Cargo spacecraft "Dragon CRS-21" (SpX-21)

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  47233 / 20093A Launch date - time  06 Dec 2020 - 16:17:08 UTC Launch site  CCK, SLC39A Launch vehicle  Falcon-9 v1.2 Bl5 (Booster B1058.4) Spacecraft  Cargo Dragon C208 Manufacturer  SpaceX Dimensions cabine  Height: 8.1m - Dia: 4m Launch mass   6000 kg Payload Mass (kg)  2972 kg Total cargo mass (kg)  Pressurised: 1882 kg  Unpressurised: 1090 kg Earth orbit:    - Perigee / Apogee   km    - Eccentricity      - Inclination  51.6°    - Period  92.99 min

Description:

• SpaceX CRS-21, also known as SpX-21, is a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station which launched on 6 December 2020. The mission was contracted by NASA and was flown by SpaceX using a Cargo Dragon 2. This was the first flight for SpaceX under NASA′s CRS Phase 2 contract awarded in January 2016. This was also the first Cargo Dragon of the new Dragon 2 variant, as well as the first Cargo Dragon flight that is docked at the same time as a Crew Dragon spacecraft (SpaceX Crew-1). This mission used Booster B1058.4, becoming the first NASA mission to reuse a booster previously used on a non-NASA mission. This was also first time SpaceX launched a NASA payload on a booster with more than one previous flight.
• The second-generation Dragon supply ship is based on SpaceX′s Crew Dragon vehicle designed to fly with astronauts. On the cargo capsule, SpaceX removed the crew-rated ship′s launch abort system and replaced the vehicle′s touchscreen displays and seats with racks and freezers to hold supplies and experiments.
• The Cargo Dragon capsule is set to ride a 215-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket into orbit at 11:39 a.m. EST (1639 GMT) Saturday on SpaceX′s 21st resupply flight to the space station. It will be the first cargo mission under a fresh contract between NASA and SpaceX.
• The spacecraft is loaded with about three tons of equipment and research hardware, including a new commercial airlock developed by Nanoracks for attachment to the space station.

Launch CRS-21.

Mission details:

• On Dec 6, 2020 SpaceX launched Dragon CRS-21 from Kennedy Space Center. The Falcon 9 first stage landed on the OCISLY droneship. CRS-21 is the first cargo mission for Dragon 2. As for Crew Dragon, and unlike the orginal cargo Dragon, Cargo Dragon 2 has no deployable solar arrays, does not jettison its nose cap during launch, and once reaching ISS docks with an IDA docking port (IDA-3) instead of being captured by Canadarm-2. CRS-21 indeed docked with IDA-3 on Node 2 Zenith at 1840 UTC Dec 7.
  In the Dragon trunk is the Nanoracks Bishop Airlock. The 1090 kg airlock will be installed on ISS Node 3. In use it will be unberthed from Node 3 by Canadarm-2 and satellites will be ejected from it in that unberthed configuration; it will then be reinstalled on Node 3.
  Among the pressurized cargo was a refurbished spacesuit, EMU 3015. It will replace EMU 3008, which will be returned to Earth aboard CRS-21 when it lands.
• On Dec 19, 2020 at 2344 UTC the Canadarm-2 extracted the Nanoracks Bishop Airlock (NRAL) from the Dragon CRS-21 trunk, and at about 0330 UTC Dec 20 it was berthed to the Tranquility module.
• Cargo Dragon CRS-21 undocked from IDA-3 at 1405 UTC Jan 12, 2021. It jettisoned its trunk into orbit probably at about 0030 UTC Jan 14; began its deorbit burn at 0037 UTC; and landed in the Gulf of Mexico at 0126 UTC at about 28.6N 83.9W. It returned spacesuit EMU 3008 to Earth along with a further 1872 kg of cargo.

External links:

• Wikipedia: Dragon SPX-21 mission
• AmericaSpace: 201124-CRS-21 Dragon Mission Moves to 5 Dec.
• AmericaSpace: 201205-SpaceX, NASA Count Down to Dragon launch
• AmericaSpace: 201206-SpaceX Launches 100th Successful Falcon 9
• AmericaSpace: 210110-CRS-21 Dragon Packed With Science, Return to Earth
• AmericaSpace: 210114-CRS-21 Dragon Splashes Down

Astrophilately covers:

Dragon SPX-21 launch, cancel KSC. Credit: #411

Dragon SPX-21 launch, cancel Houston. Credit: #411

Booster CRS-21 landing, Cape Canaveral-Hand cancel. Credit: #411

SPX-21 Undocking, cancel Houston. Credit: #411

SPX-21 Splashdown, cancel Houston. Credit: #411