dimanche 8 mars 2020

SpaceX Dragon’s Solar Arrays Deployed












SpaceX - Dragon CRS-20 Mission patch.

March 8, 2020

Dragon's solar arrays deployed. Image Credit: SpaceX

Dragon’s solar arrays are unfurled and the spacecraft will begin a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings to reach the orbiting laboratory three days later, on Monday, March 9. Dragon will deliver about 4,500 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station.

Dragon's Solar Arrays Deployment. Animation Credits: SpaceX/CRS-10

When it arrives March 9, Expedition 62 Flight Engineer Jessica Meir of NASA will grapple Dragon, with Andrew Morgan of NASA acting as a backup. The station crew will monitor Dragon functions during rendezvous. After Dragon’s capture, mission control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will send ground commands for the station’s arm to rotate and install it on the bottom of the station’s Harmony module.

SpaceX Dragon grab by Canadarm2 on ISS. Image Credit: NASA

Live coverage of the rendezvous and capture can be viewed on March 9 beginning at 5:30 a.m. EST at http://www.nasa.gov/live

Related article:

SpaceX Dragon Heads to Space Station with NASA Science, Cargo
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/03/spacex-dragon-heads-to-space-station.html

Related links:

Commercial Resupply Services: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Linda Herridge.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch