SpaceX CRS-13, also known as SpX-13, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

launched on 15 December 2017. The mission was contracted by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

and is flown by

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

. It was the second mission to successfully reuse a

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

capsule, previously flown on

CRS-6 SpaceX CRS-6, also known as SpX-6, was a Commercial Resupply Services, Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station, contracted to NASA. It was the eighth flight for SpaceX's uncrewed SpaceX Dragon, Dragon Comparison ...

. The first stage of the

Falcon 9 Full Thrust Falcon 9 Full Thrust (also known as Falcon 9 v1.2, with variants Block 1 to Block 5) is a partially reusable medium-lift launch vehicle, designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Designed in 2014–2015, Falcon 9 Full Thrust began launch operations ...

rocket was the previously flown, "flight-proven" core from CRS-11. The first stage returned to land at Cape Canaveral's

Landing Zone 1 Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2, also known as LZ-1 and LZ-2 respectively, are landing facilities on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for recovering components of SpaceX's VTVL reusable launch vehicles. LZ-1 and LZ-2 were built on land le ...

after separation of the first and second stage.

Mission overview

KSC-20171215-PH AWG03 0015 (38365698174)

In early 2015, NASA awarded a contract extension to SpaceX for three CRS additional missions (CRS-13 to CRS-15). , a NASA Inspector General report had this mission manifested for September 2017. The flight has been delayed from 13 September, 1 November, 4 December, 12 December, and 13 December 2017. SpaceX pushed off the launch to 15 December due to the detection of

particulates Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...

in the second stage fuel system, taking the time to completely flush out the fuel and liquid oxygen tanks on the first and second stages as a precautionary measure. The CRS-13 mission launched aboard a

rocket on 15 December 2017 at 15:36:09 UTC from the

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...

Space Launch Complex 40 Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), previously Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) is a launch pad for rockets located at the north end of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The launch pad was used by the United States Air Force for 55 Titan III a ...

. The

spacecraft rendezvoused with the International Space Station on 17 December 2017; the vehicle was captured by the

Canadarm2 The Mobile Servicing System (MSS), is a robotic system on board the International Space Station (ISS). Launched to the ISS in 2001, it plays a key role in station assembly and maintenance; it moves equipment and supplies around the station, supp ...

at 10:57 UTC and was berthed to the ''

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

'' module's nadir docking port at 13:26 UTC. Dragon spent just under a month at the ISS: it was unberthed on 12 January 2018 at 10:47 UTC and was released from Canadarm2 on 13 January 2018 at 09:58 UTC. The spacecraft deorbited a few hours later, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 15:37 UTC carrying of equipment and science experiments.

Payload

NASA has contracted for the CRS-13 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date/time of launch, and

orbital parameters Orbital elements are the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit. In celestial mechanics these elements are considered in two-body systems using a Kepler orbit. There are many different ways to mathematically describe the same ...

for the Dragon

space capsule A space capsule is an often-crewed spacecraft that uses a blunt-body reentry capsule to reenter the Earth's atmosphere without wings. Capsules are distinguished from other satellites primarily by the ability to survive reentry and return a payl ...

. CRS-13 carried a total of of material into orbit. This includes of pressurised cargo with packaging bound for the International Space Station, and of unpressurised cargo composed of two external station experiments: the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) and the Space Debris Sensor (SDS). The following is a breakdown of cargo bound for the ISS: * Science investigations: * Crew supplies: * Vehicle hardware: * Spacewalk equipment: * Computer resources: * External payloads: ** Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) ** Space Debris Sensor (SDS)

References

External links

*
Dragon website
at SpaceX.com
Commercial Resupply Services
at NASA.gov {{DEFAULTSORT:CRS 013 SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft launched in 2017 Spacecraft which reentered in 2018 SpaceX payloads contracted by NASA Supply vehicles for the International Space Station

Mission overview

Payload

See also

References

External links