A little while ago, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-26 (Cargo Resupply Service 26) mission for NASA splashing down smoothly off the Florida Coast. The Dragon left the International Space Station last Monday. For SpaceX, this was the 6th mission of the 2nd contract with NASA to transport supplies to the Station with the new version of the Dragon cargo spacecraft.
Shortly after the splashdown, SpaceX’s recovery ship went to retrieve the Dragon to transport it to the coast. The cargo brought back to Earth will be delivered to NASA within a few hours. The Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on November 27, 2021.
The Dragon spacecraft brought back to Earth about 2,000 kg (about 4,400 lbs) of mixed cargo that include various scientific experiments and biological samples. Part of the samples is contained in the freezers because they need to be kept at low temperatures. The new version of the Dragon space freighter has twice the capacity to transport samples to Earth as the first version.
SpaceX is the only American company that has a spacecraft capable of bringing intact cargo back to Earth so the Dragon missions are really important for NASA. Samples produced during many of the experiments conducted on the International Space Station may require in-depth analyzes possible only in specialized laboratories on Earth. The cargoes are delivered to NASA within no more than 9 hours.
The Astrorad vest, designed to protect astronauts from high doses of radiation, was worn by crew members of the International Space Station during their normal daily duties. In addition to assessing the levels of protection, it’s important to receive feedback from the astronauts about how comfortable it is to wear and if it creates problems for the wearer’s movements.
The XROOTS (eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System) experiment uses hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to grow plants in environments other than soil. The products brought back to Earth will be examined to understand the progress made in growing plants in a space environment.
The Rhodium Microgravity Bioprospecting-1 experiment aims to look for microorganisms that changed in space and have new characteristics that make them useful to be used to produce drugs or other useful substances. The materials connected to this experiment will be examined to see if it found useful microorganisms.
The next resupply mission for the Dragon space freighter could begin already in February 2023 but that’s a tentative schedule. The new version of this spacecraft is passing all the tests regarding its reuse but this one ended its first mission.
