Dragon C2+ [SEP] time of spacecraft launch
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Dragon C2+


Dragon C2+, also known as SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2 (COTS 2), was the second test-flight for SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft, launched on the third flight of the company's two-stage Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The flight was performed under a funded agreement from NASA as the second Dragon demonstration mission in the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The purpose of the COTS program is to develop and demonstrate commercial sources for cargo re-supply of the International Space Station (ISS
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Dragon C2+


). The Dragon C2+ spacecraft was the first American vehicle to visit the ISS since the end of the Space Shuttle program. It was also the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous and berth with another spacecraft. Initially, the objectives of the C2+ mission were to have been accomplished by two separate missions; Dragon C2 would have carried out a fly-by of the ISS, practiced rendezvous maneuvers and communications with the station, before returning to Earth. A second mission, C3, would have been the first mission to
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Dragon C2+


The Falcon 9 launch vehicle arrived at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral, Florida facilities at Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) in July 2011. The mission's Dragon spacecraft arrived at the launch site on 23 October 2011. On 1 March 2012, a fueled countdown test called a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR), was successfully completed for the COTS 2 mission. On 16 April its Flight Readiness Review (FRR) was completed by NASA and stated that a 30 April launch was feasible. Following the review SpaceX announced a launch delay,
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Superbird-C2


companies dissolved. Thus, by the time of launch, Superbird-7 was a JSAT spacecraft. Superbird-7 was successfully launched along AMC-21 by an Ariane 5 ECA on August 14, 2008, at 20:44 UTC. It separated from the spacecraft at 21:09 UTC and less than an hour later, at 22:03 UTC, it had already spread its solar panels. After the successful launch, Superbird-7 was renamed as Superbird-C2. On October 17, 2008 MELCO announced that they had performed the final handover of the spacecraft to JSAT. They had
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List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches


the next day, May 26 at 09:53 UTC, Pettit opened the hatch and remarked that Dragon "smells like a brand new car." Over the next few days, ISS crew unloaded the incoming cargo and filled Dragon with Earth-bound items such as experiment samples and unneeded hardware. The spacecraft was released on May 31 at 09:49 UTC and successfully completed all the return procedures: unberthing, maneuvering away from the ISS, deorbit burn, trunk jettison, atmospheric reentry, parachute deployment, and ocean splashdown. The Dragon C2
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Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit


. On March 13, 2010, the first stage engines successfully underwent a 3.5 second static test firing, having failed a previous attempt the day before. SpaceX announced in September 2009 that the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit would be the payload for the first Falcon 9 launch. At the time, launch was scheduled to occur no earlier than November 2009. The launch date had been delayed several times for various reasons, The spacecraft was launched and entered orbit on June 4, 2010. The first actual launch attempt targeted a four-
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Dragon C2+


on 31 May. Since all COTS objectives were met during the Dragon C2+ flight in May 2012, the need for COTS Demo Flight 3 was eliminated. Launch occurred at 03:44 EDT (07:44 UTC) on 22 May 2012. This was the first time a Falcon 9 was launched at night. After lift-off, main engine shut-off occurred at approximately the 180-second mark, and the first stage began to be separated. Following stage separation, the second stage ignited. The Dragon's nose cone was then jettisoned.
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Dragon C2+


berth with the station. In July 2011, NASA gave tentative approval to combine the objectives of the two missions. In December 2011, NASA formally approved the merger of the COTS 2 and 3 missions into the Dragon C2+ flight. There were several launch delays, the last one occurring on 19 May 2012, due to a launch abort during the last second before liftoff. Dragon C2+ successfully launched from Cape Canaveral on 22 May 2012. During the mission's first three days all of the COTS 2 objectives were successfully
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Dragon C2+


demonstration objectives began. Dragon's DragonEye system demonstrated and confirmed that its position and velocity were accurate by comparing its LIDAR image to its thermal imagers. A series of checkout maneuvers commenced. The SpaceX flight control team in Hawthorne, California, commanded the spacecraft to approach the station from its hold position. It moved from below the station. The crew, using the command panel, then instructed Dragon to retreat, and the spacecraft moved back down to the hold point. This test ensured that Dragon's range to the ISS was
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Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit


The Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit was a boilerplate version of the Dragon spacecraft manufactured by SpaceX. After using it for ground tests to rate Dragon's shape and mass in various tests, SpaceX launched it into low Earth orbit on the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 rocket, on June 4, 2010. SpaceX used the launch to evaluate the aerodynamic conditions on the spacecraft and performance of the carrier rocket in a real-world launch scenario, ahead of Dragon flights for NASA under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. The spacecraft orbited the
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Dragon C2+


And at about nine minutes into the flight, the second-stage engine shut-off occurred and separated from the Dragon spacecraft. The Dragon spacecraft successfully deployed its solar arrays at about 13 minutes into the flight. The initial COTS 2 tests began during this flight segment, when Dragon performed a test of its Absolute GPS (AGPS) system, using global positioning system satellites to determine its location. Next, Dragon opened its bay door which housed its grapple fixture and relative navigation sensors, a thermal imager and the LIDAR based
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Solar electric propulsion


Solar electric propulsion (SEP) typically refers to the combination of solar cells and an ion drive to propel a spacecraft through outer space. This technology has been exploited in a variety of spacecraft by the European Space Agency, the Japanese Space Agency, Indian Space Research Organisation and NASA. SEP is valued for its potential for a high specific impulse, thus allowing less mass for propellant to be launched with a spacecraft and it has been evaluated for mission to Mars. Solar electric propulsion combines solar panels on spacecraft and ion thrusters,
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Dragon C2+


the mission's success, SpaceX asked NASA to combine the COTS 2 ISS flyby flight, which would have seen a Dragon spacecraft approach the station but stay about 10 km away from it, and the COTS 3 flight that would berth with the ISS. At a 15 July 2011 meeting, NASA tentatively approved combining the two COTS missions to accelerate the program into the operational supply mission phase in 2012. On 9 December, NASA officially approved the merger of the COTS 2 and 3 missions into the renamed Dragon C2+ flight.
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SpaceX Mars transportation infrastructure


on-orbit propellant refill via "ITS tanker"—were to begin no earlier than 2022. At the time, the company was planning for launches of research spacecraft to Mars using Falcon Heavy launch vehicles and specialized modified Dragon spacecraft, called "Red Dragon". Due to planetary alignment in the inner Solar System, Mars launches are typically limited to a window of approximately every 26 months. As announced in June 2016, the first launch was planned for Spring 2018, with an announced intent to launch again in every Mars launch window thereafter
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Dragon C2+


to Dragon to turn on its strobe light. At about 11:25 UTC the Dragon made its closest approach to the ISS. Once the fly-under was completed, Dragon fired its thrusters to begin a loop out in front, above and then behind the station in a racetrack oval pattern at a distance between . The Dragon performed a final burn for the day, at 11:57 UTC, that moved it away from the ISS, and set the spacecraft up for a re-rendezvous with the station the next day. After Dragon
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Dragon C2+


one of the Falcon 9's engines. The launch window was nearly instantaneous, for fuel-efficiency reasons, leaving little margin for error due to fuel consumption restrictions caused by the extra manoeuvres required to certify the Dragon spaceship before attempting to berth with the ISS. Dragon's launch window could have been longer, but the extra fuel required to catch the ISS would have likely surpassed safety margins, due to the pre-berthing tests. Under the original Dragon testing plan, the C2 and C3 missions would have been flown instead
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SpaceX


re-entry burn for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. With Dragon's safe recovery, SpaceX became the first private company to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; prior to this mission, only government agencies had been able to recover orbital spacecraft. COTS Demo Flight 2 launched in May 2012, in which Dragon successfully berthed with the ISS, marking the first time that a private spacecraft had accomplished this feat. Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of contracts awarded by NASA from 2008–2016 for delivery of
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Dragon C2+


CETSOL and MICAST studies. Originally, SpaceX also intended to launch two secondary payload satellites from the Dragon sometime in the first 72 hours after launch; however, on 28 December 2011, SpaceX and Orbcomm announced a revised schedule that dropped the satellite deployment from the Dragon C2+ flight plan. COTS Demo Flight 2 was to take place as early as 2010, but was delayed by internal SpaceX issues; and then in 2011 by NASA issues. As planned on the manifests, COTS 2 was to fly in June 2011. It
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SpaceX Dragon


Dragon is a reusable cargo spacecraft developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company. Dragon is launched into orbit by the company's Falcon 9 launch vehicle. During its maiden flight in December 2010, Dragon became the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to be recovered successfully from orbit. On 25 May 2012, a cargo variant of Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with and attach to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX is contracted to deliver cargo to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services
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Dragon 2


Dragon 2 or Crew Dragon is a reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by U.S. aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, intended as the successor to the Dragon cargo spacecraft. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and return via ocean splashdown. In comparison to Dragon, Dragon 2 has larger windows, new flight computers and avionics, redesigned solar arrays, and a modified outer mold line. The spacecraft is planned to have two variants – Crew Dragon, a human-rated capsule capable of carrying up to seven astronauts, and Cargo Dragon
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Falcon (rocket family)


delayed several times, occurring at 15:43 GMT on 8 December 2010. The rocket successfully deployed an operational Dragon spacecraft at 15:53 GMT. Dragon orbited the Earth twice, and then made a controlled reentry burn that put it on target for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico. With Dragon's safe recovery, SpaceX became the first private company to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; prior to this mission only government agencies had been able to recover orbital spacecraft. The first flight of the Falcon 9
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Dragon C2+


2011, NASA formally approved the two missions' merger, and set the initial launch date for 7 February 2012. Several delays occurred between December to May 2012, mostly due to SpaceX needing to further test hardware and software. The Dragon C2+ mission successfully launched on 22 May, from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40). It successfully completed all COTS 2 mission objectives, then berthed with the ISS, and completed all COTS 3 mission objectives, before successfully splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, off the California coast
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Dragon C2+


accurate, and that the flight control team saw the spacecraft's acceleration and braking perform as expected. It was in a holding pattern at , and once again the Dragon flight team commanded it to approach the station. At the position, the crew commanded the vehicle to hold. Another decision was made in Houston, and Dragon was permitted to enter the Keep-Out Sphere (KOS), a virtual area around the station intended to prevent collision with the orbiting complex. Two additional and non-planned holds occurred: one
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Dragon C2+


within below the station. During this "fly-under," Dragon established communications with the station using its COTS Ultra-high frequency Communication Unit (CUCU). Dragon performed a test of its Relative GPS (RGPS) system, which used the relative positions of the spacecraft to the space station to determine its location. Also, using the Crew Command Panel (CCP) on board the Cupola module, the Expedition 31 crew briefly interacted with Dragon, monitoring the fly-under and just before 11:00 UTC sending a command
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Dragon C2+


team notified the crew they were go to capture Dragon. At that point, from the Cupola module, Expedition 31 crew member Don Pettit used the station's Mobile Servicing System (Canadarm2) to reach out and grapple the Dragon spacecraft at 13:56 UTC over Western Australia. Upon capture, Pettit jokingly told ISS CAPCOM Megan McArthur, "Looks like we got us a Dragon by the tail. We're thinking this sim went really well, we're ready to turn it around and do it for real." Pettit, with
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SpaceX


program. SpaceX demonstrated cargo resupply and eventually crew transportation services using the Dragon. The first flight of a Dragon structural test article took place in June 2010, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station during the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle; the mock-up Dragon lacked avionics, heat shield, and other key elements normally required of a fully operational spacecraft but contained all the necessary characteristics to validate the flight performance of the launch vehicle. An operational Dragon spacecraft was launched in December 2010 aboard COTS
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Dragon C2+


of C2+. C2 would have rendezvoused with the ISS, however it would not have performed the capture and berthing part of the mission. The third test-flight was intended to be Dragon's first mission to berth with the ISS. Following a 15 July 2011 meeting between SpaceX and NASA officials, the COTS 3 mission objectives were tentatively combined with the proposed COTS 2 demonstration flight, due to the Falcon 9's two previously successful launches, and the Space Transportation System's shuttle fleet recently being retired. On 9 December
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Dragon C2+


DragonEye. After a checkout of these sensors was completed, Dragon demonstrated its ability to abort during an approach, first with a continuous firing of its Draco engines and then with a pulsed firing. A free drift demonstration then began, allowing the spacecraft to float freely without using its thrusters which would normally correct its orbital path. On flight day two, Dragon began a series of thruster burns, called "height adjustment" burn (HA-1), and "co-elliptical" burn (CE-1). The CE-1 burn changed
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Dragon 2


station for up to 210 days, matching the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. From the beginning of the development process, SpaceX planned to use an integrated pusher launch escape system for the Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX originally intended to land Crew Dragon on land using the LES engines, with parachutes and an ocean splashdown available in the case of an aborted launch. Precision water landing under parachutes was proposed to NASA as "the baseline return and recovery approach for the first few flights" of Crew Dragon. Propulsive landing was later cancelled, leaving ocean
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Dragon C2+


, and the Falcon 9-Dragon system became certified to start regular cargo delivery missions to the ISS under the Commercial Resupply Services program. NASA and SpaceX signed a contract for COTS cargo resupply services on 18 August 2006. The agreement called for three test-flights, under the COTS phase 1 demonstration program. The first COTS mission, COTS Demo Flight1, was completed successfully on 8 December 2010, when the Dragon capsule was successfully recovered from orbit, making it the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to ever do so. Due to
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Dragon C2+


due to continued flight software testing issues, and the next major mission milestone was the successful Falcon 9 static-fire engine test on 30 April. NASA approved Dragon's flight software on 11 May, solving an issue that had previously been responsible for several launch date postponements. On 17 May, the mission passed its final launch review and the Falcon 9/Dragon were erected on the launch pad in preparation for the launch. The first launch attempt, on 19 May, was aborted at T-00:00:00.5 due to a pressure issue in
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SpaceX Dragon


Station, including NICER. The first stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle landed successfully at Landing Zone 1. This mission launched for the first time a refurbished Dragon capsule, serial number C106, which had flown in September 2014 on the CRS-4 mission, and was the first time since 2011 a reused spacecraft arrived at the ISS. Gemini SC-2 capsule is the only other reused capsule, but it was only reflown suborbitally in 1966. SpaceX CRS-12, SpaceX's twelfth CRS mission, was successfully launched on the first 'Block 4
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SpaceX CRS-3


SpaceX CRS-3, also known as SpX-3, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station, contracted to NASA, which was launched on 18 April 2014. It was the fifth flight for SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft and the third SpaceX operational mission contracted to NASA under a Commercial Resupply Services contract. This was the first launch of a Dragon capsule on the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle, as previous launches used the smaller v1.0 configuration. It was also the first time the F9 v1.1 has flown without a payload
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SpaceX


spacecraft, while SpaceX self-invested more than $500 million to develop the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. These Space Act Agreements have been shown to have saved NASA millions of dollars in development costs, making rocket development ~4-10 times cheaper than if produced by NASA alone. In December 2010, the launch of the COTS Demo Flight 1 mission, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. Dragon was successfully deployed into orbit, circled the Earth twice, and then made a controlled
10001436
Robotic spacecraft


other planetary bodies; or enter interstellar space. An example of a fully robotic spacecraft in the modern world would be SpaceX's Dragon. The SpaceX Dragon is a robotic spacecraft designed to send not only cargo to low Earth orbit, but also humans as well. The SpaceX Dragon's total height is 7.2 m (23.6 ft) with a diameter of 3.7 m (12 ft). The maximum launch payload mass is 6,000 kg (13,228 lbs) with a maximum return mass of 3,000 kg (6,614 lbs), along
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Tom Mueller


led the team that developed the Merlin 1A and Kestrel engines for the Falcon 1, the first liquid fueled orbital rocket launched by a private company; the Merlin 1C, Merlin 1D and MVac engines for the early iterations of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle; as well as the Draco thrusters that power the Dragon spacecraft. Dragon was the first spacecraft launched by a private company to dock at the International Space Station. In 2014, Mueller transitioned engine development to the SpaceX Propulsion Engineering team and in 2016 he moved into the Propulsion CTO
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Falcon 9 v1.0


procurement—at based on a NASA environment/culture, or using a more commercial approach. In December 2010, the SpaceX production line was manufacturing one new Falcon 9 (and Dragon spacecraft) every three months, with a plan to double the production rate to one every six weeks in 2012. The v1.0 version of Falcon 9 was launched five times, all successfully carrying a Dragon spacecraft to low-Earth orbit, of which three achieved docking with the International Space Station. One of those missions deployed its secondary payload in
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SpaceX Dragon


trunk section, which carries the spacecraft's solar panels and allows the transport of unpressurized cargo to the ISS, was first used for cargo on the SpaceX CRS-2 mission. The spacecraft is launched atop a Falcon 9 booster. The Dragon capsule is equipped with 18 Draco thrusters. During its initial cargo and crew flights, the Dragon capsule will land in the Pacific Ocean and be returned to the shore by ship. For the ISS Dragon cargo flights, the ISS's Canadarm2 grapples its Flight-Releasable Grapple Fixture and berths Dragon to
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Launch escape system


2015. SpaceX will next test the system during ascent of the Falcon 9 rocket in Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 from where it plans to launch crews to the International Space Station. The second crewed spacecraft selected by NASA for its CCDEV program was Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, which like SpaceX's Dragon 2 spacecraft, will use a "pusher" launch escape system, consisting of four launch abort engines mounted on the service module that can propel the spacecraft away from its Atlas 5 launch vehicle in the event of an emergency on
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GhanaSat-1


(NASA) on 12 February. The "GhanaSat-1" Birds designation is Birds-G. SpaceX launched the satellite on its CRS-11 mission to the International Space Station on 3 June 2017. The satellite was carried in a Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A. This was the 100th launch from Pad 39A and the first time SpaceX reused one of its Dragon capsules. This mission also carried CubeSats from Japan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Mongolia. The satellites from Bangladesh ("BRAC
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Birds-1


a Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A, the 100th launch from that pad. This was the first time SpaceX had reused one of its Dragon capsules. The satellites were ejected from the Kibō module of the International Space Station on July 7. On ejection, astronaut Jack Fischer said on Twitter, "Another great example of International Cooperation today on @Space_Station --launched 5 micro-satellites from 5 countries off the JAXA arm!" The constellation orbits the Earth at an altitude of
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SpaceX CRS-10


May 1973; this complex is also where the Apollo missions were launched. Following the successful launch, the first stage proceeded through a three-burn flyback and landed safely in Landing Zone 1, the first daytime landing of a Falcon rocket on land. The Dragon spacecraft rendezvoused with the International Space Station on 22 February, but its approach was automatically aborted by an on-board computer at 08:25 UTC when a data error was reported in its navigation system. This is the first rendezvous abort by a Dragon spacecraft. The problem
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List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches


at SpaceX headquarters. The NASA COTS qualification program included two more test flights; Demo 2 and Demo 3 whose objectives were combined into a single Dragon C2+ mission, on the condition that all Demo 2 milestones would be validated in space before proceeding with the ultimate demonstration goal: berthing Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS) and delivering its cargo. After clearing a few readiness delays and a launch abort, the Dragon capsule was propelled to orbit on May 22, 2012, and tested its positioning system, solar panels
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Mazaalai (satellite)


SpaceX CRS-11 mission. The satellite was carried in a Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A. This was the 100th launch from Pad 39A and the first time SpaceX reused one of its Dragon capsules. The satellite was released into orbit from the Japanese Kibō module of the ISS on 7 July 2017. The satellite orbits the Earth at an altitude of approximately and at an inclination of 51.6 degrees. The satellite travels around the Earth every 92 minutes at a velocity of . The satellite
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Nigeria EduSat-1


The satellite was carried in a Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A. This was the 100th launch from Pad 39A and the first time SpaceX reused one of its Dragon capsules. The satellite orbits the Earth at an altitude of and at an inclination of 51.61 degrees. The satellite travels around the Earth every 92 minutes at a velocity of . The satellite communicates with seven ground stations: one in each of the countries participating in the Birds-1 program, and one each in Thailand and
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SpaceX CRS-2


SpaceX CRS-2, also known as SpX-2, was the fourth flight for SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft, the fifth and final flight for the company's two-stage Falcon 9 v1.0 launch vehicle, and the second SpaceX operational mission contracted to NASA under a Commercial Resupply Services contract. The launch occurred on March 1, 2013. A minor technical issue on the Dragon spacecraft involving the RCS thruster pods occurred upon reaching orbit, but it was recoverable. The vehicle was released from the station on March 26, 2013, at
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SpaceX Dragon


and last for 14 days. In 2014, SpaceX released the total combined development costs for both the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and the Dragon capsule. NASA provided while SpaceX provided over to fund both development efforts. In December 2010, the SpaceX production line was reported to be manufacturing one new Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket every three months. Elon Musk stated in a 2010 interview that he planned to increase production turnover to one Dragon every six weeks by 2012. Composite materials are extensively used in the spacecraft's manufacture to reduce
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Dragon 2


the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Pilots of Crew Dragon retain the ability to dock the spacecraft using manual controls interfaced with a static tablet-like computer. The spacecraft can be operated in full vacuum, and "the crew will wear SpaceX-designed space suits to protect them from a rapid cabin depressurization emergency event". Also, the spacecraft will be able to return safely if a leak occurs "of up to an equivalent orifice of 0.25 inches [6.35 mm] in diameter." Propellant and helium pressurant for both launch aborts
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Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit


Earth over 300 times before decaying from orbit and reentering the atmosphere on 27 June. In September 2009, the launch was slated to occur no earlier than November 29, 2009, however the launch was subsequently postponed ten more times, to launch dates in February, March, April, May, and June 2010, for multiple reasons including finding an open launch date, approvals, and retesting. The launch date was eventually set for June 4, 2010. On October 16, 2009, the nine Merlin engines of the first
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Dragon 2


was unveiled on May 29, 2014, during a press event at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. In October 2014, NASA selected the Dragon spacecraft as one of the candidates to fly American astronauts to the International Space Station under the Commercial Crew Program. SpaceX plans to use the Falcon 9 Block 5 launch vehicle for launching Dragon 2. Dragon 2 includes the following features: Dragon 2 is partially reusable, potentially resulting in a significant cost reduction. Dragon 2 is planned to fly crew on the first flight of a particular
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SpaceX CRS-11


that a Dragon spacecraft has been reused, helping SpaceX to scale back its production line and shift focus to Dragon 2. CRS-11 launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on 3 June 2017 at 21:07 UTC from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A. The spacecraft rendezvoused with the station on 5 June and conducted a series of orbit adjustment burns to match speed, altitude, and orientation with the ISS. After arriving at the capture point at 13:37 UTC, the vehicle was snared at 13:52 UTC by the Canadarm2, operated by Peggy Whitson and Jack
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Space Shuttle program


Space Station was already being delivered commercially under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services by SpaceX's partially reusable Dragon spacecraft, followed by Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft in late 2013. Crew service to the ISS is currently provided by the Russian Soyuz while work on the Commercial Crew Development program proceeds; the first crewed flight of this is planned for July 2019, on the SpaceX Falcon 9 with Dragon 2 crew capsule. For missions beyond low Earth orbit, NASA is building the Space Launch System and the Orion (spacecraft). Space Shuttle
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SpaceX


the kestrel and the merlin. Draco are hypergolic liquid-propellant rocket engines that utilize monomethyl hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer. Each Draco thruster generates of thrust. They are used as reaction control system (RCS) thrusters on the Dragon spacecraft. SuperDraco engines are a much more powerful version of the Draco thrusters, which were initially meant to be used as landing and launch escape system engines on the version 2 Dragon spacecraft, Dragon 2. The concept of using retro-rockets for landing was scrapped in 2017 when it was
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Crew Dragon Demo-2


Crew Dragon Demo-2, officially known as SpaceX Demo-2 and Crew Demo-2, will be the first crewed test flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. It was planned for launch in July 2019 with a crew of two on a 14-day test mission to the International Space Station (ISS), but the mission was delayed due to a testing incident that occurred in April 2019. According to the NASA's current schedule, this mission will be the first crewed flight of an American spacecraft into orbit since STS-135 in July 2011. On April
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Launch escape system


Lockheed Propulsion Company). Apollo used a design that had many similarities to the Mercury system. Launch Escape Systems continue to be used on the Russian Soyuz and Chinese Shenzhou programme spacecraft. The SpaceX-designed Dragon V2 uses a hypergolic liquid-fueled launch abort system integrated to the capsule to minimize spacecraft costs. The Soviet Vostok and American Gemini spacecraft both made use of ejection seats. The European Space Agency's Hermes and the Soviet "Buran"-class spaceplanes would also have made use of them if they had ever flown with crews.
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SpaceX CRS-12


under the CRS contract. Originally scheduled for December 2016, the flight was delayed multiple times to August 2017. Launch occurred on 14 August 2017 at 16:31:37 UTC from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. After Dragon rendezvoused with the ISS on 16 August 2017, the station's Canadarm2 grappled the spacecraft at 10:52 UTC. It was then berthed to the "Harmony" module at 13:07 UTC. Having been at the ISS for a month, the CRS-12 Dragon capsule was unberthed in the late hours of
8254370
List of human spaceflight programs


") is a new multi-task Russian spacecraft for LEO, ISS and lunar missions. The spacecraft, when revealed in 2015, resembled NASA's Orion capsule and had a set of soft-landing type legs similar to the SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft. It is scheduled for a first flight in 2021. The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American Space Shuttle-derived heavy expendable launch vehicle being developed by NASA. It follows the cancellation of the Constellation program, and is to replace the retired Space Shuttle.
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Robotic spacecraft


with a maximum launch payload volume of 25m^3 (883 ft^3) and a maximum return payload volume of 11m^3 (388 ft^3). The maximum endurance of the Dragon in space is two years. In 2012 the SpaceX Dragon made history by becoming the first commercial robotic spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and to safely return cargo to Earth in the same trip, something previously achieved only by governments. Currently the Dragon is meant to transfer cargo because of its capability of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth despite it
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List of human spaceflight programs


robotic Dragon cargo spacecraft which has been re-supplying the International Space Station since 2010. The spacecraft will be able to carry a crew of up to seven astronauts to the International Space Station. It includes a set of four side-mounted thruster pods with two SuperDraco engines each as Launch Abort System (LAS). To develop Dragon 2, SpaceX did a "pad abort" test in May 2015. An uncrewed orbital flight to the ISS occurred in March 2019, where the Dragon flew on a one-week mission
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Dragon 2


-piloted test flight to the ISS launched in March 2019. Cargo Dragon will supply the ISS with cargo under the Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS2) after a January 2016 selection alongside Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems' Cygnus and Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser. Prior to the explosion, SpaceX's initial CRS2 mission with the Cargo Dragon was slated to occur in August 2020 after SpaceX's final CRS mission with the original Dragon spacecraft, which was expected to launch no earlier than January 2020. The Dragon 2 capsule that flew in
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Elon Musk


, SpaceX designed the family of Falcon launch vehicles and the Dragon multipurpose spacecraft. In September 2008, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately funded liquid-fueled vehicle to put a satellite into Earth orbit. On May 25, 2012, the SpaceX Dragon vehicle berthed with the ISS, making history as the first commercial company to launch and berth a vehicle to the International Space Station. In 2006, SpaceX was awarded a contract from NASA to continue the development and test of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon
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SpaceX Dragon


program, and Dragon began regular cargo flights in October 2012. With the Dragon spacecraft and the Orbital ATK Cygnus, NASA seeks to increase its partnerships with domestic commercial aviation and aeronautics industry. On 3 June 2017, the CRS-11 capsule, largely assembled from previously flown components from the CRS-4 mission in September 2014, was launched again for the first time, with the hull, structural elements, thrusters, harnesses, propellant tanks, plumbing and many of the avionics reused while the heat shield, batteries and components exposed to sea water
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ITS launch vehicle


by its "code name" BFR, with similar core vehicle structure (carbon fiber), engines (Raptor), and Mars mission architecture; but explicitly aimed at superseding and replacing the entire existing set of SpaceX launch vehicle and spacecraft offerings—Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and the Dragon spacecraft—with a more cost-effective LV, while being designed to be fully reusable like the ITS launch vehicle. The ITS launch vehicle stack is composed of two stages. The first stage is always an "interplanetary booster"
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SpaceX Dragon


period commenced in 2014 and a result announced on 14 January 2016. The CRS2 launches are expected to commence in 2019, and extend to at least 2024. On 14 January 2016, NASA announced that three companies had been awarded contracts for a minimum of six launches each. SpaceX, Orbital ATK and Sierra Nevada Corporation won contracts. The first flight of the Falcon 9, a private flight, occurred in June 2010 and launched a stripped-down version of the Dragon capsule. This Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit had initially been used
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SpaceX


. NASA also awarded SpaceX a further development contract in 2011 to develop and demonstrate a human-rated Dragon, which would be used to transport astronauts to the ISS and return them safely to Earth. SpaceX conducted the maiden launch of its Crew Dragon spacecraft on a NASA-required demonstration flight on March 2, 2019 and is set to launch its first crewed Crew Dragon later in 2019. On 11 March at 8:45 a.m. EST, the SpaceX Crew Dragon completed its first uncrewed flight that splash-landed in the Atlantic. The
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SpaceX Dragon


the Dragon spacecraft that had been previously proposed to fly farther than Earth orbit and transit to Mars via interplanetary space. In addition to SpaceX's own privately funded plans for an eventual Mars mission, NASA Ames Research Center had developed a concept called "Red Dragon": a low-cost Mars mission that would use Falcon Heavy as the launch vehicle and trans-Martian injection vehicle, and the Dragon 2-based capsule to enter the atmosphere of Mars. The concept was originally envisioned for launch in 2018 as a NASA Discovery mission,
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SpaceX rocket engines


Dragon spacecraft, and on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle second-stage. SuperDraco storable-propellant hypergolic engines generate of thrust, making the SuperDraco the second most powerful engine developed by SpaceX, more than 200 times more powerful than the regular Draco RCS thruster engines. By comparison, it is more than two times as powerful as the Kestrel engine used in SpaceX's Falcon 1 launch vehicle second stage, and about 1/9 the thrust of a Merlin 1D engine. They will be used as Launch Abort System engines on the version 2
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SuperDraco


was to be for SpaceX's launch abort system (LAS) on the Dragon spacecraft. According to a NASA press release, the engine has a transient from ignition to full thrust of 100 ms. During launch abort, eight SuperDracos were expected to fire for 5 seconds at full thrust. The development of the engine was partially funded by NASA's CCDev 2 program. Name: Draco comes from the Greek drakōn for dragon. Draco (constellation) is a constellation (the Dragon) in the polar region of the Northern Hemisphere
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SpaceX Dragon C106


The SpaceX Dragon C106 is a Cargo Dragon space capsule built by SpaceX. It is the first reused SpaceX Dragon capsule to be reflown into space, having its second launch in 2017. This marked the second occasion that SpaceX launched previously spacelaunched hardware, after reusing Falcon 9 first stage B1021 earlier in 2017. Capsule 106 was first used on mission NASA SpaceX CRS-4, and then used again for the NASA SpaceX CRS-11 mission. This reuse of the spacecraft marks a milestone in SpaceX's drive to reduce spacelaunch costs through reusing hardware. C106
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BRAC Onnesha


satellites engaged three university students from each of the five participating countries. All five satellites had to be identical to each other in the class of a 1U CubeSat. The satellite cost about to manufacture and launch. SpaceX launched the satellite on its CRS-11 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 June 2017. The satellite was carried in a Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A. This was the 100th launch from Pad 39A and the first time SpaceX reused one of
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2012 in spaceflight


October. The latter also marked the first fully operational use of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. Elsewhere in the Solar System, NASA's "Dawn" spacecraft completed its mission to 4 Vesta in September 2012, while China achieved its first asteroid flyby in December. For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because
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Progress (spacecraft)


Progress, and were launched annually by Ariane 5 rockets from 2011-2014 as part of ESA contribution to ISS upkeep. The design is currently being adopted as the Service Module of the NASA Orion spacecraft. NASA's Orion spacecraft, which will replace the Space Shuttle, was initially designed to have an unmanned variant of the Crew Module similar to Progress, however this capability has since been removed. SpaceX's commercial (private owned) Dragon spacecraft and Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft also handle American logistics to the International Space Station.
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SpaceX Red Dragon


for employees and equipment to be used to monitor the mission. In May 2017, NASA revealed that SpaceX would launch twin Red Dragons to assure mission success with redundant spacecraft as insurance, one at the beginning of the 2020 launch window and one at the end, so that the second arrival can learn from the first's arrival, but in July 2017 the mission was halted in favor of using a larger lander yet to be described. SpaceX announced in 2017 that propulsive landing for Dragon 2 would no longer be developed and landing
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Dragon 2


astronauts during normal flight. For the SpX-DM1 test, a test dummy nicknamed Ripley was fitted with the spacesuit and sensors. At a NASA news conference on May 18, 2012, SpaceX confirmed their target launch price for crewed Dragon flights of $160 million, or about $20 million per seat if the maximum crew of 7 is aboard and NASA orders at least four Crew Dragon flights per year. This contrasts with the 2014 Soyuz launch price of $76 million per seat for NASA astronauts. The spacecraft's design
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Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39


crew and cargo ingress to the vehicle. The existing Space Shuttle evacuation slide-wire basket system will also be re-purposed to provide a safe emergency egress for the Dragon crew in the event of an emergency on the pad that does not necessitate using the Crew Dragon's launch abort system." In August 2018, SpaceX's Crew Access Arm (CAA) was installed on a new level, which was built at the necessary height to enter the Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. In September 2018, the
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Spaceflight Industries


delivered 78 payloads over 12 launches, piggybacking on, Antares, Dnepr, PSLV and Soyuz-2 rockets, or on board Cygnus and Dragon spacecraft to the ISS. In October 2015, Spaceflight Industries booked a launch slot on a Falcon 9 to deliver the 500-kg lunar lander built by SpaceIL for the Google Lunar X-Prize towards the end of 2017, but the partners failed to meet this target date. Beresheet launched February 22, 2019 on a rideshare with the telecom satellite Nusantara Satu. In November 2016, Part-Time Scientists
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SpaceX CRS-1


on 14 August 2012. On 31 August 2012, a wet dress rehearsal was completed for the CRS-1 Falcon 9, and on 29 September a static fire test was completed; both of these tests were completed without the Dragon capsule attached to the launch vehicle stack. The mission passed its Launch Readiness Review on 5 October 2012. The launch occurred on 8 October 2012 (UTC) and successfully placed the Dragon spacecraft into the proper orbit for arriving at the International Space Station with cargo resupply several days later. During the launch,
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SpaceX CRS-5


Falcon 9 second stage engine. As this launch had an instantaneous launch window, meaning no delays are possible in the launch sequence, the flight was postponed to 9 January 2015. On 7 January, the flight was rescheduled for 10 January 2015. The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the CRS-5 Dragon spacecraft successfully launched on 10 January 2015 at 9:47 UTC. Dragon reached the station on 12 January. It was grappled by the Space Station Remote Manipulator System at 10:54 UTC and berthed to the "Harmony" module at 13:56 UTC. The
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Dragon C2+


January 2012, 30 April, and 7 May. With a busy launch schedule at Cape Canaveral, and with other missions to the ISS, NASA and SpaceX did not announce a new date until mid-March for a 30 April launch. More testing was required by SpaceX for the computer code that controlled berthing, causing another delay to be announced on 23 April, delaying the launch to 7 May at 09:38 EDT (13:38 UTC). A further delay was announced by NASA, pushing the launch to sometime in May. On 4
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Dragon 2


the first test flight was scheduled to be used in an flight abort test before it unexpectedly exploded during a test on April 20, 2019. Another spacecraft has been assigned to the abort test, but the timing of that flight and subsequent missions are dependent on the outcome of an ongoing investigation of the April incident. On June 20, 2019, NASA and the US Government Accountability Office confirmed that Crew Dragon has been planned for the first launch with astronauts aboard no earlier than November 15, 2019, followed by the first Boeing
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SpaceX


billion in assets under management. SpaceX currently manufactures three types of rocket engine in-house: the kerosene fueled Merlin engines, the methane fueled Raptor engines, and the hypergolic fueled Draco/SuperDraco vernier thrusters. The Merlin powers their two main space launch vehicles: the Falcon 9, which flew successfully into orbit on its maiden launch in June 2010 and the super-heavy class Falcon Heavy, which was launched for the first time on February 6, 2018. SpaceX also manufactures the Dragon, a pressurized orbital spacecraft that is
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Falcon 9 v1.1


variants Falcon 9 Full Thrust and Falcon Heavy. , the Falcon 9 v1.1 commercial launch price was (up from in October 2013) competing for commercial launches in an increasingly competitive market. NASA resupply missions to the ISS—which include the provision of the space capsule payload, a new Dragon cargo spacecraft for each flight—have an average price of $133 million. The first twelve cargo transport flights contracted to NASA were done at one time, so no price change is reflected for the v1.1 launches as opposed to the v1.0
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Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station


Florida, USA, has been operational since 1950; with its first orbital launch occurring in 1958. All of NASA's crewed Mercury and Gemini missions were launched from the Cape, along with some of the earlier Apollo missions. Cape Canaveral is adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center, where the majority of Apollo missions and all the Space Shuttle missions were launched from. Under contract with NASA, SpaceX launches the Dragon spacecraft to resupply the American portion of the ISS. The Dragon can transport of pressurized and unpressurized cargo and can return
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Space suit


space suit during the maiden launch of the Falcon Heavy in February 2018. According to Musk, the SpaceX suit is intended for intravehicular activity use only (IVA type) meant to be worn inside a pressurized spacecraft. For this exhibition launch, the suit was not pressurized and carried no sensors. In 2018, NASA commercial crew astronauts Bob Behnken, and Doug Hurley tested the spacesuit inside the Dragon 2 spacecraft in order to familiarize themselves with the suit. A suitport is a theoretical alternative to an airlock, designed for use in
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SpaceX CRS-12


16 September 2017 and was released by the Canadarm2 on 17 September at 08:40 UTC. After performing separation burns to take it out of the vicinity of the ISS, the Dragon performed a deorbit burn to enable atmospheric reentry. The spacecraft successfully landed in the Pacific Ocean at 14:14 UTC, returning approximately of experiments and equipment to Earth. NASA has contracted for the CRS-12 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date/time of launch, and orbital parameters for the Dragon space capsule. CRS-12 carried a total of of
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SpaceX CRS-15


to Earth. It is reported that the Dragon spacecraft may have experienced some parachute anomaly during its flight to the ISS, but it did not prevent the capsule from successful splashdown. NASA contracted for the CRS-15 mission from SpaceX and therefore determined the primary payload, date/time of launch, and orbital parameters for the Dragon space capsule. According to a NASA mission overview, CRS-15 carried a total of of total cargo, divided between of pressurized material and of unpressurized cargo. The external payloads manifested for this flight were ECOSTRESS and
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Gordon Cooper


. On May 22, 2012, another portion of Cooper's ashes was among those of 308 people included on the SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2 that was bound for the International Space Station. This flight, using the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and the Dragon capsule, was unmanned. The second stage and the burial canister remained in the initial orbit that the Dragon C2+ was inserted into, and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere a month later. Cooper received many awards including the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with
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Launch escape system


. Its Dragon V2 spacecraft will use its SuperDraco engines during a launch abort scenario. Although often referred to as a "pusher" arrangement since it lacks a tower, the Dragon V2 LAS removes both the capsule and its trunk together from the launch vehicle. The system is designed to abort with the Super Draco engines at the top of the abort stack as occurs with a more traditional tractor LAS. The concept was first tested in a Pad Abort test conducted at SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on May 6,
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SpaceX


Space Exploration Technologies Corp., doing business as SpaceX, is a private US aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has developed the Falcon launch vehicle family and the Dragon spacecraft family. SpaceX's achievements include the first privately funded liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit (Falcon 1 in 2008), the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft
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Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams


on March 19, 2013. It was announced it would be the first single from the new album on February 28 via Twitter. A CD copy of the single was sent to NASA and SpaceX for launch aboard the Dragon spacecraft on SpaceX CRS-2. The mission was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket on March 1, 2013, sending the first ever commercial copy of music into space. The spacecraft berthed and docked with the International Space Station on March 3, 2013, making the single available to play by the Expedition 35 crew
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Nimbus 4


Nimbus 4 (also called Nimbus D) was a meteorological satellite. It was the fourth in a series of the Nimbus program. Nimbus 4 was launched on April 8, 1970, by a Thor-Agena rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, CA. The spacecraft functioned nominally until 30 Sep 1980. The satellite orbited the Earth once every 1 hour and 47 minutes, at an inclination of 80°. Its perigee was and apogee was . Nimbus 4, the fourth in a series of second-generation meteorological
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SpaceX Dragon


weight and improve structural strength. By September 2013, SpaceX total manufacturing space had increased to nearly and the factory had six Dragons in various stages of production. SpaceX published a photograph showing the six, including the next four NASA Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission Dragons (CRS-3, CRS-4, CRS-5, CRS-6) plus the drop-test Dragon, and the pad-abort Dragon weldment for commercial crew. The Dragon spacecraft consists of a nose-cone cap that jettisons after launch, a conventional blunt-cone ballistic capsule
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Crew Dragon Demo-1


Crew Dragon Demo-1, officially known as SpaceX Demo-1 and Crew Demo-1, was the first orbital test of the Dragon 2 spacecraft. This first spaceflight was an uncrewed mission that launched on March 2, 2019 at 7:49 AM UTC and arrived at the International Space Station on March 3, a little over 24 hours after the launch. The mission ended following a successful splashdown at 8 March 13:45 UTC 2019. On April 20, 2019, the capsule used on Crew Demo-1 was unexpectedly destroyed during a test of the SuperDraco engines at Landing
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Jupiter (spacecraft)


which utilized the vehicle. The proposal competes with Boeing's CST-100 capsule, Orbital ATK's Cygnus, and SpaceX's Dragon capsule proposals for the same contract. Similar to Orbital ATK's Cygnus, the system is not capable of bringing payload safely back to earth. Lockheed's proposal, as of March 2015, is the only proposal for more than one spacecraft. Lockheed Martin's proposal to the US government uses the "Jupiter" in conjunction with the Exoliner cargo capsule. The first launch will include the "Jupiter" spacecraft
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SpaceX CRS-6


spaceport drone ship after staging. NASA has contracted for the CRS-6 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date/time of launch, and orbital parameters for the Dragon space capsule. The Dragon spacecraft was filled with 2015 kg (4,387 pounds) of supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support about 40 of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will occur during Expeditions 43 and 44. Among other items on board, SpaceX has the primary control over manifesting, scheduling and loading secondary payloads.
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Dragon C2+


. On 23 August 2012, NASA announced that SpaceX and their Falcon 9-Dragon system was certified to begin their cargo delivery contract. The $1.6 billion contract calls for at least 12 resupply missions. The first of those flights was launched on 7 October 2012. The pressurized section carried of cargo to the ISS, which included food, water, clothing, cargo bags, computer hardware, the NanoRacks Module 9 (student experiments and scientific gear) and other miscellaneous cargo. No unpressurized cargo was delivered on this mission. An unannounced
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Dragon C2+


was delayed to late 2011, and then followed by further delay by the failure of the Russian Progress 44 cargo resupply vessel in August; this incident could have forced the ISS to be temporarily abandoned in mid-November. Another delay was caused due to the berthing procedure which requires two ISS personnel to be trained and available for the procedure; in early December 2011 only one person was trained to berth the Dragon. The launch date moved as follows: 6 June 2011, 8 October 30 November and 19 December; and 7
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Elon Musk


, or SpaceX, in May 2002. Musk is chief executive officer (CEO) and chief technology officer (CTO) of the Hawthorne, California-based company. SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles with a focus on advancing the state of rocket technology. The company's first two launch vehicles are the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets (a nod to Star Wars' "Millennium Falcon"), and its first spacecraft is the Dragon (a nod to "Puff the Magic Dragon"). In seven years
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Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39


became operational again in December 2017. These included the May 1, 2017, launch of NROL-76, the first SpaceX mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, with a classified payload. On February 6, 2018, Pad 39A hosted the successful liftoff of the Falcon Heavy on its maiden launch, carrying Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster car to space; and the first flight of the human-rated spacecraft Crew Dragon (Dragon 2) took place there on March 2, 2019. The second Falcon Heavy flight, carrying the Arabsat-6A communications
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2009 in spaceflight


after its payload fairing malfunctioned. The first flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 carrier rocket was scheduled to occur in November, but was delayed to February 2010 to allow more time for preparations. The SpaceX Dragon, a commercial unmanned logistics spacecraft which was developed as part of NASA's COTS programme, was also scheduled to make its first flight in 2009, however its launch has also slipped to 2010 as a result of knock-on delays. The first H-II Transfer Vehicle, HTV-1, was successfully launched on the maiden
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