August 30, 2021: After a successful pre-dawn launch from Kennedy Space Center on August 29, SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon 2 capsule spent a day and a half in transit before autonomously docking with the ISS at 14:30 UTC on August 30th. This marks the 23rd SpaceX mission to the ISS as part of the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program and the first time a Cargo Dragon 2 has been reused. The capsule is planned to stay in orbit for about a month before splashing down off the coast of Florida.
SpX-23 carried over 1000 kg of science experiments along with crew supplies, spacewalk equipment, and other hardware. Among its cargo was a Japanese robotic arm being tested to perform delicate scientific experiments and on-orbit servicing tasks both inside and outside of the space station. It is being tested in the Bishop Airlock (the station’s first commercial airlock), which was delivered by the same Dragon capsule as part of SpX-21.
Odyssey Space Research is proud to have played a part in this and all other CRS missions since the program’s inception in 2008. Interested in joining the journey? Check out https://odysseysr.com/careers to see what opportunities are available.
