SpaceX Dragon 1
SpaceX Dragon 1 is a class of fourteen partially reusable cargo spacecraft developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company. The spacecraft flew 23 missions between 2010 and 2020. Dragon was launched into orbit by the company's Falcon 9 launch vehicle to resupply the International Space Station. It was succeeded by the Dragon 2 spacecraft which has both crewed and cargo versions.
During its maiden flight in December 2010, Dragon became the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to be recovered successfully from orbit. On May 25, 2012, Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with and attach to the ISS. SpaceX contracted to deliver cargo to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program, and Dragon began regular cargo flights in October 2012. With the Dragon spacecraft and the Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus, NASA sought to increase its partnerships with domestic commercial aviation and aeronautics industry.
On June 3, 2017, the C106 capsule, largely assembled from previously flown components from the CRS-4 mission in September 2014, was launched again for the first time on CRS-11, after being refurbished.
The last flight of the Dragon 1 spacecraft launched March 7, 2020 on cargo resupply mission to International Space Station. This was the last mission of SpaceX's first Commercial Resupply Services contract, and marked the retirement of the Dragon 1 fleet. Further SpaceX commercial resupply flights to ISS under the second Commercial Resupply Services program use the Cargo Dragon variant of the Dragon 2 spacecraft, which is capable of fully automated docking with the ISS.
History
SpaceX began developing the Dragon spacecraft in late 2004, making a public announcement in 2006 with a plan of entering service in 2009. Also in 2006, SpaceX won a contract to use Dragon for commercial resupply services to the International Space Station for the American federal space agency, NASA.NASA ISS resupply contract
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
In 2005, NASA solicited proposals for a commercial ISS resupply cargo vehicle to replace the then-soon-to-be-retired Space Shuttle, through its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services development program. The Dragon space capsule was a part of SpaceX's proposal, submitted to NASA in March 2006. SpaceX's COTS proposal was issued as part of a team, which also included MD Robotics, the Canadian company that had built the ISS's Canadarm2.On August 18, 2006, NASA announced that SpaceX had been chosen, along with Kistler Aerospace, to develop cargo launch services for the ISS. The initial plan called for three demonstration flights of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to be conducted between 2008 and 2010. SpaceX and Kistler were to receive up to US$278 million and US$207 million respectively, if they met all NASA milestones, but Kistler failed to meet its obligations, and its contract was terminated in 2007. NASA later re-awarded Kistler's contract to Orbital Sciences Corporation.
Commercial Resupply Services Phase 1
On December 23, 2008, NASA awarded a US$1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract to SpaceX, with contract options that could potentially increase the maximum contract value to US$3.1 billion. The contract called for 12 flights, with an overall minimum of of cargo to be carried to the ISS.On February 23, 2009, SpaceX announced that its chosen phenolic-impregnated carbon ablator heat shield material, PICA-X, had passed heat stress tests in preparation for Dragon's maiden launch. The primary proximity-operations sensor for the Dragon spacecraft, the DragonEye, was tested in early 2009 during the STS-127 mission, when it was mounted near the docking port of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and used while the Shuttle approached the International Space Station. The DragonEye's lidar and thermography abilities were both tested successfully. The COTS UHF Communication Unit and Crew Command Panel were delivered to the ISS during the late 2009 STS-129 mission. The CUCU allows the ISS to communicate with Dragon and the CCP allows ISS crew members to issue basic commands to Dragon. In summer 2009, SpaceX hired former NASA astronaut Ken Bowersox as vice president of their new Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance Department, in preparation for crews using the spacecraft.
As a condition of the NASA CRS contract, SpaceX analyzed the orbital radiation environment on all Dragon systems, and how the spacecraft would respond to spurious radiation events. That analysis and the Dragon design – which uses an overall Fault tolerance triple redundant computer architecture, rather than individual radiation hardening of each computer processor – was reviewed by independent experts before being approved by NASA for the cargo flights.
During March 2015, it was announced that SpaceX had been awarded an additional three missions under Commercial Resupply Services Phase 1. These additional missions are SpaceX CRS-13, SpaceX CRS-14 and SpaceX CRS-15 and would cover the cargo needs of 2017. On February 24, 2016, SpaceNews disclosed that SpaceX had been awarded a further five missions under Commercial Resupply Services Phase 1. This additional tranche of missions had SpaceX CRS-16 and SpaceX CRS-17 manifested for FY2017 while SpaceX CRS-18, SpaceX CRS-19 and SpaceX CRS-20 and were notionally manifested for FY2018.
Commercial Resupply Services Phase 2
The Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract definition and solicitation period commenced in 2014. In January 2016, NASA awarded contracts to SpaceX, Orbital ATK, and Sierra Nevada Corporation for a minimum of six launches each, with missions planned until at least 2024. The maximum potential value of all the contracts was announced as US$14 billion, but the minimum requirements would be considerably less. No further financial information was disclosed.CRS-2 launches began in late 2019.
Demonstration flights
The first flight of the Falcon 9, a private flight, occurred in June 2010 and launched a stripped-down version of the Dragon capsule. This Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit had initially been used as a ground test bed to validate several of the capsule's systems. During the flight, the unit's primary mission was to relay aerodynamic data captured during the ascent. It was not designed to survive re-entry, and did not.NASA contracted for three test flights from SpaceX, but later reduced that number to two. The first Dragon spacecraft launched on its first mission – contracted to NASA as COTS Demo Flight 1 – on December 8, 2010, and was successfully recovered following re-entry to Earth's atmosphere. The mission also marked the second flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The DragonEye sensor flew again on STS-133 in February 2011 for further on-orbit testing. In November 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a re-entry license for the Dragon capsule, the first such license ever awarded to a commercial vehicle.
The second Dragon flight, also contracted to NASA as a demonstration mission, launched successfully on May 22, 2012, after NASA had approved SpaceX's proposal to combine the COTS 2 and 3 mission objectives into a single Falcon 9/Dragon flight, renamed COTS 2+. Dragon conducted orbital tests of its navigation systems and abort procedures, before being grappled by the ISS' Canadarm2 and successfully berthing with the station on May 25, 2012, to offload its cargo. Dragon returned to Earth on May 31, 2012, landing as scheduled in the Pacific Ocean, and was again successfully recovered.
On August 23, 2012, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced that SpaceX had completed all required milestones under the COTS contract, and was cleared to begin operational resupply missions to the ISS.
Returning research materials from orbit
Dragon spacecraft can return of cargo to Earth, which can be all unpressurized disposal mass, or up to of pressurized cargo, from the ISS, and is the only current spacecraft capable of returning to Earth with a significant amount of cargo. Other than the Russian Soyuz crew capsule, Dragon is the only currently operating spacecraft designed to survive re-entry. Because Dragon allows for the return of critical materials to researchers in as little as 48 hours from splashdown, it opens the possibility of new experiments on ISS that can produce materials for later analysis on ground using more sophisticated instrumentation. For example, CRS-12 returned mice that have spent time in orbit which will help give insight into how microgravity impacts blood vessels in both the brain and eyes, and in determining how arthritis develops.Operational flights
Dragon was launched on its first operational CRS flight on October 8, 2012, and completed the mission successfully on October 28, 2012. NASA initially contracted SpaceX for 12 operational missions, and later extended the CRS contract with 8 more flights, bringing the total to 20 launches until 2019. In 2016, a new batch of 6 missions under the CRS-2 contract was assigned to SpaceX; those missions are scheduled to be launched between 2020 and 2024.Reuse of previously flown capsules
, SpaceX's eleventh CRS mission, was successfully launched on June 3, 2017, from Kennedy Space Center LC-39A, being the 100th mission to be launched from that pad. This mission was the first to re-fly a previously flown Dragon capsule. This mission delivered 2,708 kilograms of cargo to the International Space Station, including Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer. The first stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle landed successfully at Landing Zone 1. This mission launched for the first time a refurbished Dragon capsule, serial number C106, which had flown in September 2014 on the CRS-4 mission, and was the first time since 2011 a reused spacecraft arrived at the ISS. Gemini SC-2 capsule is the only other reused capsule, but it was only reflown suborbitally in 1966.CRS-12, SpaceX's twelfth CRS mission, was successfully launched on the first "Block 4" version of the Falcon 9 on August 14, 2017, from Kennedy Space Center LC-39A at the first attempt. This mission delivered of pressurized mass and unpressurized. The external payload manifested for this flight was the CREAM cosmic-ray detector. This was the last flight of a newly built Dragon capsule; further missions used refurbished spacecraft.
CRS-13, SpaceX's thirteenth CRS mission, was the second use of a previously flown Dragon capsule, but the first time in concordance with a reused first-stage booster. It was successfully launched on December 15, 2017, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 at the first attempt. This was the first launch from SLC-40 since the AMOS-6 pad anomaly. The booster was the previously flown core from the CRS-11 mission. This mission delivered of pressurized mass and unpressurized. It returned from orbit and splashdown on January 13, 2018, making it the first space capsule to be reflown to orbit more than once.
CRS-14, SpaceX's fourteenth CRS mission, was the third reuse of a previously flown Dragon capsule. It was successfully launched on April 2, 2018, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station SLC-40. It was successfully berthed to the ISS on April 4, 2018, and remained berthed for a month before returning cargo and science experiments back to Earth.
CRS-15, CRS-16, CRS-17, CRS-18, CRS-19, and CRS-20 were all flown with previously flown capsules.