Cargo spacecraft "Dragon CRS-1"

SpaceX

Spacecraft nº:

SpaceX spacecraft nº: 2

Also called: COTS 3 (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services).

Launch, orbit & landing data:

Designation	38846 / 12054A
Launch date - time	08 Oct 2012 - 00:35 UT
Launch site	CC, SLC-40
Launch vehicle	Falcon-9 v1.0
Mass (kg)	6700 kg
Total cargo mass (kg)	905 kg
Earth orbit on Oct 10.51:
- Perigee / Apogee	403 x 427 km
- Eccentricity
- Inclination	51.65°
- Period	92.77 min

Berthed date - time	10 Oct 2012 - 13:03 UT
Target spacecraft/port	ISS/Harmony module
Docking orbit:
- Perigee / Apogee	km
- Inclination	°
- Period	min
Unberthed date - time	28 Oct 2012 - 11:19 UT
Deorbit burn date - time	28 Oct 2012
Recovery date - time	28 Oct 2012 - 19:22 UT
Landing location	Pacific Ocean, around 123W 28N
Flight Duration (dd:hh:min)
Nbr orbits

The satellite: Orbcomm OG2-1 was launched together with Dragon CRS-1

Description:

DRAGON CRS-1 is the first of at least 12 missions to the International Space Station that SpaceX will fly for NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. Dragon is filled with about 1,000 pounds of supplies, including critical materials to support the 166 investigations planned for the station’s Expedition 33 crew, of which 63 will be new. Dragon will return with about 734 pounds of scientific materials, including results from human research, biotechnology, materials and education experiments, as well as about 504 pounds of space station hardware.

Mission details:

On Oct 8, 2012 at 0035 UTC the fourth SpaceX Falcon 9 was launched and delivered the Dragon CRS-1 spacecraft to a 203 x 326 km x 51.7 deg orbit. One first stage engine had an anomaly at max Q (T+1:20) with some debris observed falling away; the engine was shut down but the remaining engines and the second stage compensated to reach the initial orbit.
However, extra propellant was used and stage 2 did not restart as planned.
The mission's secondary payload, the first Orbcomm Second Generation communications satellite, was ejected at 0137 UTC into a 203 x 323 km orbit instead of its planned 350 x 750 km insertion orbit.
SpaceX's Dragon CRS-1 cargo ship reached the ISS on Oct 10 and was captured by the SSRMS arm at 1056 UTC. Berthing at the Harmony module was completed at 1303 UTC.
Dragon CRS-1 returned to Earth on Oct 28. The SSRMS unberthed it from the Harmony module at 1119 UTC and released it at 1329 UTC. At 1422 UTC Dragon made a burn to lower its orbit and at 1828 UTC made a larger, 10 minute 40 second long deorbit burn. SpaceX have not reported the size (delta-V) or orbital parameters of either of these burns. The Dragon trunk was jettisoned at 1841 UTC and the capsule reached entry interface at 1902 UTC, with splashdown in the Pacific at around 123W 28N at 1922 UTC.
It's the first recuperation of a cargo ship.

Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 3:22 p.m. EDT, Oct. 28, 2012, a few hundred miles west of Baja California, Mexico.
The Dragon capsule will be taken by boat to a port near Los Angeles, where it will be prepared for a return journey to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing. Returning with the Dragon capsule was 1,673 pounds of cargo, including 866 pounds of scientific research.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel KSC. Credit: #402

Launch cancel Cape Canaveral. Credot: #401

Dragon Splashdown, cancel Houston.

Dragon Splashdown, cancel Hawthorne. Credit: #401

Dragon Splashdown, cancel Long Beach. Credit: #411

Ref.: #3(480), #6, #7(JR668,670), #215a, #228, #401, #411 - update: 20.02.22

Home