Spacecraft

The Dragon cargo spacecraft departing the International Space Station to end its CRS-24 mission (Image NASA)

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Yesterday, in the American afternoon, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-24 (Cargo Resupply Service 24) mission for NASA splashing down smoothly in the Gulf of Mexico, near Panama City. The Dragon left the International Space Station last Sunday. For SpaceX, this was the 4th mission of the 2nd contract with NASA to transport supplies to the Station with the new version of the Dragon cargo spacecraft, which splashes down near the East coast of the USA instead of the Pacific Ocean.

Shortly after the splashdown, SpaceX’s “Go Searcher” 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 December 22, 2021.

SpaceX's Dragon 2 spacecraft blasting off atop a Falcon 9 rocket (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago, the SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in its CRS-24 (Cargo Resupply Service 24) mission, also referred to as SPX-23. After almost exactly 12 minutes it separated successfully from the rocket’s last stage and went en route. This is the 24th mission, the 4th for the Dragon 2 version, for the Dragon spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station with various cargoes and then return to Earth, again with various cargoes.

Yusaku Maezawa, Alexander Misurkin, and Yozo Hirano on the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago, cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, and Yozo Hirano returned to Earth on the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, which landed in Kazakhstan, after spending 12 days on the International Space Station, where they arrived on December 8. It was a space tourism journey set up in an agreement between the private company Space Adventures and the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

The Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft approaching the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago, the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft reached the International Space Station. It blasted off about six hours earlier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, with three people on board. It’s a mission totally oriented towards space tourism set up by the private company Space Adventures in a deal with the Russian space agency Roscosmos. For this reason, the Soyuz MS-20 will return to Earth on December 20.

Generally, Soyuz spacecraft carry International Space Station crew members on their rotation. In this case, the mission is very special because cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin traveled together with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano, who will be in charge of documenting this tourist mission.