Cargo spacecraft "Dragon CRS-17" (SpX-17)

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  44222 / 19025A Launch date - time  04 May 2019 - 06:48 UT Launch site  CC, SLC-40 Launch vehicle  Falcon-9 v1.2 Capsule nº   Mass (kg)   kg Total cargo mass (kg)   Earth orbit:    - Perigee / Apogee  204 x 382 km    - Eccentricity      - Inclination  51.6°    - Period   min

Description:

• DRAGON CRS-17 is a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, contracted to NASA. It is the X flight?? for SpaceX′s uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft, and the nine?? SpaceX operational mission contracted to NASA under a Commercial Resupply Services contract. The mission brings equipment and supplies to the space station.

Mission details:

• 30 Apr 2019: NASA postponed the next Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) after an issue with the Station′s Main Bus Switching Units (MBSUs) – a component of the ISS United States Orbital Segment (USOS) Electrical Power System (EPS) – was observed this week. The CRS-17 launch was slipped to Friday while the issue was being evaluated. However, work to restore the redundant string to the robotic arm that will capture Dragon went to plan, initially with the use of jumpers, followed with a robotic changeout of the faulty MSBU on Thursday.
• The CRS-17 Dragon mission was set to launch early on May 1, lifting off on a Falcon 9 rocket from the SLC-40 pad at Cape Canaveral.
• The launch vehicle and spacecraft were in the late stage of preparation, with the booster having undergone a successful Static Fire test and rolled back for mating with the Dragon spacecraft. A Launch Readiness Review (LRR) and “Late Loading” were the only outstanding issues in the flow towards the launch day.
• On May 4, 2019 SpaceX launched Dragon CRS-17 towards the Station. The CRS-17 trunk carries OCO-3, a carbon measuring experiment, and STP-H6, with a set of USAF Space Test Program experiments. STP-H6′s experiments include XCOM, an X-ray transmitter which will carry out communications experiments using the ISS NICER X-ray observatory as a receiver - giving a whole different meaning to "X-band".
• Dragon arrived at ISS on May 6, with SSRMS grapple at 1101 UTC and berthing on Harmony nadir at 1422 UTC. On May 10-11 OCO-3 was installed on site EFU3 of the Kibo Exposed Facility, and STP-H6 was installed on site 3 of Express Logistics Carrier ELC-3.
• Cargo ship Dragon CRS-17 returned to Earth on Jun 3, 2019. The 9-tonne CRS-17 was unberthed from the Harmony module at 1235 UTC, released by Canadarm-2 at 1601 UTC, and fired its engines to deorbit at about 2056 UTC. The trunk, containing the old CATS and SCAN experiments, was jettisoned and destroyed on reentry about 2120 UTC. Capsule C113 landed in the Pacific at about 121W 32N at roughly 2150 UTC.

External links:

• Wikipedia: Dragon CRS-17 mission

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Astrophilately covers:

Static Fire test, cancel KSC. Credit: #402

Static Fire test, cancel McGregor (development facility). Credit: #402

Launch cancel KSC. Credit: #411c

Docking cancel KSC. Credit: #411c