CRS-11

SpaceX CRS-11, also known as SpX-11, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station, launched successfully on 3 June 2017. The mission was contracted by NASA and was flown by SpaceX. The mission utilized a Falcon 9 launch vehicle and was the first reuse of C106, a CRS Dragon cargo vessel that was previously flown on the CRS-4 mission.

CRS-11 was the penultimate of the first twelve missions awarded to SpaceX under the Commercial Resupply Services contract to resupply the International Space Station.

Rocket and spacecraft

The CRS-11 mission was the first time that a Dragon spacecraft has been reused, helping SpaceX to scale back its production line and shift focus to Dragon 2.

CRS-11 launched aboard a Falcon 9 launch vehicle on 3 June 2017 at 21:07:38 UTC from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). The spacecraft rendezvoused with the station on 5 June 2017 and conducted a series of orbit adjustment burns to match speed, altitude, and orientation with the ISS. After arriving at the capture point at 13:37 UTC, the vehicle was snared at 13:52 UTC by the Canadarm2, operated by Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer. It was berthed to the ''Harmony'' module at 16:07 UTC.

The Falcon 9 first stage landed successfully on Landing Zone 1, making it the fifth successful touch down on land and the 11th overall.

The CRS-11 Dragon remained attached to the ISS for just over 27 days. Having been filled with around of cargo, Dragon was unberthed from the station on 2 July 2017 at approximately 18:00 UTC. It was moved to its release position by Canadarm2, but poor sea conditions forced a delay to the following day. On 3 July 2017, at 06:41 UTC, crew members commanded Canadarm2 to release Dragon, and soon after the spacecraft began a series of thruster firings to move it away from the station. About five hours after departing from ISS, Dragon closed its guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) bay door and conducted a 10-minute deorbit burn. Immediately after, the spacecraft jettisoned its cargo trunk and oriented itself for reentry. Dragon splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off Baja California at 12:12 UTC.

Payload

NASA has contracted for the CRS-11 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date/time of launch, and orbital parameters for the Dragon space capsule. CRS-11 carried a total of of material into orbit. This included of pressurised cargo with packaging bound for the International Space Station, and of unpressurised cargo composed of three external station experiments: Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), MUSES and Roll Out Solar Array (ROSA).

The following is a breakdown of cargo bound for the ISS:

* Science investigations:
** Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) - a NASA- and ORBITEC-developed payload built in Madison, Wisconsin. APH is a fully automated facility that is used to conduct plant bioscience research on the ISS.
* Crew supplies:
* Vehicle hardware:
* Spacewalk equipment:
* Computer resources:
* External payloads:
** Roll Out Solar Array (ROSA):
** Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER):
** Multiple User System for Earth Sensing (MUSES):

A constellation of five CubeSats was also carried on the mission as part of Birds-1, one each from the countries of Japan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Mongolia. The satellites from Bangladesh (''BRAC ONNESHA''), Ghana (''GhanaSat-1''), and Mongolia (''Mazaalai'') were those countries' first satellites in space.

See also

* Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station
* List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches
* 2017 in spaceflight

References

External links

*

Dragon website
at SpaceX.com

Commercial Resupply Services
at nasa.gov

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SpaceX Dragon
Spacecraft launched in 2017
Spacecraft which reentered in 2017
SpaceX payloads contracted by NASA
Supply vehicles for the International Space Station