SpaceX launches the SpX-27 to the ISS
Freighter will dock at the International Space Station tomorrow
SpaceX's reusable cargo spacecraft, Cargo Dragon C209, launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, March 14, 2023 at 8:30 pm Eastern Time. The launch used Falcon 9 v1.2 BL 5 rocket number B1073.7 as part of the CRS-27 mission was carried out from Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The spacecraft was placed into an orbit with an apogee of 208 km, a perigee of 194 km, a period of 88.51 minutes and inclined 51.64 degrees. The docking is scheduled for tomorrow, the 16th, at 7:52 am EDT, in the PMA-2 coupling compartment in the nose of the American module Harmony.
After separation, the first stage of Falcon 9 B1073 landed on the drone raft A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean, 668 km from the coast, alongside the support vessel Doug.
This is SpaceX's seventh flight to the ISS in the modified Cargo Dragon 2, which is capable of delivering 20% more cargo and can also dock autonomously without the help of grabbing it with a manipulator arm compared to the first V1 version. . The new reusable craft are designed for five round-trip flights to the ISS instead of three as part of previous Dragon freighter missions. They can remain at the station for 75 days, against 40 days in the previous option. From October 2012 to December 2022, SpaceX performed 26 launches of Cargo Dragons to the ISS. One of them (in 2015) ended in failure due to the failure of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
The spacecraft will deliver more than three tons of supplies, equipment and materials for dozens of scientific experiments by its crew, and takes several cubesats to be ejected: STP-H9, ARKSAT 1 1U from the University of Arkansas Technology, LightCube 1U from Arizona State University, Ex -Alta 2 3U for thermospheric research from the University of Alberta, AuroraSat 2U from Aurora College, YukonSat 2U for thermospheric research from Yukon College, and the NEUDOSE 2U from McMaster University, these from Canada.