After a perfect launching this weekend , the Dragon space capsule get in at the International Space Station before today . The most - anticipated token ? Mustard , as the station ’s condiment supply had range critically low .
Top image : Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sam Cristoforetti preparing to capture the Dragon . citation : NASA / Terry W. Virts
The Dragon 1 kilometer out from the station . Image credit : NASA / Terry W. Virts
This marks the 5th successful cargo run ( CSR-5 ) for SpaceX of twelve required in their commercial supply contract . They launch the Dragon spacecraft launched too soon on Saturday dayspring as the chief commission leading up to thesecondary missionof anot - so - diffuse barge landing .
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-will-try-landing-on-barge-after-fridays-cargo-fl-1672098313
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-came-this-close-to-sticking-its-historic-landing-1678701435
Orbital itinerary for the Dragon ’s approaching to the International Space Station . Image acknowledgment : NASA / SpaceX
After a 2 - daytime approach , the Dragon was captured at 5:54 am ET , a few minutes earlier than theestimated 6:12 am arrival time , then berthed to the Harmony lymph node where it will remain bolted until February .
The Dragon station - keeping 30 beat away from the station with a ostentate beacon . Cristoforetti commentedthat it prompt her of an Italian flag . Image reference : NASA / Terry W. Virts
The Dragon space capsule arrived within rassling stretch of the station ahead of time this morning . As the station was fly over the Mediterranean Sea , NASA spaceman Butch Wilmore captured the abridgement using theCanadarmwith ESA astronaut Sam Cristoforetti act as his backup .
https://gizmodo.com/a-robotic-arm-in-space-mixes-brawn-and-beauty-1578339311
Astronauts on the space station captured the Dragon , then handed control over to ground operators to complete the dockage . Image credit : NASA / Terry W. Virts
The savage captured , the astronauts handed remote dominance to ground operators at Houston mission ascendance to complete the installation over the next two hours . As always , the Canadian robotics restrainer for the Canadarm in Saint - Hubert , Quebec had their version of theJPL peanuts : an ample supply of maple cream cookiesto see them through the operation .
You have intercourse what this Dragon need ? More cookies . persona citation : CSA
The ground team preparing with a goodly provision of local firedrake . Image credit : NASA / Cady Coleman
This is only thesecond loading die hard to the stationsincethe Antares rocket explode on launch in October . While the cosmonaut still had plenty of food and water , they were very worked up to finally get new condiments to liven up intellectual nourishment and an self-justification to break out theHitchhiker ’s Guide to the Galaxy t - shirtsto match theirExpedition 42theme .
https://gizmodo.com/cargo-runs-to-the-space-station-resume-with-a-successfu-1652556600
https://gizmodo.com/antares-rocket-explodes-crashing-into-pad-seconds-afte-1651915513
https://observationdeck.kinja.com/the-iss-crew-is-committed-to-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-t-1679082932
https://gizmodo.com/an-outpost-nowhere-near-the-end-of-the-universe-1659219637
https://gizmodo.com/iss-astronauts-recreate-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-1640236246
Today was spent attaching the Dragon to the station : docking , securing with 16 bolt , checking for leaks , and equalizing pressure . Tomorrow the spaceman will begin put down .
The hatch reportedly smell of space . persona credit : NASA / ESA / Sam Cristoforetti
include the much - craved mustard , the Dragon is carrying its 2,300 kilograms ( 5,000 pounds ) of cargo . The supplies include equipment to support 256 experiment , station equipment , consumables ( food and water ! ) , and upkeep packages for the work party .
The Dragon safely dock to the distance station , enjoy its first dawn . mental image credit : NASA / Terry W. Virts
The experiments admit some successor for those blow up on the Antares , include a pupil project fromKamloops , BC to look at crystal growth . Another experiment will build up on a past find that miRNA expression is different in space , checking out if there is a molecular basis for the suppression of T - cell energizing in microgravity that might be useful in developing drugs for combatting immune disease .
The Dragon also carried Modern invertebrate spaceman to the place : fruit fly for various experimentation , and planarian flatworms to help study wound healing in space .
This makes more sense than the roundworms that will be used to canvas brawniness loss , and , more confusingly , ivory loss in astronauts . How studying an animal with no bones is going to accomplish that I have no idea ( unless they commence intentionally infecting astronauts with leech , which relieve oneself no sense unless we live in a dystopian alternative world ) .
CATS with lasers in space ! Okay , it ’s not this spectacular .
This is also the start of theCATS project , the Cloud - Aerosol Transport System to use lidar to study clouds , smoke , and rubble from the distance place . Along with all the laugh about optical maser andcats in space , this also mean thatthe station ’s self - revive robotic handyman Dextrewill have a whole new challenge :
You realize that this means that#Dextrewill have the taxing line of work of coaxing CATS out of a box#catsinabox
— Canadian Space Agency ( @csa_asc)January 12 , 2015
The station is also getting a new IMAX camera . Alas , it is n’t for our welfare : it ’s to take the outside of the station for planning outthe installation of fresh international docking hachure . Considering how often we ’ve seen the space stationfull with vessels in every berth , that sounds like a very good theme .
https://gizmodo.com/watch-years-of-space-station-construction-in-just-a-few-1668478336
https://gizmodo.com/every-port-on-the-space-station-is-loaded-with-spacecra-1620337528
A undivided light left on on the Dragon overnight , possibly to scare away away monsters . Image quotation : NASA / ESA / Sam Cristoforetti
Despite being late for both NASA ’s Christmas celebration in December , and the Roscosmos celebration of Christmas on January 7th , the spaceman care packages let in adorablebelated Christmas presents . The late presents were n’t the result of bad preparation : this particular launch was in the beginning scheduled for October and keep being push back untilultimately getting scrubbed directly before the vacation break . The care package also included more workaday but just as appreciated item : clean wearing apparel , including socks andunderwear .
http://toybox.io9.com/there-are-now-lego-astronauts-aboard-the-iss-1678681307/
Visualization of current station configuration . icon acknowledgment : NASA
The space station is currently home to several watercraft but is far from full . For crew transport , the Russian Soyuz ballistic capsule that will carry the astronaut trio from Expedition 41/42 home in March and the spaceman trio from Expedition 42/43 in May are still bob to the place . For cargo tugs , the RussianProgress cargo tug ; the concluding ESAATV loading towboat Georges Lemaître , and now an American commercial resupply vessel , the SpaceX Dragon are fill assorted billet . The ATV will be the first to leave : Wilmore and Virts have already commence cookery to detach it from the Zvezda Robert William Service mental faculty in advance of boot it from the station on February 27th .
https://gizmodo.com/this-is-the-last-journey-for-esas-cargo-carrying-space-1619720572
The Dragon against a backcloth of dunes before docking at the station . mental image credit : NASA / Terry W. Virts
As the only cargo vessel that can carry materials back to the satellite , the Dragon will be repacked to the gills with complete experimentation , no - longer - require work party supplies , and other pieces involve an Earth - return . It ’ll be come down light than it went up , with just 1,600 kilograms ( 3,600 pounds ) of cargo planned for the returned trip .
The Dragon creeping up on the outer space post . paradigm credit : NASA / Roscosmos / Anton Shkaplerov
When it ’s time to go , mission control condition will habituate the Canadarm to pluck the Dragon from the station and dangle it 15 meters off . The cunning will make three Robert Burns to pull it away from the post , cruise for five hours before produce a deorbit burn mark , then come plummeting through the atmosphere to splash down in the Pacific Ocean . Once back on Earth , it will be picked up by a SpaceX boat ( but not the now - iconic drone ship hoy ) and bring back to land for unpacking .
The Dragon 300 m from the International Space Station . Image reference : NASA / Terry W. Virts
Welcome to the post , Dragon .
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