On the peaceful early morning of Aug. 29, we gazed east to watch SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket illuminate the sky. Approximately eight minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 first stage B1061-4 successfully landed on an autonomous barge out in the Atlantic Ocean. The next day, CRS-23’s Cargo Dragon capsule reached the International Space Station – delivering 4,800 pounds of science investigations, vehicle hardware, crew supplies and spacewalk equipment.
A notable local tie was a submission by Orlando’s own Girl Scouts of Citrus. In their partnership with SpaceKids Global, 21 local scouts were selected to have their science experiments, essays and art included in the Faraday Box as a part of the “Making Space for Girls” challenge.
This was the second flight for the Cargo Dragon capsule designated C208. Unlike Crew Dragon, the cargo variant of Dragon has no SuperDraco abort engines, cockpit controls, or passenger seats. SpaceX intends to reuse this Cargo Dragon up to five times.
After spending a few days out at sea, the booster that launched CRS-23 arrived back at Port Canaveral. The vessel that carried the booster back to shore was none other than “A Shortfall of Gravitas.” This was the new drone ship’s first operational mission, and it appears to have performed flawlessly.
In our next article for Nonahood News, we will be documenting the launch of the highly anticipated Inspiration-4 mission.
