Ground controllers are currently aiming at 10:40 am EST on January 23 for the undocking back to Earth of the Cargo Dragon, Space news reports recently said.
According to a NASASpaceflight.com report, following a month-long stay at the International Space Station, both NASA and SpaceX are all set to support the CRS-24 Cargo Dragon's return to this planet.
Once it undocks from the ISS, it will carry out a series of maneuvers for its orbit to lower and re-enter the atmosphere of Earth.
The report also specified this would set it up to "splashdown off" the Florida coast at around 12:44 am EST on January 24.
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The Crew Dragon spacecraft is seen under construction in a clean room during a media tour of SpaceX headquarters and rocket factory on August 13, 2018, in Hawthorne, California.
Cargo Dragons
The landing of the Cargo Dragon will complete the CRS-24 mission, which is the fourth resupply mission of SpaceX to the ISS under the Commercial Resupply Service 2 or CRS2 contract.
Essentially, this contract uses the Dragon 2 spacecraft, as the Dragon 1 spacecraft was retired at the end of the first CRS contract. Since its initial flight, Dragon 2 has flown nine times with four crewed and five uncrewed flights.
The mission started when Cargo Dragon C209-2 lifted off at Kennedy Space Center in December 2021 from Launch Complex 394 or LC-394, reported on the AmericaSpace site. Launched onboard the Falcon 9 booster 1069, this was the second flight of the capsule.
Different from the Crew Dragon spacecraft, Cargo Dragons are not provided with names and, therefore, are only denoted by a serial number.
The hyphenated number at the end signifies the number of times the capsule has performed flights, including the present mission.
The C209, in particular, few the CRS-22 resupply mission in June last year. After its return, it was overhauled and prepared for the CRS-24 mission.
Docking to the ISS
Just a day after launch, delivering more than 3,000 kilograms of scientific investigations, instruments, hardware, supplies, as well as Christmas presents, Dragon docked to the ISS.
After hatch opening, the ISS crew started to use the experiments brought up to the revolving laboratory. Some of the study highlights include Bioprint FirstAid of the German Aerospace Agency, as described in a FESPA report, which presented that a portable handheld bioprinter can develop a patch of disuse with the skin cell of patients, lessening healing time.
Additionally, the crew performed a study to improve the delivery of cancer drugs through the crystallization of monoclonal antibodies. Therefore, it can be used to treat many different cancers.
Before undocking, the small pressurized site between the Dragon and the hatch of the ISS known as "vestibule," will begin to depressurize. This is to prevent an outburst of gas once the cargo undocks.
'Go, No-Go' Poll
While the undocking is in progress, NASA and SpaceX teams will carry out a go, no-go poll to guarantee that everything is set for undocking.
Once given a "go," the SpaceX mission control teams in Hawthorne, California, will order the Dragon spacecraft to start the undocking process. These include the umbilical's retraction and the two sets of hooks' opening.
The Dragon spacecraft is set to exit the approach ellipsoid, an "imaginary four by two-kilometer-wide ellipsoid" that controls all vehicles departing or entering the ISS. Dragon will then perform the third depart burn, followed by the fourth and final burn.
Once all four departure burns get completed, Dragon will then initiate a nine-minute, 18-second departure phase burn.
The trunk will stay in orbit for several months, although it will eventually succumb to atmospheric drag and destructively enter the atmosphere of Earth.
Report about the CRS-24 launch in December 2021 is shown on CNET Highlights' YouTube video below:
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