SpaceX successfully led to the ISS Dragon ship with 2647 kg of cargo

Just three days after the launch of ten communication satellites, SpaceX conducted another successful launch - as part of the CRS-14 mission on cargo delivery to the ISS. This time the launch took place not from California, but from the spaceport at Cape Canaveral (Florida).

On April 2, 2018, at 20:30 UTC (April 3, at 0:30 MSK), one of the returned Falcon 9 missiles launched (it participated in the mission CRS-12). 2647 kg of payload is placed on the Dragon ship, which also flew to the ISS within the framework of the CRS-8 mission. That is, in many respects SpaceX is now using the "second-hand" technique. As repeatedly discussed, this significantly reduces the cost of delivery.
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The broadcast was conducted on the NASA Live channel and on the SpaceX channel ( recording ).

Record broadcast SpaceX


CRS-14 (SpX-14) - the fourteenth in a row flight of the automatic spacecraft Dragon of SpaceX company in the program of supplying the International Space Station under the contract Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) with NASA.

Now the ship has arrived at the planned point and slowly began to approach the ISS. Docking will take place on Wednesday afternoon Moscow time.

According to NASA documentation , in the airtight compartment of the Dragon is 1,721 kg of cargo. Including:

• Crew and equipment - 344 kg
• Materials for scientific research - 1070 kg
  
  • Satellites: RemoveDebris , Overview 1A (?)
• Equipment for spacewalk - 99 kg
• Station equipment and parts - 148 kg
• Computers and accessories - 49 kg
• A certain Russian cargo - 11 kg

In addition, in the best of circumstances, 926 kg will be delivered in an unpressurized container:

• MISSE-FF (Materials on ISS Experiment - Flight Facility) is a platform that includes up to 14 interchangeable modules for placing samples of various materials outside the ISS, and studying the effects of open space and microgravity on them.
  
  
  MISSE-FF
• ASIM (Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor) is a tool of the European Space Agency for studying the phenomenon of electrical discharges that occurs in the upper atmosphere and near-earth space - 314 kg.
• PFCS (Pump Flow Control Subassembly) is a spare component of the station thermoregulation system. Weight - 107 kg.

Among the most interesting equipment that will be delivered to the station:

• Restored cooling system for solar panels (Pump and Flow Control Subassembly).
• Heating controller for carbon dioxide scrubber. The new controller card will improve the reliability of the main Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Removal Assembly (CDRA) system.
• Additional components for high resolution camera.
• Components of a new communication system Common Communication for Visiting Vehicle (C2V2). It is planned to use it for the first time during the Orbital ATK CRS-9 cargo mission, which is scheduled for May 9, 2018.
• Printer.

The current printer on the ISS is already 17 years old. Although there were no reports of a breakdown, NASA decided to upgrade to the new HP Envy ISS model (HP ENVY Zero-Gravity Printer). This is a model of an inkjet printer, specially adapted to work in zero gravity: this is a fire-resistant plastic, the absence of glass parts, wireless and wire control, paper and ink control in weightlessness, printing in all orientations (0 °, 90 °, 180 ° and 270 °) . The printer is made on the basis of OfficeJet 5740. Although many parts had to be replaced or redone, the company did all the work by agreement with NASA for free.



The crew of the ISS spends about two packs of paper per month on all printers that are on the station. They print manuals and critical information, such as emergency manuals from electronic copies, work schedules, and also make personal printouts, including letters and photos from home. So the load on the equipment is considerable.

SpaceX CRS-14 was the 14th of 20 scheduled missions that are provided for under the first CRS (Commercial Resupply Services) contract between NASA and SpaceX. Starting next year, SpaceX, together with colleagues from Orbital ATK and Sierra Nevada Corporation, will begin work on the second CRS contract, right up to 2024.

Dragon will return to Earth with more than 1,770 kg of cargo, mostly garbage. Return flight will take about a month. Traditionally, the ship splashes down in the Pacific Ocean not far from the California coast, where it will already be awaited. The first step of the Falcon 9 at this time did not save.