SpaceX launched the Dragon spacecraft on their eighth operational cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station. Among the cargo was the Bigelow Aerospace’s BEAM module, which was attached to the station and will stay so for 2 years. BEAM is an expandable habitat module that will undergo tests to determine its worthiness during the stay. The flight was conducted under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
The Full Thrust variants first stage includes all systems necessary for an operational re-use of stages while the second stage is operated as an expendable rocket stage.
See DetailsThe first stage of the Falcon 9 landed on the ASDS, OCISLY stationed off of the East Coast. Marking the first successful barge landing!
Result: Successful Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship landing at Of Course I Still Love You.This capsule was used on both CRS-8 and CRS-14. On CRS-8 this vehicle delivered the Bigelow BEAM module in its unpressurized cargo trunk. It was also used to carry Scott Kellys biological samples back to Earth.
Dragon 1 DetailsSpace Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
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