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Mahesh

28/08/24 09:50 AM IST

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon

In News
  • The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) last week said the two astronauts — Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore — who have been stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) would return to the Earth in February 2025 on a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight.
Crew Dragon
  • Crew Dragon is one of the two variants of SpaceX’s Dragon 2 spacecraft, which is partially reusable.
  • The other variant is Cargo Dragon.
  • As their names suggest, Crew Dragon primarily ferries astronauts to the ISS and Cargo Dragon supplies cargo to the space station.
  • SpaceX developed Crew Dragon as part of NASA’s plan to hand over space station flights to American companies after the space agency retired its space shuttle in 2011.
  • Crew Dragon’s first mission to the ISS took place in 2020 when it transported four American and Japanese astronauts to the destination.
  • So far, the spacecraft has done eight crew rotation missions to the space station for NASA.
Features of Crew Dragon
  • Crew Dragon consists of two parts: a reusable space capsule and an expandable trunk module.
  • The capsule is “equipped with 16 Draco thrusters that manoeuvre the vehicle in orbit.
  • Each Draco is capable of producing 90 pounds of force in the vacuum of space,” according to a report by the BBC.
  • The report said the trunk features solar panels, heat-removal radiators, space for cargo, and fins to provide stability during emergency aborts.
  • The spacecraft is launched into space atop a Falcon 9 — a reusable, two-stage rocket developed by SpaceX — and docks automatically to the ISS.
  • When the astronauts need to return to the Earth, the spacecraft undocks from the ISS.
  • Then, its trunk gets detached from the capsule and burns up in the atmosphere.
  • The capsule subsequently performs a de-orbit burn — when thrusters are used to reduce the velocity of the spacecraft, allowing it to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere.
  • After reentry, the capsule deploys four parachutes to slow its descent. Ultimately, the spacecraft splashes down into the ocean, where it is recovered by a ship.
Source- Indian Express

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