SpaceX has now launched a flight-proven Dragon capsule to the International Space Station 20 times.
Following the successful launch and docking of the CRS-28 mission. SpaceX broke a few U.S. Spaceflight records.
CRS-28 marked the thirty eighth time a Dragon spacecraft visited the orbiting outpost, beating the record held by the Space Shuttle. SpaceX is currently the one U.S.-based company making regular visits to the ISS, with resupply missions and crewed missions for NASA. Later this yr, they can even be launching 3 Cygnus resupply vehicles owned by Northrup Grumman, which is retiring its rocket, the Antares 230+.
And on June 6, the Dragon 2 fleet’s cumulative time in space surpassed the Space Shuttle fleet’s time with 1,324 total days in orbit! pic.twitter.com/IvGa6sexLw
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 7, 2023
After the primary full day in space, Dragon 2 also broke the U.S. record for total time in space at 1,324 days in orbit. The Dragon capsule that’s flying the CRS-28 mission is C208 and is on its 4th flight to the ISS.
Dragon C208 docked with the ISS on Tuesday, June sixth at 5:54 AM ET, delivering over 7000 lbs of supplies and experiments. Also on board, positioned within the trunk of the spacecraft, is a pair of IROSAs (International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays) that may provide increased power to the space station.
Dragon separation confirmed; autonomous docking with the @space_station on Tuesday, June 6 at ~5:50 a.m. ET pic.twitter.com/z0EHw0jzrS
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 5, 2023
Launching this mission was Falcon 9 B1077, which has launched 5 times now, including previously sending the Crew-5 mission to the ISS. After stage separation, the primary stage successfully landed on the droneship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ and while the primary stage was landing, the 2nd stage continued its burn to insert the Dragon capsule into the crucial orbit so it could catch as much as the ISS. The 2nd stage featured a shorted engine bell as the complete MVAC engine bell was not needed, and SpaceX has been able to avoid wasting on material costs when the additional performance just isn’t required.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship pic.twitter.com/AS5e7fJcQ9
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 5, 2023
With the International Space Station expected for use well into the long run, SpaceX will proceed delivering supplies and ferrying astronauts to and from the orbiting outpost for a few years to return, almost definitely surpassing quite a couple of more spaceflight records.