OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dicit:

SpaceX CRS-25, also known as SpX-25, is a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) that was launched on 15 July 2022. The mission is contracted by NASA and is flown by SpaceX using a Cargo Dragon. This is the fifth flight for SpaceX under NASA’s CRS Phase 2 contract awarded in January 2016.

The launch of CRS-25 was previously delayed to 11 July to investigate a possible leak in the Dragon’s Draco thruster propulsion system detected during pre-launch testing. The previously scheduled launch date was June 10.

SpaceX plans to reuse the Cargo Dragons up to five times. The Cargo Dragon will launch without SuperDraco abort engines, without seats, cockpit controls and the life support system required to sustain astronauts in space. This newer design comes with some benefits, like a faster process to recover, and refurbish and re-fly versus the earlier Dragon CRS design used for ISS cargo missions.

Credit: SpaceX/NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

NASA dicit:

Boeing’s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on May 19, 2022, for its Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff occurred at 6:54 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Video credit: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

NASA dicit:

Watch NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts arrive at the International Space Station aboard their Dragon spacecraft Freedom. Docking is scheduled for approximately 7:40 p.m. EDT (23:40 UTC).

Once aboard the orbiting laboratory, astronauts Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins, and Kjell Lindgren of NASA, alongside Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency), will spend nearly six months conducting new scientific research in areas such as materials science, health technologies, and plant science to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and to benefit life on Earth.

Video credit: NASA

NASA dicit:

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:52 a.m. EDT on April 27, 2022. Onboard the Dragon spacecraft are Crew-4 astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins, all NASA astronauts, along with Samantha Cristoforetti with ESA (European Space Agency) for the mission to the International Space Station.

Video credit: NASA Kennedy

Wikipedia dicit:

The Cygnus spacecraft is an expendable American cargo spacecraft developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation and now manufactured and launched by Northrop Grumman Space Systems as part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. It is launched by Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket or ULA’s Atlas V and is designed to transport supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) following the retirement of the American Space Shuttle.

Since August 2000, ISS resupply missions have been regularly flown by the Russian Progress spacecraft, as well as by the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. With the Cygnus spacecraft and the SpaceX Dragon, NASA seeks to increase its partnerships with domestic commercial aviation and aeronautics industry.

The Cygnus spacecraft consists of two basic components: the Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) and the Service Module (SM). The PCM is manufactured by Thales Alenia Space in Turin, (Italy). The initial PCMs have an empty mass of 1,500 kg and a volume of 18 m3·. The service module is built by Orbital ATK and is based on their GEOStar and LEOStar spacecraft buses as well as components from the development of the Dawn spacecraft. It has a gross mass of 1,800 kg with propulsion provided by thrusters using the hypergolic propellants hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide (the propellant mass is 800 kg). The service module is capable of producing up to 4 kW of electrical power via two gallium arsenide solar arrays. On 12 November 2009, Dutch Space announced it will provide the solar arrays for the initial Cygnus spacecraft.

Video credit: NASA

NASA’s SpaceX 24th commercial resupply services mission liftoff.

Video credit: NASA/SpaceX