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Close-up of new cargo dragon and trunk.
Trevor Mahleman
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Flight Proven and Sooty Falcon 9B1058 is ready to launch the CRS-21 mission to NASA. The target is to launch on December 5, 2020 at 11:39 AM.
Trevor Mahleman
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The cargo dragon now uses the same access arm astronauts to ride on the crew dragon.
Trevor Mahleman
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CRS-21 will launch the second round of space station contracted commercial reconnaissance flights for NASA. SpaceX will launch at least 5 additional supplies between now and 2022.
Trevor Mahleman
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An upgraded version of SpaceX’s cargo dragon spacecraft, Dragon 2, is seen on top of the Falcon 9 rocket on December 2, 2020.
NASA
NASA and SpaceX are making final preparations for a cargo mission that will supply about three metric tons to the International Space Station.
This “CRS-21” mission is the 21st cargo supply mission to launch SpaceX overall for NASA. But under the new supply agreement it is the first to run until 2024, and will be the first to use an upgraded “Cargo Dragon 2” vehicle to ferry food, water, science experiments and other materials to the experimental lab.
The new cargo vehicle is a modified version of the Crew Dragon spacecraft that flew humans to the space station twice in May and November this year. The cargo variant lacks seats and cockpit controls, a life support system and super Draco thrusters that can be used as an emergency escape system in the event of a problem during launch.
Compared to the first SpaceX cargo vehicle, the Cargo Dragon 2 offers dozens of powered lockers for science experiments, more than twice as many as were previously flown. It is also designed to receive and recreate a repeat faster than its predecessor, and the vehicle needs to be held by a robotic arm and has the ability to dock autonomously with the station, rather than being attached to a port.
After it launches and arrives at the space station, there will be two dragon vehicles attached to the lab for the first time. That’s why Crew Dragon Resilience, Which launched on November 15 with four astronauts, has also reached the station and will be there for about five months.
It is also worth noting that NASA continues to be more comfortable reusing spacecraft and rockets built by SpaceX. The first phase of the Falcon 9 used for this mission has already flown three times. Of all the missions that SpaceX previously flew for NASA, the space agency has never allowed the company to use a first-stage booster, which has flown more than once. In the photo above, the dirty and sooty booster makes a stark contrast to the glossy, white cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft.
The mission is scheduled to begin at 11:39 a.m. ET (16:39 UTC) on Saturday at Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The weather is worrying both at the weathering site and for the recovery of the first phase of the Falcon 9 rocket. The official forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of favorable conditions at the launch site on Saturday. The weather is better for the chance of a back-up launch on Sunday, so the launch could slip in a day.
When a webcast link is published, it will be embedded in this story.
List of images by NASA
