SpaceX’s original Cargo Dragon spacecraft has officially departed the International Space Station for the last time after finishing its own 20th resupply mission for NASA.
Wrapping up a decade of launches, this is SpaceX’s space station resupply mission until its own upgraded Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft – according to Crew Dragon – requires over with CRS-21 later this season. SpaceX states it’s already building several new Dragon 2 spacecraft for upcoming NASA CRS2 assignments and CRS-21 can start as early as October 2020, possibly just a matter of months before or later Crew Dragon’s first usable astronaut launch (Crew-1) is now scheduled.
Great splashdown of Dragon confirmed, finishing the 20th and final @Space_Station resupply mission for SpaceX’s first iteration of the Dragon spacecraft!
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 7, 2020
Pictured here on March 24th, SpaceX’s original Dragon spacecraft has officially departed the International Space Station (ISS) and peeled down for the last time. (NASA)
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Starting with a free-flying orbital test flight at December 2010 and an extremely successful space station rendezvous in its second flight at May 2012, SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon (Dragon 1) spacecraft was performing operational resupply missions for NASA because October 2012. With CRS-20 now truly complete, more than those ~7.5 years, SpaceX has successfully delivered almost 45 metric tons (100,000 lb) of materials to the ISS and returned half an freight back to Earth.
Pictured here, Cargo Dragon became the very first commercial spacecraft ever before to rendezvous and berth with a space station in May 2012. (NASA)
When it reentered at December 2010, Cargo Dragon became the spacecraft on the planet capable of returning a significant quantity of freight to Earth. With the spacecraft’s 21st and final splashdown complete at April 7th, 2020, it has taken that “planet ’s name into retirement.
Excluding Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft along with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, specially built to launch and land a more significant human payload, SpaceX’s next-generation Cargo Dragon 2 will carry Dragon 1’s torch in that regard, once again becoming the sole functional spacecraft capable of returning a significant payload from orbit.
After Orbital ATK’s expendable Cygnus resupply craft turned into the second, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon became the third business car to successfully visit a space station in March 2019. (Richard Angle)
A partially modified version of Crew Dragon will soon take over Cargo Dragon’s role as a uncrewed resupply craft. (NASA)
Now Cargo Dragon capsule C112 has splashed down to the third time at the Pacific Ocean, crew NRC Quest will lift the spacecraft into an cradle, returning the car to shore early tomorrow or later today. While the majority of its own CRS-20 mission is now complete, a Dragon resupply mission is only truly finished once its precious return freight – invaluable science experiments, spacesuit and station parts in need of repair, and much more – to dry soil and into the hands of their individual owners.
The odds of anything going wrong now that Dragon has splashed down is almost zero, meaning SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft has truly completed its final mission, bringing its career that is historic to a finish. More probable than not Dragons – including tablet C112 – may find themselves or exhibited at SpaceX’s US facilities.
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