The SpaceX Dragon capsule landed at the International Space Station on Monday after takeoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Complex. For the first time, Elon Musk's missile corporation has two spacecraft boarded at the space station.
This model was planned to shuttle materials to and from space, unlike the Crew Dragon spacecraft that flew four crews into orbit a few weeks ago. It brought 6,400-plus pounds of Christmas gifts, scientific projects, and other products for replenishment. But the Crew Dragon is already connected to the ISS as well. Until May, it is expected to remain in orbit, then fly the crew back to Earth.
"I'd just like to say a huge congratulations," NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, who has been onboard the station since October, said on NASA TV after the Dragon docked.
"It's pretty amazing to think that less than a month ago, you docked four crew members," Rubins added. SpaceX's Crew-1 mission, which includes NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Mike Hopkins, and Victor Glover and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, arrived from the ISS last month. "And now you're bringing a vehicle full of world-class science for us to execute."
The Dragon cargo spacecraft would sit at the platform for a month before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere and parachuting into the Atlantic Ocean. The 21st time SpaceX has sent shipments on one of its space ships to the space station. Since 2012, it has been conducting regular missions for this reason.
SpaceX will proceed to keep at least one satellite in orbit through the end of next year.
A tweet taken on Monday from the space station depicts the Dragon docking at one of the International Space Station ports. The docking on Monday was the most recent occurrence in SpaceX's busiest launch time ever.
The @SpaceX #Dragon docked to the Harmony module's space-facing port at 1:40pm ET today where it will stay for one month. More... https://t.co/7z5T8AFyuG pic.twitter.com/75rQEwxTFP
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) December 7, 2020
By December 2021, after the corporation launched its uncrewed Crew Dragon test flight in March 2019, SpaceX's two forms of Dragon spacecraft - with crew and freight - would have launched into space a combined 13 times.
What's more, if everything goes according to schedule, by the end of next year, SpaceX would have spaceships permanently in orbit for 13 months.
Crew-2, the company's next astronaut flight, is expected to kick off in March. So these astronauts, until May, would overlap with the Team-1 crew. The next mission, Crew-3, should do the same thing: it is scheduled to begin in September 2021, so Crew-2 should be tagged in space.
Is SpaceX winning NASA's Commercial Crew Programme?
The astronaut missions of SpaceX, and the presence of Crew Dragon in the first place, are a result of the Commercial Crew Program of NASA, which places private contractors in contention for government contracts worth billions of dollars. In the end, SpaceX and Boeing prevailed.
In June 2021, Boeing is scheduled to fly the first crewed demonstration flight of the spacecraft CST-100 Starliner. Barry Wilmore, Michael Fincke, and Nicole Aunapu Mann were the NASA astronauts selected for that first trip.
But first, after an effort in December 2019 crashed, Boeing would have to attempt an uncrewed simulation mission. Due to software bugs that NASA then reviewed during that mission, the Starliner reached orbit safely but failed to rendezvous with the space station.
Crew Dragon is the only ship the US has to transport crew to and from the space station before the Starliner completes the mandatory qualification measures.
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