to depart to vicinity of the ISS, edging away from the orbital outpost, with two small thruster firings to push down the R-Bar.

A larger burn will then conducted to send Dragon outside of the approach ellipsoid, at which point SpaceX will take full control of the mission.

This was a key test of the propulsion system – although a repeat of the issues with the check valves in the helium pressurization lines is not expected. The three burns were classed as nominal.

Dragon the conducted a free-flying phase on-orbit for around five hours, during which time it completed a critical action – closure of the GNC bay door, to which the FRGF is mounted – before conducting a de-orbit burn at 11:40 Eastern.

The 10 minute deorbit burn was conducted by the spacecraft’s Draco thrusters.

The umbilical between Dragon and its Trunk was disengaged, prior to the Trunk separating from the Dragon capsule.

As the spacecraft enters Entry Interface (EI) it was protected by its PICA-X heat shield – a Thermal Protection System (TPS) based on a proprietary variant of NASA’s phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA) material – designed to protect the capsule during Earth atmospheric re-entry, and is even robust to protect Dragon from the high return velocities from Lunar and Martian destinations.

Once at the required velocity and altitude, Dragon’s drogue parachutes were deployed, followed by Dragon’s main parachutes, easing the vehicle to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 12:34 Eastern.

Three main recovery boats soon arrived on station, with fast boats racing to meet the Dragon shortly after it hits the water, allowing for the recovery procedures to begin. The vehicle was powered down and then hooked up to the recover assets.

Dragon was transported to the port of Los Angeles, prior to a trip to Texas for cargo removal.

The cargo return – otherwise known as the downmass capability – is one of Dragon’s star roles following the retirement of the Shuttle fleet.

Click here for more Dragon Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/dragon/

Although the spacecraft doesn’t get close to the capability of the orbiters, it will still return about 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms) of science samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities.

(Images: via L2′s SpaceX Dragon Mission Special Section, which includes over 1,000 unreleased hi res images from Dragon’s three flights to the ISS. Special section also contains presentations, videos, images (Over 3,500MB in size), space industry member discussion and more.)

(Click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/ - to view how you can support NSF and access the best space flight content on the entire internet).

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CRS-2 Dragon:

Dragon is closing in on the end of its latest visit to the orbital outpost, following its delivery of much-needed supplies to the ISS. The spacecraft is currently enjoying the second of its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) missions, its third flight to the Station overall.

Although its launch vehicle, the Falcon 9, performed without issue during the duo’s ride uphill, Dragon did require some lengthy troubleshooting during the initial on-orbit phase of its flight.

The problem was seen in the spacecraft’s propulsion system – a set of four “quads”, housing the thrusters on the Dragon, vital for attitude control and required burns en route to its destination.

However, this issue – deemed to be centered around the check valves in the lines that supply gaseous helium to the propellant tanks – has been classed as resolved, allowing for confidence in the system ahead of its next role during its departure from the ISS, ahead of the deorbit burn and re-entry.

Dragon’s return was scheduled for March 25, until mission managers opted to delay the End Of Mission (EOM) timeline by at least one day, due to the forecast of high seas in the area the spacecraft will splashdown, an area in Pacific Ocean, close to the coast of California.

“Due to High Seas in the landing zone, Dragon unberth and landing planned for Monday (3/25) has been delayed,” noted L2′s CRS-2 Update Section. “Options for 3/26 and 4/1 and associated products are under review.”

ISS managers have decided to press on with the grapple of the Dragon via the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) – the robotic arm that first captured the spacecraft when it rendezvoused with the Station – with the transition expected later on Friday.

“SSRMS Capture of Dragon’s grapple fixture will proceed later today (Friday),” added the L2 notes. “COTS UHF Communication Unit (CUCU) activation was completed this morning, checkout is later today (Friday).”

The CUCU – which rode in the middeck stowage locker on Atlantis during STS-129 late in 2009, before being handed over to ISS crewmembers ahead of the demonstration flights – allows ISS crewmembers to monitor and command approaching or departing Dragon spacecraft during cargo delivery missions to the orbiting laboratory.

When Dragon’s departs the ISS, the downmass onboard will be 1,370kg/3,020lb, of which 160kg/352lb will be packaging – meaning that the CRS-2 Dragon will return over double the amount of cargo to Earth than it launched to the ISS.

For more Dragon articles, click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/dragon/

The return cargo devoted to experiments will total in at 660kg/1,455lb, making for around 48 per cent of return cargo devoted to science, again in accordance with the promised roughly 50/50 split for scientific and other cargo.

One GLACIER freezer will return as part of the scientific cargo, containing samples stored up on the ISS since the previous return of a Dragon spacecraft back on October 28 last year – during which the GLACIER freezer lost power after splashdown due to seawater intrusion into the Dragon.

The rest of the cargo returning on Dragon will be devoted to excessed or failed equipment, comprising many failed Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) components including an Oxygen Generation System (OGS) Hydrogen Sensor ORU (Orbital Replacement Unit), a Pump Separator ORU, and a CDRA bed.

Once Dragon splashes down in the Pacific, recovery operations will begin almost immediately, with the spacecraft set to arrive in the Port of Los Angeles via a barge, following which Dragon will be trucked to SpaceX’s facility in McGregor, Texas, where its remaining cargo will be unloaded and transferred to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC).

(Images: via L2′s SpaceX Dragon Mission Special Section, which includes over 1,000 unreleased hi res images from Dragon’s three flights to the ISS. Special section also contains presentations, videos, images (Over 3,500MB in size), space industry member discussion and more.)

(Click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/ - to view how you can support NSF and access the best space flight content on the entire internet).

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Merlin 1D:

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 currently employs nine “SpaceX designed and built” Merlin 1C main engines on the First Stage of the rocket.

The engines use a propellent fed dual impeller turbo-pump, operating on a gas generator cycle which also provides the high pressure kerosene for the hydraulic actuators, recycling into the low pressure inlet.

The turbo-pump also provides roll control by actuating the turbine exhaust nozzle on the single second stage MVac engine.

Only one engine has suffered from a notable issue during the five successful launches of the Falcon 9, namely Engine 1, which shutdown during the launch of the CRS-1 (SpX-1) Dragon. With a capability to endure the loss of two engines, Falcon 9 still managed to carefully loft Dragon into orbit, ahead of its journey to the International Space Station.

It was always in SpaceX’s plans to upgrade the Merlin engine by Flight 6 of their Falcon 9 manifest, with the move to the Merlin 1D providing a vast improvement in performance, reliability and manufacturability, all of which will provide a timely boost to aiding the potential for success for the fully reusable Falcon 9 and their Falcon Heavy.

“Increased reliability: Simplified design by eliminating components and sub-assemblies. Increased fatigue life. Increased chamber and nozzle thermal margins,” SpaceX cited on the improvements for the Merlin 1D, during an interview with NASASpaceflight.com last year.

“Improved Performance: Thrust increased from 95,000 lbf (sea level) to 140,000 lbf (sea level). Added throttle capability for range from 70-100 percent. Currently, it is necessary to shut off two engines during ascent. The Merlin 1D will make it possible to throttle all engines. Structure was removed from the engine to make it lighter.

“Improved Manufacturability: Simplified design to use lower cost manufacturing techniques. Reduced touch labor and parts count. Increased in-house production at SpaceX.”

Test firings have been ongoing since at least 2011, with the powerpack achieving a full mission duration firing and multiple restarts at target thrust and specific impulse (Isp). During the 2012 series of testing, the engine fired for 185 seconds with 147,000 pounds of thrust, the full duration and power required for a Falcon 9 rocket launch.

Now, in March, 2013, SpaceX announced the completion of a 28 test qualification program, with the Merlin 1D accumulating 1,970 seconds of total test time, the equivalent run time of over 10 full mission durations.

As such, the milestone allows the company to claim the engine is now fully qualified to fly on the Falcon 9 rocket.

In total, program included four tests at or above the power (147,000 pounds of thrust) and duration (185 seconds) required for a Falcon 9 rocket launch. The Merlin 1D engine was also tested at propellant inlet and operating conditions that were well outside the bounds of expected flight conditions.

“The Merlin 1D successfully performed every test throughout this extremely rigorous qualification program,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and chief designer. “With flight qualification now complete, we look forward to flying the first Merlin 1D engines on Falcon 9′s Flight 6 this year.”

The Merlin 1D has a vacuum thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding 150, the best of any liquid rocket engine in history. The extra power and multiple restart elements are major steps towards achieving the highly complex task of making Falcon 9 reusable, a vehicle known as F9r, which is currently being tested via the Grasshopper program.

Notably, from a reliability standpoint, SpaceX’s test program demonstrated a ratio of 4:1 for critical engine life parameters such as firing duration and restart capacity to the engine’s expected flight requirements. This is a much higher ratio that the industry standard of 2:1.

The new engine is designed for improved manufacturability by using higher efficiency processes, increased robotic construction and reduced parts count.

This will be key for several of SpaceX’s future ambitions, not least their upcoming increase in launch frequency, with the next Falcon 9 – the debut of the V1.1 – set to take place in June, carrying Canada’s space weather satellite, CASSIOPE, out of Vandenberg Air Force Base. (*Falcon 9 V1.1 image left is Photoshopped as to what the F9 V1.1 config may look like*)

Focus will then switch to Cape Canaveral, with two satellite missions, the first carrying SES-8, to be followed by the Thaicom 6 launch, scheduled for the summer.

Back on the West Coast, SpaceX are also preparing to debut their Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. This vehicle will feature 27 Merlin 1D engines on its core and dual boosters, with another Merlin 1D – modified for vacuum operation – providing the role as the second stage engine.

The increase in production has resulted in a busy factory floor at the SpaceX factory in Hawthorne, California, with at least three of the upcoming Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicles in an advanced state of production.

(Images: via SpaceX)

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CRS-2 Dragon:

The SpaceX spacecraft is now enjoying an issue-free mission, following the swift resolution of problems relating to its propulsion system, an issue that occurred just minutes into its mission.

All four of Dragon’s “Quads” – each of which consist of a set of manuevering thrusters – were returned to full working order before the end of Flight Day 1, allowing for the spacecraft’s arrival at the ISS last Sunday, just a day later than originally planned. (Image left via L2′s stock of hundreds of unreleased hi res CRS-2 photos).

Rendezvous and berthing – operations that require at least three of the Quads to be in a nominal condition – were conducted without issue, as Dragon took up residency on Node 2.

Evaluations into a root cause of the Quads issue – likely related to either a blockage or a stuck valve in the helium pressurization line – are continuing, with a focus on ensuring a smooth departure and deorbit for Dragon at the end of its ISS stay.

It is understood that NASA and SpaceX teams will conduct a meeting to evaluate contingency plans in the event the problem reoccurs when the Quads are required again during departure and deorbit operations, per standard procedure. Unberthing, re-entry and splashdown are all scheduled to take place on March 25.

With Dragon’s pressurized cargo already offloaded by the ISS crew, preparations moved towards the use of the Station’s “big arm” for a debut operation involving the Dragon – the removal of the unpressurized cargo, located in the “trunk” of the spacecraft.

The opening requirement called for a visual survey of the Dragon’s aft via cameras on the end of the SSRMS, mainly to ensure the trunk and payload were in an undamaged state, following their journey to the orbital outpost.

“MT (Mobile Transporter) was translated from WS2 (Worksite) to WS5. Then the SSRMS walked-off from Node 2 PDGF (Power Data Grapple Fixture) to MBS PDGF 4 to Lab PDGF and back to Node 2 PDGF,” noted L2′s Rolling ISS Updates. “At the end of the shift, the SSRMS was positioned at the start position of the Dragon trunk survey.

“The tip elbow and LEE (Latching End Effector) cameras were configured to provide initial views of the Dragon trunk. All operations were nominal. the Dragon Trunk survey was successfully performed. The survey confirmed that the trunk was in the expected configuration.”

Dragon’s trunk is designed to carry additional cargo outside of its pressurized cabin – such as Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs). These payloads will be – for the most part – removed by the Dextre (SPDM) robot over the course of the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract, prior to being translated to staging points on the ISS, such as the External Platforms, ahead of installation via a Stage EVA.

Canada’s Dextre actually paid a visit to the C2+ Dragon during the spacecraft’s debut mission to the Station, testing out clearances and camera views ahead of the future payload removal role.

For Wednesday’s operation, only the SSRMS was required, tasked with the removal of two Heat Rejection Subsystem Grapple Fixtures (HRSGFs) – which are essentially bars each featuring two Flight Releasable Grapple Fixtures (FRGFs) – from Dragon’s trunk.

These “grapple bars” will be used to aid in the handling of a stowed ISS radiator in a potential future replacement scenario, by adding grapple fixtures to the radiator for the station’s arm to interface with.

The HRSGFs were successfully removed from Dragon’s Trunk robotically by the SSRMS, whereupon they were installed onto the Payload ORU Accommodation (POA) on the Mobile Base System (MBS) on the ISS Truss, where they will each await respective installation onto the S1 and P1 Truss radiators during a US spacewalk in July.

For more Dragon articles, click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/dragon/

Later this year, Dragon’s CRS-3 (SpX-3) mission will carry two external payloads in its trunk – the High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) and Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS). The previously planned Nitrous Oxide Fuel Blend eXperiment (NOFBX) payload has been removed from the SpX-3 flight and has yet to be re-manifested.

The CRS-4 (SpX-4) mission – which will fly in early 2014 – is manifested with the recently announced RapidScat payload in its trunk.

(Images: via NASA TV and L2′s SpaceX Dragon Mission Special Section – Containing presentations, videos, images (Over 3,100MB in size and exclusive), space industry member discussion and more).

(Click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/ - to view how you can support NSF and access the best space flight content on the entire internet).

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CRS-2 Status – Article will be updated throughout FD-3:

Dragon was launched out of Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at 10:10am local time on Friday, carried uphill by the Falcon 9 rocket.

Only one minor issue was reported prior to launch, namely a low temperature reading on the flight computer – caused by a combination of chilly conditions in the region and the “cold soak” from the LOX tank on the Second Stage during the countdown.

The Falcon 9′s ascent was nominal, with just one reference to a Ground Support Equipment (GSE) issue after lift-off, relating to a small fire on the pad – as is usually seen when the Falcon 9′s plume catches the pad’s umbilical line on the strongback.

Successfully completing its job by deploying the Dragon without a hitch, the Falcon 9 showed it had overcome the issues of the CRS-1 (SpX-1) launch, which resulted in shut-down of Engine 1 during ascent. The success will add confidence to SpaceX’s internal post flight investigation procedures, which included Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) testing on their flight hardware.

However, a new challenge was soon to face SpaceX engineers, just moments after Dragon was shown to have successfully separated from the Falcon 9 Second Stage via onboard cameras.

The problem was seen in the propulsion system – a set of four “quads” of thrusters on the Dragon, vital for attitude control and required burns en route to its destination.

As flashed up on L2′s CRS-2 mission coverage, the issue was seen during priming phase, as Dragon prepared to fire up its thruster systems by pressurizing the fuel tanks via the injection of gaseous helium.

“Post-separation, Dragon’s propellant system opened valves between the Helium tanks and the Fuel and Oxidizer tanks to pressurize the system. All four fuel tanks were observed to pressurize as expected. However, only oxidizer tank 1 showed nominal pressure response,” the notes added.

With three of the four quads at a lower than required pressure, only “Quad 1″ remained online, which was not enough to ensure Dragon could maintain attitude control.

“Ox tanks 2,3, and 4 did not indicate a pressure increase. Due to this failure to pressurize, three of Dragon’s four prop quads were unusable. Dragon’s attitude drifted while troubleshooting occurred, and solar array deploy was delayed.”

Although the initial plan was to deploy Dragon’s solar arrays once two Quads were available, SpaceX decided to unfurl the arrays with only one Quad working. This proved to be helpful for the unstable Dragon, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk describing it as not unlike an ice skater stretching out her arms during a spin maneuver to slow the rotation.

Meanwhile, controllers continued to evaluate the propulsion system, concluding it was was being caused by either a blockage in the helium line, or a sticky check valve. The solution was to “jack-hammer” the valves in the system by commanding them to cycle on and off several times in succession. This proved to be successful.

“Troubleshooting involved cycling the helium isolation valves between the He and Ox tanks 2-4. This allowed “slugs” of pressure to flow through the regulators and downstream to in-series check valves that were suspected to be the cause of the blockage,” added the notes. “After several cycles, the Quad 4 Ox tank suddenly rose to its expected pressure, indicating the blockage had cleared.”

With two Quads (1 and 4) now available, Dragon regained attitude control. Shortly after, the remaining two Quads (2 and 3) saw their tank pressures eventually return to normal.

Now with all four Quads, a much happier Dragon conducted a test burn of around 30 seconds to observe the performance of its prop system.

“All appeared well, as oxidizer tank pressures remained stable and did not decay, as might occur with restricted helium flow,” the notes continued. “This was followed shortly by a four minute burn, during which the prop system again appeared to function nominally.”

Notably, the delay rescheduled the key Coelliptic Burn, resulting in the Dragon being unable to arrive at the ISS on Saturday. However, thanks to the speedy mitigation of the problem by the SpaceX team – and what appears to be good propellant margins – Dragon successfully negotiated a path to be in a stance for a Sunday berthing.

“Several subsequent burns have been performed – including the Height Adjust Burn and CE-1 burn – and the prop system continues to appear to function well, though SpaceX is evaluating post-burn data to confirm.”

With NASA concurring with SpaceX’s healthy status for Dragon, Sunday morning saw the triumphant spacecraft arriving 2.5 km below ISS, ahead of a Go/No-Go for the HA3/CE2 burn pair, resulting in Dragon closing to just 1.2 km distance from its destination.

The HA3/CE3 burn pair, using RGPS and configured with the ISS’ own GPS system, were then conducted, followed by the HA4 (Ai) burn, taking Dragon inside the corridor where the crew began to monitor the spacecraft’s approach.

With both SpaceX mission control in California, and NASA’s ISS Flight Control Room (FCR) in Houston monitoring, Dragon held at 250 meters distance from the Station, where checks of Dragon’s LIDAR system will be conducted, a key element of hardware that has a heritage of testing via the Space Shuttle Discovery during her STS-133 mission.

When all parties are satisfied with Dragon’s performance – and ability to abort if required – Dragon was then given a “Go” to approach to 30 meters distance from the Station where it automatically paused.

At all points, the ability to abort could be made by either controllers on the ground, the Dragon itself or the ISS crew – via the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Communication Unit, or CUCU, which rode in the middeck stowage locker on Atlantis during STS-129 late in 2009, before being handed over to ISS crewmembers ahead of the demonstration flights.

The CUCU provides a bi-directional, half-duplex communications link between Dragon and ISS using existing ISS UHF Space to Space Station Radio (SSSR) antennas, which provides a communication path between MCCX (SpaceX) and Dragon during proximity operations and a command security between ISS and Dragon.

Proceeding from 30 meters to the Capture Point at 10 meters out, Dragon automatically held position again, allowing the ISS’ robotic assets – already translated to the pre-capture position – to make the move towards the Dragon via controls in the Cupola RWS.

Upon receiving the “Go for Capture” call from Houston, the ISS crew armed the SSRMS capture command and begin tracking the vehicle through the camera on the Latching End Effector (LEE) of the SSRMS. NASA Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford and NASA Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn are the crewmembers then completed the task of capturing the CRS-2 Dragon.

With the ISS’ thrusters inhibited and Dragon confirmed to be in free drift, the arm’s LEE closed over the Grapple Fixture (GF) pin on Dragon to trigger the capture sequence ahead of pre-berthing maneuvers.

The Dragon, secured by the SSRMS, was then carefully translated to the pre-install set-up position, 3.5 meters away from the Station’s module, allowing the crew to take camcorder and camera footage of the vehicle through the Node 2 windows.

This hi resolution footage will be downlinked to the ground for engineers to evaluate the condition of the Dragon spacecraft (See raw download collection from C2+ and CRS-1 mission in L2 – 100s upon 100s of hi-res Dragon photos).

The SSRMS then translated Dragon to the second pre-install position, at a distance of 1.5 meters out. Desats were inhibited prior to the maneuver of the Dragon into Common Berthing Module (CBM) interface to begin the securing of the spacecraft to the ISS.

A “Go” at this point was marked by all four Ready To Latch (RTL) indicators providing confirmation on the RWS panel.

Dragon was eased through first stage capture tasks, allowing the SSRMS to go limp, ahead of second stage capture, officially marking Dragon’s berthing with the ISS.

The hatch between the newly arrived SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and the Harmony module was opened at 1:14 p.m. EST.

(Images: via L2′s SpaceX Dragon Mission Special Section – Containing presentations, videos, images (Over 2,700MB in size and exclusive), space industry member discussion and more).

(Click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/ - to view how you can support NSF and access the best space flight content on the entire internet).

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CRS-2/SpX-2:

The problem was noted after Dragon separation, with the anomaly reported at the point Solar Array deployment was expected.

This procedure was delayed due to a problem cited as with the Dragon’s thrusters, which failed to initiate as planned – claimed to be related to a propellant valve.

SpaceX controllers used ground stations to send commands to override the inhibits, with the goal of bringing at least two of the four thruster pods online. This was deemed to be successful, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk using social media to confirm solar array deployment had been achieved.

However, L2 sources noted only one of the “quads” was working as of 17:00 UTC – around the point the coelliptic burn was scheduled. It was also noted Dragon was not in attitude control at the time. It was later revealed the array deployment was related to thermal conditions and the bonus effect of the arrays stablizing the vehicle’s attitude.

SpaceX and NASA issued a statement at 8pm UTC, confirming ISS rendezvous on Saturday was missed.

However, SpaceX did confirm they were back to two of the four thrusters, with the remaining two returning to life shortly afterwards. Three thruster pods are required for ISS rendezvous and berthing.

The root cause is still preliminary, but the initial data points to a stuck valve that was resolved by “jackhammering” it open and close to free it, or the potential of a blockage in the associated helium pressurization line.

On Saturday, NASA and SpaceX confirmed they are in a good stance to berth with the ISS on Sunday.

(You can keep up to date via the live Flight Day 1 thread for CRS-2, here: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31239.0) A full review of the issue and pre-berthing article will follow at the weekend.

Friday’s launch was tasked with deploying Dragon on the the SpaceX CRS-2 mission; delivering 575 kilograms (1,268 lb) of cargo to the space station.

The mission will mark the Dragon’s third visit to the ISS; the second operational flight under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program, the first visit having been the spacecraft’s second and final Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program.

The Dragon was launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 carrier rocket, flying in the v1.0 configuration for what is expected to be the final time.

Future launches are manifested to use the v1.1 configuration, which features significant modifications including a new first stage engine arrangement, more powerful Merlin-1D engines replacing the v1.0′s Merlin-1Cs, and both stages being elongated several meters.

Friday’s mission is the fifth overall for the Falcon 9, which first flew on 4 June 2010 on a test flight successfully carrying the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit, an inert demonstration payload intended to simulate the aerodynamic properties of a Dragon spacecraft, into low Earth orbit.

The DSQU was never intended to separate from the Falcon 9′s upper stage, and the spacecraft and upper stage reentered the atmosphere on 27 June, a little over three weeks after launch.

Following the success of its test flight, the Falcon 9 was ready to launch the first functional Dragon spacecraft. This mission, Dragon C1, or COTS Demonstration 1, was conducted in three hours and 19 minutes on 8 December 2010.

Liftoff occurred at 15:43 UTC from Cape Canaveral, with the spacecraft orbiting the Earth twice before reentering, and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 19:02. Unlike subsequent flights, the Dragon’s Trunk Section was intentionally left attached to the Falcon’s upper stage, with the capsule performing its mission alone.

In addition to Dragon C1, eight other satellites were carried on the Falcon 9′s second flight. These were SMDC-ONE 1 for the US Army, Mayflower for Northrop Grumman and the University of Southern California, QbX-1 and 2 for the US National Reconnaissance Office, and Perseus 000, 001, 002 and 003 for the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

These satellites were all deployed into Low Earth orbits which decayed quickly; Mayflower was the first of the secondary payloads to reenter the atmosphere on 22 December. It was followed by the four Perseus satellites; 000 and 002 on 30 December, with the other two the next day.

QbX-1 decayed on 6 January 2011, with SMDC-ONE 1 reentering on 12 January, and finally QbX-2 on 16 January.

The COTS program had originally called for three test flights of the Dragon, with the second mission rendezvousing with the ISS, and the third mission being the first to be captured and berthed with the outpost.

Following the success of the first flight, however, it was decided to merge the second and third flights into the Dragon C2+ mission, which was launched on 22 May last year, by the third Falcon 9.

The launch also carried the New Frontier payload for Celestis, which included samples of the cremated remains of 308 people. One of these was astronaut Gordon Cooper, who passed away in 2004 at the age of 77. One of the Mercury Seven, Cooper flew aboard Mercury-Atlas 9, the final flight of the Mercury programme, and later commanded Gemini V. Another participant was actor James Doohan, who played Scotty in the original series of Star Trek.

This was the third time their ashes had been launched into space; having initially been flown on a suborbital flight using a SpaceLoft-XL sounding rocket in 2007, organized due to considerable delays with the orbital mission. Their ashes were then carried aboard the Explorers mission, which was lost in the failure of a Falcon 1 rocket in 2008; as a result of the failure replacement samples were included for free on New Frontiers.

Dragon C2+ successfully completed a series of rendezvous demonstrations on 24 and 25 May, the last of which culminated in its approach to within nine meters (30 feet) of the space station, where astronaut Donald Pettit captured the vehicle using the Canadarm2 remote manipulator system. Following capture, the RMS was used to berth the Dragon spacecraft at the nadir port of the Harmony module. Hatches between the spacecraft and the ISS were opened on 26 May.

Following the completion of tests with the Dragon berthed at the ISS and the transfer of cargo between the Dragon and the station, hatches between the two spacecraft were closed and it departed the station on 31 May.

Canadarm2 was used for unberthing, and the Dragon was released to begin its descent to Earth.

Following a series of burns to depart the vicinity of the ISS, Dragon C2+ was deorbited, and splashed down in the Pacific at 15:42 UTC after a successful mission, completing Dragon’s COTS demonstration objectives.

The success of the two COTS demonstration missions paved the way for operational flights, which began last October with SpaceX CRS-1.

The third mission of the Dragon, and the second to visit the ISS, it lifted off atop a Falcon 9 on 8 October 2012. The secondary payload for this launch was the Orbcomm O2G-1 communications satellite; a prototype for Orbcomm’s second generation constellation slated for launch on subsequent Falcon 9 missions.

While the CRS-1 mission was successful as a whole, the launch suffered an engine problem during first stage flight which resulted in the loss of the Orbcomm satellite.

The number 1 engine failed approximately 79 seconds after launch; being shut down by the onboard computer after it lost pressure. Debris was seen falling from the rocket, believed to be part of a fairing designed to protect the engines from aerodynamic loads.

While the failure was within the Falcon 9′s engine-out capability, it resulted in the second stage burning more propellant than had originally been planned in order to reach the planned orbit for Dragon deployment.

As a result the stage failed a propellant mass check at engine cut-off, and the Orbcomm satellite was dumped into this same orbit that the Dragon had been deployed in, so as not to put the ISS at risk should a planned second burn to reach the Orbcomm deployment orbit not be completed successfully.

The CRS-1 spacecraft arrived at the space station on 10 October, and following a successful berthed mission, it was unberthed on 28 October at 11:19 UTC.

Splashdown occurred a little over eight hours later at 19:22 UTC, following successful separation maneuvers and a deorbit burn.

The fifth Falcon 9 launch is the tenth overall for SpaceX, who also conducted five launches of the smaller Falcon 1 rocket, which has since been retired from service.

Its first mission, which carried the US Air Force Academy’s FalconSat-2 satellite, launched on 24 March 2006 from Omelek Island; part of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

The launch ended in failure after the base of the first stage caught fire due to a corroded nut, with the engine cutting out 25 seconds after liftoff.

The vehicle fell into the Pacific, however the satellite was thrown free and came down back at its launch site, falling through the roof of the building in which its shipping crate was being stored.

The second flight on 21 March 2007 fared little better. While first stage flight was completed, the vehicle underperformed due to a fuel mixture error, and recontact between the first and second stages was observed at separation.

Despite this, the second stage continued towards orbit, however it began to oscillate, causing fuel sloshing which led to the engine cutting out prematurely around seven and a half minutes into the flight.

The rocket, which was carrying an inert demonstration payload for NASA and DARPA, failed to achieve orbit. The launch also carried two NASA experiments designed to operate during ascent, one of which monitored the rocket and the other tested communications with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS).

The Falcon 1′s third flight debuted a new Merlin-1C first stage engine, in place of the Merlin-1A used on the first two flights.

It lifted off on 3 August 2008, carrying the Trailblazer satellite for the US Department of Defense’s Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office, the PRESat and NanoSail-D CubeSats for NASA, and the Explorers space burial payload for Celestis.

An unexpected consequence of the change of engine was residual thrust following burnout, which resulted in severe recontact between the first and second stages following separation. The second stage ignited while its engine was still inside the interstage section, and control of the rocket was quickly lost.

SpaceX quickly determined the cause of the failure, and were ready for another launch attempt less than two months later.

The fourth Falcon 1 carried a 165-kilogram (364 lb) inert payload named RatSat. On 28 September 2008, it was placed into low Earth orbit as the Falcon 1 completed its first successful flight. RatSat remains in orbit, as does the Falcon 1′s upper stage, to which it is attached.

The Falcon 1′s final flight came on 14 July 2009, with the only mission which successfully deployed a functional payload into orbit. That payload was the 180-kilogram RazakSAT, for ATSB of Malaysia. Following this launch the original Falcon 1 was retired in favor of a stretched and more capable version, the Falcon 1e; however this never flew and has since been abandoned.

Launches from Omelek have ceased, and SpaceX plans to launch Falcon 1-class payloads on Falcon 9 rockets, along with larger payloads. It remains unclear how the Falcon 9′s failure to deploy the Orbcomm satellite during its last mission will affect this in the long term.

The Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 were originally to have been joined by a third rocket, the Falcon 5. This was similar in design to the Falcon 9, however optimized for smaller payloads, with only five first stage engines.

This was cancelled around 2007, in favor of the Falcon 9.

Two additional variants of the Falcon 9 had also been announced; the Falcon 9S5 and 9S9, which would have featured boosters, based respectively on the first stages of the Falcon 5 and Falcon 9.

The 9S9 grew into the Falcon 9 Heavy, and subsequently the Falcon Heavy which is currently under development.

The Falcon Heavy is derived from the Falcon 9, with improvements to the first stage which will also be introduced on the Falcon 9 with the v1.1 configuration; Merlin-1D engines, stretched stages and an octagonal engine layout replacing the v1.0′s square format.

Two strap-on boosters based on its first stage are mounted on either side, giving a similar configuration to the Delta IV Heavy, with its three Common Booster Cores.

With a claimed payload capacity of 53 tonnes (51 imperial tons) to Low Earth orbit, the Falcon Heavy will surpass the Delta IV as the most powerful rocket in service when it makes its maiden flight, which is currently scheduled to occur next year.

Dragon is a 5.9-metre (19.3-foot) long spacecraft, which has a diameter of 3.66 meters (12 feet), and is capable of carrying up to 3,310 kilograms (7,296 lb) of cargo to the International Space Station. It can carry pressurized cargo to the ISS in a 2.9-metre (9.5-foot) long capsule, which also provides 2,500 kilograms (5,500 lb) of downmass for returning supplies to Earth.

Its trunk section, which holds its solar arrays, can also accommodate unpressurized cargo for delivery to the station, and can also carry 2,600 kilograms (5,732 lb) following departure from the station, allowing its use to dispose of non-recoverable payloads when it burns up during re-entry.

The spacecraft is powered by two solar arrays mounted on the Trunk, while Draco thrusters, burning monomethylhydrazine oxidised by dinitrogen tetroxide, will be used to provide attitude control, manoeuvring in orbit, and to deorbit the Dragon at the end of its mission.

The nose of the spacecraft houses a Common Berthing Mechanism, used to attach the Dragon to the Harmony module of the International Space Station.

The 575 kilograms (1,268 lb) of cargo aboard CRS-2 contains supplies for the crew, scientific experiments, tools and station hardware and parts. For transport, it is contained in 102 kilograms (225 lb) of packaging. In all, 81 kilograms (179 lb) of upmass is dedicated to crew equipment, including “crew care packages”, clothes, food and hygiene equipment.

Scientific equipment and experiments take up 348 kilograms (767 lb) of cargo capacity, and while most of the equipment is for NASA, experiments for the European and Canadian Space Agencies are also aboard, as are supplies for JAXA experiments already aboard the ISS.

Other supplies include Carbon Dioxide Removal Assemblies for the station’s life support system, crew healthcare equipment, batteries and a charger, computer hard drives and disc cases, a serial port adaptor for one of the computers, and a gyroscope cable for the Russian segment.

Upon its return to Earth, the Dragon will be carrying 1,210 kilograms (2,668 lb) of cargo, not including its packaging, which takes up a further 160 kilograms (353 lb) of mass. This consists of 90 kilograms (210 lb) of used crew equipment such as food containers, preference items and care equipment; 660 kg (1,455 lb) of experiments and scientific hardware for NASA, CSA, ESA and JAXA; 38 kg (84 lb) of EVA equipment, and 417 kg (911 lb) of station hardware.

The Falcon 9 which launched CRS-2 is a two-stage vehicle. The first stage is powered by nine Merlin-1C engines arranged in 3-by-3 square. A single vacuum-optimized Merlin-1C propels the second stage. Both stages burn RP-1 propellant, using liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.

During the countdown to launch, powerup of the Falcon 9 and Dragon occurs around thirteen and a half hours before the scheduled liftoff. Oxidiser loading will begin three hours and fifty minutes ahead of launch, with propellant loading beginning ten minutes later.

Three and a quarter hours before liftoff, both of these processes will be complete, however topping off of the oxidiser tanks will continue until the final stages of the countdown, as liquid oxygen tends to boil off.

The terminal count begins around ten minutes before launch, with the Dragon switching to internal power at L-8 minutes, and the flight computers beginning the final automated sequence at L-6 minutes.

At L-5, the carrier rocket will transfer to internal power. The launch pad’s “Niagara” water deluge system will be activated 60 seconds before the countdown reaches zero, with propellant tanks pressurising at L-40 seconds.

The command to ignite the first stage engines will be issued three seconds before liftoff, and when the countdown reaches zero the Falcon 9 will begin its ascent into orbit for its fifth mission.

Around 85 seconds later, the vehicle will encounter the area of maximum aerodynamic pressure, and around this time it will pass through Mach 1, the speed of sound. Three minutes into the mission the first stage will burn out, with separation occurring about five seconds afterwards. Seven seconds after staging, the second stage will ignite.

Around 40 seconds into the second stage burn, the protective covering over the Dragon’s berthing port will be jettisoned in order to reduce the vehicle’s mass, and avoid placing unnecessary debris into orbit. The second stage burn is expected to last about 359 seconds, with MECO coming about nine minutes and eleven seconds after liftoff. Spacecraft separation will occur about half a minute later.

Two minutes after SECO, the Dragon will deploy its solar arrays. Two and a quarter hours after this, it will open its guidance, navigation and control bay door. Around this time the Draco thrusters will be used to circularize the spacecraft’s orbit.

Rendezvous and berthing with the ISS is expected to occur on Flight Day 2, with hatch opening the day afterwards.

The spacecraft will perform an R-bar approach to within 10 metres (66 feet) of the station, where the crew will use Canadarm2 to capture it, and maneuver it for berthing with the nadir port of Harmony.

Canadarm2 will also be used for unberthing when the Dragon is ready to return to Earth.

Falcon 9 launches from Cape Canaveral use Space Launch Complex 40. Originally built in the 1960s for the Titan IIIC rocket, the launch of SpaceX CRS-2 is the sixtieth launch from the pad. Fifty five Titan rockets; Twenty six IIICs, eight 34Ds, four Commercial Titan IIIs and seventeen Titan IVs; flew from the complex.

The final Titan launch from SLC-40 occurred in April 2005 when the rocket’s penultimate flight overall deployed a Lacrosse radar imaging satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office.

The pad was subsequently converted for use by SpaceX, and has supported all Falcon 9 launches to date. Another former Titan launch pad, Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg, is currently being modified for use by the Falcon 9, and this is expected to see its first Falcon launch later this year.

The launch of CRS-2 is the eleventh confirmed orbital launch attempt of 2013, of which all but one have been successful, the failure being a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL mission carrying the Intelsat 27 satellite, which came down in the Pacific on 1 February.

There are some rumors that an Iranian launch, attempted around 17 February, may also have failed, however these claims have not yet been substantiated. If they are proven true, it will have been Iran’s third consecutive failure, and will make CRS-2 the twelfth orbital launch attempt of the year.

Friday’s launch was SpaceX’s first of 2013, and the United States’ third. America’s next launch is expected around 20 March, when an Atlas V 401 will deploy the SBIRS-GEO 2 missile detection satellite in a launch from Cape Canaveral.

Orbital Sciences Corporation is expected to make its first attempt to reach the International Space Station, with a Cygnus spacecraft flying a COTS demonstration mission in July, following a test flight of the Antares carrier rocket which is scheduled for 4 April.

If this is successful, Cygnus is slated to begin CRS missions in October or November.

SpaceX’s next launch is currently scheduled for 18 June, when the Falcon 9 v1.1 will make its maiden flight deploying the Canadian Cassiope satellite, and several secondary payloads, in the company’s first launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The next Dragon mission, CRS-3, is currently scheduled to launch on 2 October.

(Images: via NASA, SpaceX and L2′s SpaceX Dragon Mission Special Section – Containing presentations, videos, images (Over 2,700MB in size and exclusive), space industry member discussion and more).

(Click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/ - to view how you can support NSF and access the best space flight content on the entire internet).

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Dragon’s latest mission:

The upcoming SpaceX Dragon mission will be the third Dragon flight to the ISS, but only the second operational cargo delivery by SpaceX under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.

Commonly known as CRS-2, the mission is designated as SpX-2 within the ISS program, as detailed on a NASA patch for the mission.

The SpX-2 mission is currently targeting a launch on Friday March 1 at around 3:10 PM GMT, or 10:10 AM local time at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida, making for the first daylight launch of a Dragon spacecraft to the ISS – hopefully without further “tantrums” from any of the Falcon 9′s first stage Merlin 1C engines, although this mission will be the last flight before the new Falcon 9 v1.1 comes into service featuring improved Merlin 1D engines.

The following day, Saturday March 2 – only one day after launch instead of the two days on the SpX-1 flight – Dragon will rendezvous with the ISS using what are now proven procedures, and be captured by the station’s robotic arm for a berthing to the Node 2 Nadir Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) port, whereupon hatches will be opened and cargo transfers will begin.

Dragon will carry a total of 677 kilograms/1,493 pounds of cargo to the ISS, of which 102kg/225lb will be packaging materials. Just over half of the cargo (348kg/767lb) will be devoted to experiments for NASA and the European, Japanese, and Canadian space agencies – making around 51 per cent of the total cargo devoted to experiments, which is in line with the previously stated goal that half of the cargo on CRS fights will be devoted to science.

Two GLACIER science freezers will launch on SpX-2, one of them active (powered) and the other passive (unpowered).

The rest of the cargo on the SpX-2 Dragon will be devoted to crew provisions (food/clothing/hygiene items), and both new & spare hardware for the ISS and its systems. Some of the larger spare parts launching on SpX-2 include an Electronics Unit (EU) for a Minus Eighty-degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI), and a Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) bed.

The SpX-2 Dragon will mark the first time that a Dragon has carried external cargo to the station inside its Trunk, which in this case will be two Heat Rejection Subsystem Grapple Fixtures (HRSGFs), which are essentially bars each featuring two Flight Releasable Grapple Fixtures (FRGFs).

These “grapple bars” will be used to aid in handling of ISS radiators in a repair or replacement scenario, by adding grapple fixtures to the radiators for the station’s arm to interface with.

The HRSGFs will be removed from Dragon’s Trunk robotically, either with the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) or the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (SPDM) “Dextre”.

Once removed, they will be installed onto the Payload ORU Accommodation (POA) on the Mobile Base System (MBS) on the ISS Truss, where they will each await respective installation onto the S1 and P1 Truss radiators during a US spacewalk in the June/July timeframe.

Once all the internal and external cargo has been unloaded from Dragon and stowed on the ISS, Dragon will then be loaded with cargo to be returned to Earth – which will total at 1,370kg/3,020lb, of which 160kg/352lb will be packaging – meaning that the SpX-2 Dragon will return over double the amount of cargo to Earth than it launches to the ISS.

The return cargo devoted to experiments will total in at 660kg/1,455lb, making for around 48 per cent of return cargo devoted to science, again in accordance with the promised roughly 50/50 split for scientific and other cargo.

One GLACIER freezer will return as part of the scientific cargo, containing samples stored up on the ISS since the previous return of a Dragon spacecraft back on October 28 last year – during which the GLACIER freezer lost power after splashdown due to seawater intrusion into the Dragon.

The rest of the cargo returning on Dragon will be devoted to excessed or failed equipment, comprising many failed Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) components including an Oxygen Generation System (OGS) Hydrogen Sensor ORU (Orbital Replacement Unit), a Pump Separator ORU, and a CDRA bed.

Once the return cargo has been loaded, Dragon’s hatch will be sealed up, and Dragon will then be unberthed from the ISS for a de-orbit burn, re-entry and splashdown into the Pacific ocean a short time later, currently planned for Monday March 25. That will conclude the SpX-2 mission, and hopefully rack up another successful flight in SpaceX’s now swiftly progressing mission log.

As a preparation activity prior to the launch, SpaceX successfully conducted a static test fire of the Falcon 9 on Monday, with this test being unique in that both it and the Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) – which were both previously conducted separately – were rolled into one event in order to improve efficiency as SpaceX become more confident with their hardware and procedures.

ISS preparations for Dragon’s visit:

While SpaceX have been hard at work preparing for the upcoming mission on the ground, the ISS has also been making preparations of its own, as detailed in exclusive and extensive ISS on-orbit status notes available on L2.

According to the notes, last week the SSRMS was “walked off” from the MBS Power & Data Grapple Fixture-1 (PDGF-1) to the Node 2 PDGF, in order to position it correctly to allow it to grapple Dragon when it arrives below the ISS.

Following this, the ISS crew, consisting of Commander Kevin Ford and Flight Engineers Chris Hadfield & Tom Marshburn, conducted “offset” grapple practice using the SSRMS controlled from the Cupola Robotics Workstation (RWS), and a Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF) on the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM).

The purpose is to deliberately offset the SSRMS Latching End Effector (LEE) at an angle from the PMM FRGF, in order to allow the crew to practice making misaligned approaches to grapple fixtures, in order to better prepare them for such an eventuality occurring during the capture of the Dragon.

The ISS crew were also hard at work conducting a major on-board software upgrade this past week, which didn’t go entirely to plan as it resulted in the US segment of the ISS losing communications with the ground for three hours, with the only communication capability remaining during this time being via the Russian Segment (RS) Very High Frequency (VHF) link, when it made passes over Russian Ground Site (RGS) stations.

The software upgrade, known as X2_R12, was the latest in the series of annual major software upgrades aboard the ISS that includes many updates for various systems all rolled together into a single package. The last major upgrade, X2_R11, was performed in November 2011.

According to L2 notes, the upgrade was first applied to the Command & Control (C&C)-1 and 3 computers, which were in backup and standby modes respectively, while the active C&C-2 continued to run the older X2_R11 software. The plan was then to transition the upgraded C&C-1 to primary so that C&C-2 could itself be upgraded.

However, upon initiation of that plan C&C-1 instead transitioned to diagnostics mode due to an “Ada Exception” (Ada being a programming language common in aerospace systems), later isolated to the “Visiting Vehicle Checkpoint consumption” – essentially meaning that C&C-1 tried to get data for a visiting vehicle that wasn’t present.

The exception led to a complete loss of comm between the US Segment and Mission Control in Houston, although Houston was eventually able to contact the crew via Russian comms and send them steps to re-enable US Segment S-band comms.

According to the notes, C&C-1 was then recovered by reinitializing it, following which the Visiting Vehicle Checkpoint consumption was inhibited. In the following days, C&C-2 was successfully loaded with X2_R12, meaning all the C&C computers are now ready to receive Dragon.

Also of relevance to the SpX-2 mission in the L2 notes is the fact that the Space Integrated GPS Inertial Navigation System-1 (SIGI-1) locked up on February 18, requiring two power cycles to recover it.

The notes stated that “SIGI lockups are considered nominal and are typically attributed to a Single Event Upset (SEU) due to radiation”. There are two SIGIs on the ISS, both of which are required to be operational in order for Dragon to perform Relative GPS (RGPS) navigation with the ISS.

Cygnus’ first visit to the ISS:

While SpaceX are preparing to make their third flight to the ISS, Orbital Sciences Corporation are also hard at work preparing for the debut mission of their Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft to the ISS.

With the first milestone in the Antares and Cygnus test program now complete – a 30 second hold-down test of the Antares first stage – which appears at first glance to have been a complete success, the next milestone will be a full-up test flight of the Antares rocket with a dummy Cygnus spacecraft. According to Orbital officials, this milestone is scheduled to be performed around 5 weeks after the hold-down test, which would give a tentative date of early April for the Antares test flight.

The COTS demo flight – where the first Cygnus spacecraft would attempt to rendezvous and berth with the ISS – would be performed around 3 months after the Antares test flight, giving a tentative date of early July for the COTS demo flight.

Finally, the first Antares/Cygnus CRS flight would occur 3-4 months after the COTS demo flight, giving a tentative timeframe of early October-early November for the first Orbital CRS flight – although November has issues from a flight scheduling standpoint, due to a Beta angle cut-out from Nov 2 to Nov 9, and then a period where only one US crewmember will be present on the ISS (thus creating issues for Visiting Vehicle captures) from Nov 10 to Nov 25.

The above schedule however is extremely tentative, and is dependent upon the test flight program proceeding without any issues or setbacks.

Other ISS resupply flights:

Other ISS resupply vehicle flights have been undergoing schedule changes recently, with NASASpaceflight.com receiving word via L2 sources that the flight of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4) has been delayed from its previously planned date of May 7 to a new date of No Earlier Than (NET) June 7, due to the need to replace a failed electrical unit aboard ATV-4.

Additionally, Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehivle-4 (HTV-4) could also now be looking at a launch date of August 4, instead of its previously planned date of July 20, although this delay has yet to be confirmed. The reason for the possible slip in the HTV-4 launch date is not known at this time.

HTV-4 will carry three external payloads to the ISS – a spare Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU), a spare Umbilical Transfer Assembly (UTA), and the Space Test Program-Houston 4 (STP-H4) experiment, which all recently left the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) bound for their Japanese launch site. HTV-4 will also dispose of the older STP-H3 experiment when the vehicle burns up for a destructive re-entry.

The Russians also recently changed their manifest of ISS resupply flights for the rest of 2013, as all Progress (and Soyuz) flights for the rest of this year will now be of the fast-rendezvous type, meaning a docking to the ISS will occur only six hours after launch.

However, the Progress M-21M flight in November will be of the traditional two day rendezvous type, as that particular Progress will be used for another test of the new Kurs-NA system that was first tested on Progress M-15M in July last year.

Only one other SpaceX flight is planned for 2013 after the SpX-2 mission, with SpX-3 scheduled to fly on October 2 and return to Earth on November 1 – a flight that could potentially cause conflict with Orbital’s first CRS mission should it fly in that timeframe.

L2 documentation shows that the SpX-3 flight will carry two external payloads in its Trunk – the High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) and Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS). The previously planned Nitrous Oxide Fuel Blend eXperiment (NOFBX) payload has been removed from the SpX-3 flight and has yet to be re-manifested.

The next SpaceX flight after that, SpX-4, will not occur until January 2014, carrying the recently announced RapidScat payload in its Trunk.

With five different resupply vehicles from all over the globe now trying to find space in the ISS flight manifest, scheduling challenges will not be uncommon in the future, as the era of post-Shuttle resupply kicks in so as to fully support the ISS in its mission of science and discovery.

(Images: via L2′s SpaceX Dragon Mission Special Section – Containing presentations, videos, images (Over 2,500MB in size), space industry member discussion and more. Now includes CRS-1 Image Dump, every single hi res photo taken from the ISS - 350 Hi Res images).

(Click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/ - to view how you can support NSF and access the best space flight content on the entire internet).

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