Launch News SpaceX Falcon 9 F4 CRS SpX-1 Updates

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NASASpaceflight: SpaceX’s Dragon returning to Earth with precious cargo from ISS

CBS News Space: SpaceX cargo capsule released from space station

 

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SpaceX via Twitter:

#Dragon’s trunk, carrying its solar arrays, has separated.

Spaceflight Now: Mission Status Center:

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2012
1845 GMT (2:45 p.m. EDT)SpaceX says Dragon's trunk has separated.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2012
1844 GMT (2:44 p.m. EDT)The deorbit burn should now be complete and Dragon's unpressurized trunk should have jettisoned a few minutes ago, but SpaceX and NASA have not issued updates on these milestones.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2012
1837 GMT (2:37 p.m. EDT)SpaceX and NASA confirm the deorbit burn began on time.

Flying high above the Indian Ocean, the Dragon spacecraft is now firing its Draco thrusters for the deorbit burn, committing the capsule for return to Earth. The burn is expected to last about 10 minutes.

Dragon is carrying more than nearly 1,700 pounds of cargo from the space station in its pressurized cabin. The capsule is the only robotic cargo freighter able to retrieve equipment from the space station and return it to Earth for analysis or repairs.

 

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Spaceflight Now:

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2012
1930 GMT (3:30 p.m. EDT)"The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft spashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 3:22 p.m. EDT Sunday about 250 miles off the coast of Baja California, marking a successful conclusion to the first contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station," NASA says in a press release.

"After Dragon is secured, the SpaceX team will then place the vehicle on the deck of a 100-foot boat for the journey back to shore. Early-arrival cargo will be delivered to NASA within 48 hours of splashdown. Dragon will then travel from Southern California to SpaceX's facility in McGregor, Texas, where the remaining cargo will be unloaded, processed and delivered to NASA," the release said.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2012
1923 GMT (3:23 p.m. EDT)Splashdown confirmed at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT) in the Pacific Ocean, concluding Dragon's first of 12 operational cargo flights to the International Space Station.

SPACE.com: Private SpaceX Capsule Lands After Historic Mission to Space Station

Aviation Week: SpaceX Dragon CRS-1 Capsule Scores Safe Splashdown

Florida Today:

• Splashdown! Dragon completes ISS resupply mission
  
  
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  Dragon's back with full belly

Discover Magazine - Bad Astronomy: The Dragon returns to the nest

NASA News Release: RELEASE : 12-381 - SpaceX Dragon Returns from Space Station with NASA Cargo

AmericaSpace: SpaceX's CRS-1 Mission Concludes With Splashdown!

Spaceflight Now: Return of the Dragon: Commercial craft back home

Parabolic Arc: Dragon Splashes Down Safely in Pacific to Complete First Commercial Cargo Delivery

Universe Today: SpaceX’s Dragon Splashes Down Safely

Discovery News: Return of the Dragon: SpaceX Mission a Success

spacexchannel:

 

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https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/262694499527057408

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/262678424471089152

 

[Mandella]

Congratulations SpaceX! And to many many more successful flights (and no quibbling about that early release! It went up, it came down in a controlled fashion, it was successful),,,

:thumbup:

 

[Screamer7]

Congrats Space X. You've done it again, without breaking too much sweat.:thumbup:

 

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Splashdown

spacexchannel:

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I like this - this is exactly what needs to be done. Fly the heck out of a system, squashing bugs as they go. I'm sure there will be anomalies, but I think this is a sound system in principle (and in practice).

Any news on the engine-out anomaly? All I have heard is that the investigation is "going smoothly", whatever that means.

 

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Spaceflight Now: Dragon returns to port (PHOTO GALLERY

Space News: Recovered SpaceX Capsule Arrives at California Port

 

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Parabolic Arc: SpaceX Cargo Mission Suffered Other Anomalies:

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The anomalies on the first commercial cargo mission included:

• One of three flight computers failed while Dragon was docked at ISS due to a suspected radiation hit. The computer was restarted but could not re-synchronize with the other two units.
• One of three GPS units, the Propulsion and Trunk computers and Ethernet switch also experienced suspected radiation hits, but they were recovered during a power cycle.
• All three coolant pumps failed after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
• Glacier freezer was at -65 degrees Centigrade (C) instead of the planned -95 degrees C when it was opened three hours after splashdown, causing some samples to exceed temperature limits.
• Problems occurred with one of the Dragon’s Draco thrusters.

Suffredini said SpaceX is still looking for the cause of a sudden drop in pressure that caused one of the Falcon 9′s Merlin engines to fail. NASA is participating in the investigation.

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Spaceflight Now: SpaceX, NASA scrutinize anomalies from cargo flight

AmericaSpace: SpaceX's Launch Anomaly Wasn't the Only Flaw on CRS-1

 

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spacexchannel:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-zG5QvlBaw"]SpaceX CRS-1 Mission | October 2012 - YouTube[/ame]

 

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AmericaSpace: In Spite of October's Mishap, SpaceX's Computers Are a Go:

Two months ago, one of SpaceX’s Dragon capsules lost one of its three flight computers while docked with the International Space Station. The likely cause was a radiation hit, but according to SpaceX’s director of vehicle certification, John Muratore, the loss of the computer was a function of the radiation-tolerant system design and not its non-radiation hardened (rad-hardened) parts. The computer problem didn’t dog the mission, and it’s not posing a longer-term problem to the company either.

Every Dragon has six computers, which, under the company’s current contract with NASA, aren’t reused from mission to mission. Each of the three computer units is actually a pair—two computers that keep one another in check—with 18 distinct processing units. That means that in all, each Dragon has 54 processors on board. This architecture means Dragon can tolerate a failure. Even with one computer offline, there would still be two more pairs voting on something. What would happen if the two remaining computers disagreed, however, is unclear.

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[Mader Levap]

"Lost"?... AFAIK it did not "lost" permamently anything.