A Cargo Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station on Tuesday morning, less than a day after lifting off from Florida.
As space missions go, this one was fairly routine, ferrying about 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg) of cargo and science experiments to the space station. Over the course of nearly a dozen years, this was the 31st cargo supply mission that SpaceX has flown for NASA to the orbiting laboratory.
However, there is one characteristic of this flight that may prove significant for NASA and the future of the space station. As early as Friday, NASA and SpaceX have scheduled a “reboost and attitude control demonstration,” during which the Dragon spacecraft will use some of the thrusters at the base of the capsule. This is the first time the Dragon spacecraft will be used to move the space station.
Dragon Dracos firing for a dozen minutes
“This is an important flight test objective for the mission as we continue to increase the capabilities of all the vehicles on ISS,” said NASA’s Bill Spetch, space station operations integration manager, during a teleconference with reporters in advance of the launch.
There are 16 Draco thrusters on the spacecraft, each with about 90 pounds of thrust. Some are near the top of the spacecraft or at its nose, and these are the primary means of raising the vehicle‘s orbit and conducting a de-orbit burn.
However, the vehicle also has Dracos near the backside of the capsule in what is known as the “service section.” Typically, these thrusters are only used for maneuvering the spacecraft while in orbit, and they are the ones that will be employed during the upcoming test.
According to Jared Metter, the director of flight reliability for SpaceX, the burn will last 12.5 minutes.
“The data that we’re going to collect from this reboost and attitude control demonstration will be very helpful in informing SpaceX analyses on how the system performs,” he said during the teleconference. “And this data is going to lead to future capabilities, mainly the US Deorbit vehicle. We’re excited to gather this data.”
