Launch of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle carrying CRS-5
By July 2014, the launch was scheduled by NASA for December 2014, with docking to the station projected to occur two days after launch.[6] Originally scheduled for a 16 December 2014 launch, the mission was changed to 19 December 2014, in order to give SpaceX more preparation time for a successful launch. The launch was postponed again to 6 January 2015, in order to allow more tests before committing to a firm launch date.[7][8]
On 6 January 2015, the launch attempt was placed on hold at 1 minute 21 seconds prior to scheduled lift-off after a member of the launch team noticedactuator drift on one of twothrust vector control systems of the Falcon 9 second stage engine.[9] As this launch had an instantaneous launch window, meaning no delays are possible in the launch sequence, the flight was postponed to 9 January 2015.[9] On 7 January 2015, the flight was rescheduled for 10 January 2015.[10]
TheFalcon 9 launch vehicle carrying the CRS-5 Dragon spacecraft successfully launched on 10 January 2015 at 09:47:10UTC.[11] Dragon reached the station on 12 January 2015. It was grappled by theMobile Servicing System (Canadarm2) at 10:54 UTC and berthed to theHarmony module at 13:56 UTC.[12]
The Dragon spacecraft for CRS-5 carried 2,317 kg (5,108 lb) of cargo to the ISS. Included in this was 490 kg (1,080 lb) of provisions and equipment for the crew, 717 kg (1,581 lb) of station hardware, 577 kg (1,272 lb) of science equipment and experiments, and the 494 kg (1,089 lb)Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS).[11]
CATS is aLIDAR remote sensing instrument designed to measure the location, composition and distribution of pollution, dust, smoke, aerosols and other particulates in the atmosphere. CATS is to be installed on theKibō module external facility and is expected to run for at least six months, and up to three years.[13][14]
Upon completion of its stay, Dragon was loaded with 1,332 kg (2,937 lb) of outgoing cargo, returning it back toEarth.[5]
SpaceX attempted a landing on the drone ship on 10 January 2015. Many of thetest objectives were achieved, including precision control of the first stage's descent to land on the platform at a specific point in the southAtlantic Ocean and a large amount of test data was obtained from the first use ofgrid fin control surfaces used for more precise reentry positioning. However, the first stage was destroyed due to ahard landing.[15] Musk said that one of the possible problems was the grid fins running out ofhydraulic fluid.[18]
The SpaceX webcast indicated that the boostback burn and re-entry burns for the descending first stage occurred, and that the descending then went "below the horizon", as expected, which eliminated the live telemetry signal. Shortly thereafter, SpaceX released information that the first stage did get to the drone spaceport ship as planned, but "landed hard ... Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced".[15][19][20][21][22] SpaceX made a video of the landing attempt available onVine.[23]
^Musk, Elon."Post-launch Twitter news releases". SpaceX. Retrieved10 January 2015.Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho.", "Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced", "Didn't get good landing/impact video. Pitch dark and foggy. Will piece it together from telemetry and ... actual pieces.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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