SpaceX awards Space Coast 52 launch of the year

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Saturday from Kennedy Space Center on the 52nd successful flight of the year from the Space Coast.


The CRS-26 mission lifted off from Launch Pad 39-A for a resupply flight to the International Space Station at 2:20 p.m.

The new Dragon cargo spacecraft is carrying up to 7,700 pounds of food, scientific research, and supplies to the station, including a pair of operational solar arrays to assist with the power supply.

“Everyone is anxious to see the science start once docking happens,” Geoff Arnd of NASA’s Office of Systems Engineering and Integration told the International Space Station.

This includes a study that will allow International Space Station crews to grow dwarf tomatoes as part of NASA’s plans to support long-term space travel needs. A related investigation called BioNutrients-2 is looking to produce nutrients on demand using a mixture of yogurt, a yeast-based drink, and the fermented milk drink kefir.

Several student-led experiences make the trip as well, including three payloads supported by the Central Florida nonprofit Space Kids Global and the Girl Scout Council of Citrus. One of these will investigate how marine shrimp, also known as sea monkeys, behave in microgravity.

The booster first stage, which also flew for the first time, managed to land a SpaceX drone, just read the instructions, in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the 153rd time that SpaceX has been able to recover a booster between both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches.

Launches on the Space Coast are keeping their record pace, averaging more than one launch a week this year from KSC or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and hitting 52 in just 47 weeks with as many as half a dozen launches that could come before that. December 31st. Last year, the Space Coast saw 31 launches.

SpaceX has managed a king’s share of those who use its Falcon 9 space rocket. Most of them send the company’s Starlink internet satellites, but they also provide the only human flights from the United States with Crew Dragon missions, of which the company has flown three in 2022 with Crew- 4, Crew-5, and Axiom-1 Special. This is the second Dragon cargo flight of the year, making it the fifth Dragon spacecraft to be launched for the year among both crew and cargo.

The latter is scheduled to dock autonomously with the International Space Station Sunday at 7:30 a.m. along with the Crew Dragon Endurance that Crew-5 flew to the station in October. This cargo dragon will remain moored at the station for 45 days before returning with research and cargo for a splashing off the coast of Florida.

With this launch, SpaceX has launched 42 Falcon 9s in 2022 as well as one of its powerful Falcon Heavy rockets launched for the fourth time ever on November 1. It launches its 3.3 missile.

The year’s 50th launch, though, was the headliner on November 16, as NASA managed to fly its Space Launch System rocket higher to take the Orion spacecraft into space for the Artemis I mission to the moon. On Saturday Orion was heading its farthest from Earth — more than 268,000 miles away — in its farthest lunar orbit as part of the multi-week mission that won’t see it return to Earth until Dec. 11.

Next year is expected to see the pace continue with more Falcon 9 launches and at least two more Falcon Heavy rocket launches.

Also next year, new rocket company Relativity Space is expected to fly the Terran-1 rocket already tested at CCSFS while Blue Origin continues its efforts to get the massive New Glenn rocket ready for its first launch. Meanwhile, ULA plans to launch its new Vulcan Centaur rocket while continuing to fly the Atlas V as well as the Delta IV Heavy from the Space Coast.

“We’re building and investing, not just us, but the Space Force and NASA as well, and commercial contractors are investing in infrastructure that should be able to support 100 launches a year,” said Frank DiBello, President and CEO of Space Florida. State Aviation and Space Economic Development Agency. “That was our plan. I think we want the ability to be able to do two or more a week.”

2022 Orlando Sentinel

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

the quote: SpaceX awards Space Coast 52nd launch (2022, November 28) Retrieved November 28, 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-11-spacex-space-coast-52nd-year.html

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