NASA’s SpaceX CRS-26 Mission To International Space Station

NASA’s SpaceX CRS-26 mission to the International Space Station is to be held on November 21, 2022. NASA announced the news through its Twitter account on November 18, 2022, at 2:12 a.m.

NASA tweeted, “Our next resupply mission to the space station is scheduled to lift off at 4:19 p.m. ET (2119 UT) on Monday, November 21.”.

Liftoff will be from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew.

Returning from space is scheduled for 9:43 a.m. ET on Wednesday, November 23, 2022. The Dragon spacecraft will dock autonomously at the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.

Dragon Spacecraft

The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. The Dragon spacecraft is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station.

There are a total of 16 Draco thrusters that have been used in Dragon spacecraft; each of them is capable of generating 90 pounds of force in the vacuum of space. The thrust in a vacuum is 400 N/90 lbf.

Draco thrusters are used to orient the spacecraft during missions, including perigee manoeuvres, orbit adjustment, and attitude control.

The Dragon spacecraft is equipped with two drogue parachutes to stabilize the spacecraft following reentry and four main parachutes to further decelerate the spacecraft before landing.

Dragon spacecraft has its series, named Dragon 1, Dragon 2, and Red Dragon. These series of spacecraft are developed and produced by the American private space transportation company SpaceX.

Dragon 1 was the first spacecraft of the Dragon family that flew 23 cargo missions before its retirement in 2010–2020.

The name Dragon was given by SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk, in response to critics who considered his spaceflight project impossible.

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