Created 11-Mar-20
Modified 13-Dec-23
Excerpts from SpaceX.com:
On Friday, March 6, SpaceX launched its 20th Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-20) at 11:50 p.m. EST, from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Dragon separated from Falcon 9’s second stage about nine minutes after liftoff and attached to the space station on Monday, March 9.
The Dragon spacecraft that supports the CRS-20 mission previously supported the CRS-10 mission in February 2017 and the CRS-16 mission in December 2018, and the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission previously flew on the CRS-19 mission in December 2019. Following stage separation, SpaceX recovered Falcon 9’s first stage on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Dragon was filled with approximately 4,500 pounds of supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support more than 250 science and research investigations that will occur onboard the orbiting laboratory. CRS-20 is the twentieth and final mission to the International Space Station that SpaceX will fly for NASA under the first Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. In January 2016, NASA announced that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft were selected to resupply the space station through 2024 as part of a second CRS contract award.
Dragon will return to Earth with more than 4,000 pounds of cargo after an approximately four-week stay at the International Space Station. About five hours after Dragon leaves the space station, it will conduct its deorbit burn, which lasts up to 10 minutes. It takes about 30 minutes for Dragon to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California.
Photos taken from Exploration Tower, about 12 miles away.
© Dennis Huff
