AUSTIN, Texas — SpaceX launched a cargo Dragon mission to the International Space Station Nov. 9 from one Florida pad as it completes work on a neighboring pad to support crew and cargo missions.
A Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at 8:28 p.m. Eastern and placed a cargo Dragon spacecraft into orbit on the CRS-29 mission. The Dragon is scheduled to dock autonomously with the ISS at about 5:20 a.m. Eastern Nov. 11. It will remain at the station until early to mid December.
The launch was originally scheduled for Nov. 5 but was delayed to replace a Draco thruster on the spacecraft that had a valve leaking nitrogen tetroxide propellant, said Benji Reed, senior director of human spaceflight programs at SpaceX, at a prelaunch briefing Nov. 8. After the thruster was replaced, technicians detected traces of nitrogen tetroxide in the area, but decreased once the system was fully pressurized.
The Dragon is carrying 2,950 kilograms of cargo. Key payloads being ferried to the station on the spacecraft include a laser communications demonstration called ILLUMA-T that will provide high-bandwidth communications through the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration payload on the STPSat-6 satellite in geostationary orbit. Also on Dragon is the Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE), which will study phenomena called gravity waves in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, including their links to space weather.
The spacecraft is carrying other supplies, experiments and hardware for the station and its crew. Among them is a tool bag to replace one that floated away during a spacewalk Nov. 1 by NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara.
The bag lost in the spacewalk had some ancillary equipment, like tethers and sockets, inside. “It’s unfortunate we lost them but it’s not a huge impact,” said Dana Weigel, NASA ISS deputy program manager, during the prelaunch briefing. NASA is still investigating how the bag floated away.
The launch, like…
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