Carrying around three tons of supplies, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft failed to have a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) on Feb. 22. This is actually due to the glitch with the navigation system of the Dragon.
According to a report in Space, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spokesperson Rob Navias shared that SpaceX's Dragon mission was aborted when it detected an error with its location through its global positioning system or GPS. Navias also added that the Dragon spacecraft was just 1,200 meters from the ISS when the error was observed. Thankfully, there were no casualties to the astronauts and cosmonauts who are on board the Dragon.
In a report made by CBS News, the said glitch was also suspected to be due to an error in the "state vector" of the Dragon spacecraft. The state vector is actually a set of number which aids the Dragon mission on its trajectory in space. It was also stated that if this glitch is soon resolved, it can attempt to have another mission as soon as Thursday.
SpaceX was pretty active as the year started. Its Dragon mission was launched after it launched the Falcon 9 last week which garnered enthusiasm as it was launched in the historical Launchpad 39A, home to Apollo 11. Moreover, the Dragon spacecraft was launched for a resupplying mission. It was revealed that the capsule's compartment was filled with different equipment, food, and clothing. Aside from these, the Dragon also carries several research materials in different fields of science such as the twenty mice which will be used for medical experiments and an ozone monitoring instrument.
Apart from the SpaceX's Dragon, Russia's Progress 66 was also launched for a resupplying mission. The said cargo held by the Progress is three tons heavier than the supplies aboard the Dragon.
