#spx8

CRS-8 launches Dragon to orbit, Falcon 9 successfully lands on droneship.

For the second time in history, an orbital-class rocket successfully landed back on Earth after delivering its payload into orbit. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 4:43 pm EDT. Nine minutes later, the first stage came in for a landing on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship 185 miles downrange in the Atlantic ocean. Landing support teams are now preparing to board the ASDS where they will secure the Falcon 9 first stage before transport back to shore. Teams will place metallic ‘shoes’ over the tips of each landing leg, securing them to the deck while a stability ring is installed below the Octaweb engine grouping.

Return of the Dragon - SpaceX poised to launch 8th commercial resupply mission.

More than 10 months after its doomed last flight, and over a year since it’s last successful mission, SpaceX is ready to launch their Dragon capsule on a resupply run to the International Space Station

CRS-8, or SpX-8 in the NASA ISS manifest, will bring 6,913 pounds of supplies and experiments to the orbiting laboratory. It will be the first Dragon mission to the station since April, 2015, when CRS-6 arrived.

Following last June’s CRS-7 mishap, SpaceX reprogrammed the Dragon capsule to have in-flight abort procedures. The capsule broke free from the disintegrating rocket but was destroyed when it hit the Atlantic ocean without parachutes at more than 400 miles per hour. Dragon’s new programming will allow the recovery systems to activate if the capsule’s computer detects an anomalous launch.

Inflatable module testbed riding to orbit.

Dragon, one of two commercial companies contracted to bring supplies to the ISS, is the only spacecraft able to bring up large components via its unpressurized trunk. Half of CRS-8′s cargo weight will be the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, stowed in this trunk during flight. Developed by Bigelow aerospace, BEAM, measuring 5.7 by 7.75 feet when stowed, will be attached to the Tranquility node of the complex, where it will be inflated to 12 by 10.5 feet. Over the course of BEAM’s two-year mission, astronauts will enter the module every four months in order to check its systems and durability.

Technology on BEAM could be used for future deep-space long-duration missions, as the expandable habitats would offer large work spaces while taking minimal launch volume. Dragon is expected at the station Sunday morning, where astronauts Jeff Williams and Tim Peake will grapple the capsule around 7am EDT.

Liftoff is scheduled for 4:43 pm EDT from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral. NASA TV coverage begins at 3:30pm EDT.

NASA Officials view flight article of inflatable space station module William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations met Jason Crusan, director of Advanced Exploration Systems at NASA’s headquarters in Washington paid a visit to Bigelow Aerospace’s Las Vegas facility March 12 to view the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). The module is revolutionary in that it will be the first component of the international space station not to have a rigid hull.

Before inflation, the module measures 8 feet in diameter. Once attached to the space station it will expand to over 585 cubic feet of volume. BEAM will spend two years aboard the International Space Station while astronauts test the module’s structural integrity, leak rate, radiation dosage and temperature changes.

The module is slated to launch in September, 2015 as part of the SpaceX-8 Cargo Resupply Mission.

BEAM is not the first inflatable space station to achieve orbit. In 2006 and 2007, Bigelow sent the Genesis I and Genesis II test modules into space. Those vehicles proved that inflatable space station technology was feasible. A pressurized, controlled environment was maintained inside the satellite until the mission’s end. BEAM takes the technology the next step further by offering it to an occupied space station.

Ultimately, Bigelow hopes to launch multiple inflatable space station modules to lower the cost of on-orbit science and manufacturing.

NASA’s partnership with Bigelow and the BEAM module is just one example of the agency’s commitment of furthering the commercial use of space. Jason Crusan, director of Advanced Exploration Systems at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, stated, “We’re fortunate to have the space station to demonstrate potential habitation capabilities like BEAM.  Station provides us with a long-duration microgravity platform with constant crew access to evaluate systems and technologies we are considering for future missions farther into deep space.”