Crew Dragon Freedom makes its first docking at the ISS on the Crew-4 mission

Date:
Wed, 27 Apr 2022 23:37:25 +0000

Description:
After a successful launch, Crew Dragon C212 Freedom docked to the International Space Station (ISS) The post Crew Dragon Freedom makes its
first docking at the ISS on the Crew-4 mission appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================

After a successful launch, Crew Dragon C212 Freedom docked to the International Space Station (ISS) at 23:37 UTC Thursday (7:37 pm EDT on Tuesday). Flying the SpaceX Crew-4 mission, Dragon was launched on Wednesday and took a little over 16 hours to rendezvous with the orbiting laboratory. Crew-4, also known as United States Crew Vehicle (USCV)-4 is the fourth operational Crew Dragon mission as a part of the Commercial Crew Program (CCP). Like the other operational Crew Dragon missions, Dragon is carrying a crew of four astronauts into space.

This mission includes NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins along with Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space
Agency (ESA). Lindgren and Hines are the Commander and Pilot respectively, with Cristoforetti and Watkins serving as Mission Specialists.

Crew-4s mission began with its successful launch on a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. As the first stage booster, B1067-4, successfully landed on
SpaceXs Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS) A Shortfall of Gravita s; Dragon was delivered to orbit by the rockets second stage. In case you missed it, four astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station. Here is the moment they left Earth from launch Complex 39A. Article: https://t.co/oeJo0tBMrE Me for @NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/koa2ELqJSe

Julia Bergeron (@julia_bergeron) April 27, 2022



After separating from Falcon 9, Dragon began its system activation and on-orbit checkouts, ensuring that vital systems were functioning as expected. Twelve minutes after launch, the Dragon began to open its nosecone, exposing its docking port and its set of four forward-facing Draco thrusters to space. See Also Crew-4 Updates SpaceX Missions Section L2 SpaceX Section Click here to Join L2

Another set of 12 Draco thrusters are used for attitude control to help
orient the spacecraft. In addition, the forward-facing Draco thrusters are used for orbit raising and lowering, orbital adjustments, and the deorbit
burn at the end of Dragons mission.

Forty-eight minutes after launch, the first of five phasing and orbit-raising burns were completed. These phasing burns are a set of orbital maneuvers to catch up and rendezvous with the ISS. This first burn is known as the Phase Burn, and it lasted around four minutes.

Three hours after launch, the crew went to sleep as a part of their normal sleeping period. While the astronauts were asleep, the second burn known as the Boost Burn was completed. This seven-minute burn was conducted at 17:35 UTC (1:35 pm EDT).

Dragon completed its third major burn at 18:20 UTC (2:20 pm EDT). Designated the Close Burn, it lasted around 10-minutes, raising its orbit. Forty minutes later, the crew was awoken ahead of the final approach to the space station.

The fourth burn called the Transfer Burn was completed less than an hour later, with a duration of 48 seconds. The fifth and final phasing burn,
called the Coelliptic Burn, was completed, with a 37-second firing of the thrusters. The Transfer and Coelliptic Burns put Dragon on course for its approach to the ISS. The ISS seen from Crew-2 (Endeavour) during its fly-around of the station. (Credit: Thomas Pesquet/ESA/NASA)

Two hours before docking, the NASA and SpaceX teams conducted a Go/No-Go poll to conduct the Approach Initiation Burn. This burn began with Dragon 7.5 kilometers away from the station, behind and below the orbital outpost, and about 96 minutes in advance of the planned docking time. An Approach Initiation Midcourse burn was carried out about 25 minutes later.

Seven minutes after completing the midcourse burn, Dragon closed to a
distance of one kilometer from the ISS, stopping its approach as planned so flight controllers could make another Go/No-Go decision to approach Waypoint
1 and enter the stations Keep-Out Sphere a few minutes later.

Dragon reached Waypoint 0, located 400 meters below the ISS, prior to a Go/No-Go decision to approach Waypoint 2 was conducted. Dragon then oriented itself towards its docking port, located on the zenith or space-facing side of the Harmony module.

After Dragon reached at Waypoint 1, the final Go/No-Go poll for docking was completed. Dragon then reached Waypoint 2, 20 meters from the docking port. Dragon will perform a series of burns on its way to the @space_station for a targeted docking at 8:15 p.m. ET tonight pic.twitter.com/DJV1Cn1wTH

SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 27, 2022



Four minutes after leaving Waypoint 2, the Crew Hands Off Point (CHOP) was reached. CHOP is the final point where the crew could trigger an abort.
Dragon achieved soft-capture with the International Docking Adaptor-Zenith (IDA-Z), also known as IDA-3. The IDAs soft-capture ring then retracted, with the docking systems hooks and latches closing to achieve hard dock.

Crew-4s docking with IDA-Z marks the first time a Commercial Crew mission has docked at IDA-Z on its initial arrival at the station although other spacecraft have been relocated to the port at later stages of their missions. Dragon Endurance currently occupies the other IDA docking port, IDA-Forward (IDA-F, also known as IDA-2). The first Crew Dragon mission to directly dock with the IDA-Z port was Axiom-1, which recently returned home to Earth after 15 days at the ISS.

Within the first 25 minutes of docking, pressure and leak checks will be completed between the ISS and Crew Dragon. An hour later, the hatches will be opened, allowing the crew to enter the ISS.

With Dragon Freedom docked at the ISS, the crew will begin a direct handover with the astronauts of Crew-3.

That mission was launched aboard Crew Dragon Endurance , using the same flight-proven Falcon 9 booster, on November 11, 2021. The crew have already been in orbit for 167 days, 166 of which have been spent at the station. Crew-2s docking to IDA-Z on the zenith side of the Harmony module (Credit: NASA TV)

Over the next five days, the Crew-4 astronauts will begin to take over from Crew-3, whose astronauts make their own preparations for their return home. This handover is expected to be complete by May 4, when Endurance is slated
to depart the ISS, however this timeline will be contingent on recovery weather conditions.

As members of Expedition 67 , the Crew-4 astronauts will continue the ongoing science investigations and technology demonstrations on the ISS, as well as playing their parts in keeping the outpost operational.

The eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System (XROOTS) is the next investigation set to grow plants in orbit without soil or growth media. XROOTS will use hydroponic (liquid-based) and aeroponic (air-based) techniques to grow
plants. Current space-based plant systems are smaller in scale and use particulate media-based systems to provide the nutrients for plants. These cant be scaled up due to the size and complexity, however using hydroponic
and aeroponic techniques can allow larger-scale plant growth for
long-duration missions.

Lindgren has previously worked on the Veg-01 experiment during the Expedition 44 mission. He later became one of the first people to taste a plant grown in space. For XROOT, these plants will then return the plants to Earth for analysis.

A common experiment is monitoring crew health during long-duration missions
in space. One experiment will test a commercial off-the-shelf rHEALTH ONE device to determine whether it can successfully identify and analyze certain medical conditions in space. In addition, the demonstration hopes to verify
if the hardware and function with accuracy in a space environment.

Freedom alsosent up more science investigations and technology
demonstrations to the ISS. When Crew-4 launches, they kick off 6 months of science aboard the @Space_Station ! From studies of using aeroponic
techniques to grow plants to testing tools to diagnose medical conditions in space, heres whats in store for the astronauts: https://t.co/flEmfciTc3 pic.twitter.com/mkzlGjHmMD

ISS Research (@ISS_Research) April 19, 2022



One of the investigations launched with Crew-4 is a partnership between ESA and the German Space Agency (DLR). Wireless Compose 2 demonstrates the capabilities of wireless networks to support scientific experiments and provide control and navigation for free-flying objects.

During the crews time in orbit, they will see several other spacecraft visit the space station. On May 19, Boeings Starliner is slated launch atop an
Atlas V N22 on the Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2) mission. Starliner will remain at the ISS for five days before returning to Earth.

Roscosmos will launch Progress MS-20 on an approximately-six-month mission to resupply the ISS on June 3, while SpaceX will launch its 25th Commerical Resupply Services (CRS) mission on June 7. CRS-25 will use the Dragon C208-3 spacecraft launching on the same Falcon 9 booster that carried Crew-4, and will bring two brand-new ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) solar panels to the outpost for installation during a later spacewalk.

Northrop Grummans NG-18 Cygnus resupply mission is also expected to arrive at the station during the Crew-4 mission. The final spacecraft expected to visit during the Crew-4 mission will be SpaceXs Crew-5. Crew-5 is currently
expected to arrive in September 2022, with a crew of four who will carry out the same direct handover with Crew-4 that Crew-4 are now beginning with Crew-3. Once this is complete, Freedom will undock and return to Earth with its astronauts after a 4-month stay aboard the station.

In the event of Crew-5s arrival and Crew-4s departure slipping past the end
of September, the astronauts may still be aboard the station when Russias Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft arrives and Soyuz MS-21 returns to Earth. This Russian crew rotation marks the transition between Expedition 67 and 68, so if
Freedom is still docked when Soyuz MS-21 departs, the Crew-4 astronauts will temporarily become part of Expedition 68.

Feature image: Crew Dragon Freedom docks to the ISS. (Credit: NASA TV)

The post Crew Dragon Freedom makes its first docking at the ISS on the Crew-4 mission appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2022/04/dragon-freedom-docks-crew-4/


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