SpaceX CRS-26

SpaceX CRS-26, also known as SpX-26, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched on 26 November 2022.^[2] The mission was contracted by NASA and flown by SpaceX using a Cargo Dragon. This was the sixth flight for SpaceX under NASA's CRS Phase 2 contract awarded in January 2016.

SpaceX CRS-26

Launch of CRS-26
Names	SpX-26
Mission type	ISS resupply
Operator	SpaceX
COSPAR ID	2022-159A
SATCAT no.	54371
Mission duration	45 days, 14 hours, 59 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Cargo Dragon C211[1]
Spacecraft type	Cargo Dragon
Manufacturer	SpaceX
Dry mass	9,525 kg (20,999 lb)
Dimensions	Height: 8.1 m (27 ft) Diameter: 4 m (13 ft)
Start of mission
Launch date	26 November 2022, 19:20:42 UTC[2]
Rocket	Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1076.1)
Launch site	Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A
End of mission
Recovered by	MV Megan
Landing date	11 January 2023, 10:19 UTC[3]
Landing site	Gulf Of Mexico
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking port	Harmony zenith
Docking date	27 November 2022, 12:39 UTC
Undocking date	9 January 2023, 22:05 UTC
Time docked	43 days, 9 hours, 26 minutes
SpaceX CRS-26 mission patch Commercial Resupply Services ← NG-18 SpaceX CRS-27 → Cargo Dragon flights ← SpaceX CRS-25 SpaceX CRS-27 →

Cargo Dragon

Main article: SpaceX Dragon 2

SpaceX plans to reuse each Cargo Dragon up to five times. Cargo Dragon does not include SuperDraco abort engines, seats, cockpit controls or life support system neded on a Crew Dragon.^[4][5] Dragon 2 improves on Dragon 1 in several ways, including lessened refurbishment time, leading to shorter periods between flights.^[6]

Cargo Dragon capsules under the NASA CRS Phase 2 contract land near Florida in the ocean.^[4][6]

Payload

NASA contracted for the CRS-26 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date of launch, and orbital parameters for the Cargo Dragon.^[7]

ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSA)

See also: Roll Out Solar Array

Second pair of new solar arrays using XTJ Prime space solar cells. They were delivered to the station in the unpressurized trunk of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft.^[8]

The installation of these new solar arrays, designated 4A and 3A, required two spacewalks: one to prepare the worksite with a modification kit and another to install the new panel.^[8][9]

Research

NASA Glenn Research Center studies:^[10]

European Space Agency (ESA) research and activities:

• ESA's Suture in Space experiment investigating how tissues heal in weightlessness. Living tissue from biopsies will be cut and sewn back together, before being sent to space where astronauts will activate the cells to monitor the healing mechanisms.[^[11]]

• ESA's Osteogenic Cells experiment which aims to investigate the mechanisms of impaired bone formation during space flight and whether microgravity conditions alter osteoblast function in vitro.

• As part of the research payload, the Artery in Microgravity experiment from the ESA Orbit Your Thesis programme will be installed inside the ICE Cubes Facility .

CubeSats

CubeSats carried by this mission, deployed through NRCSD#24 (including ELaNa 49) and J-SSOD#24:^[12][13][14]

• TJREVERB, a 2U CubeSat built by students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. TJREVERB is testing Iridium with Passive Magnet Stabilization in Low Earth Orbit.
• ORCASat, a 2U CubeSat for the precision photometric calibration of major astronomical observatories worldwide (notably the Rubin Observatory in Chile and Pan-STARRS in Hawaii).
• MARIO (Measurement of Actuator Response and Impedance on Orbit) is a 3U CubeSat collaboration between the University of Michigan's Michigan eXploration Laboratory (MXL), Extreme Diagnostics, and Michigan's Active Intelligent and Multifunctional Structure (AIMS) Lab, and NASA. The mission objective is to characterize the performance of piezoelectric actuators and health monitoring systems in low Earth orbit conditions. Test data will help develop future advanced space mechanisms.
• NUTSat is a 2U CubeSat for systems engineering training and commercial aircraft safety technology demonstration mission, from NFU, Let'scom, Gran Systems and NSPO.
• LORIS (Low Orbit Reconnaissance Imagery Satellite) from Dalhousie University, will be the first CubeSat from Atlantic Canada to be launched by the Canadian Space Agency. The mission objective is to obtain photographs via the camera payload, which will be used to study and monitor shorelines and ocean life activity.
• petitSat, from Goddard Space Flight Center.
• SPORT (Scintillation Prediction Observations Research Task), a collaboration between the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA) in Brazil, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. SPORT is a 6U CubeSat that will advance our understanding of the nature and evolution of ionospheric structures around sunset to improve predictions of disturbances that affect radio propagation and telecommunication signals.^[15]
• DanteSat, from NPC SpaceMind.
• Surya Satellite-1 (SS-1), 1U CubeSat by Surya University
• OPTIMAL-1, 3U CubeSat by ArkEdge Space
• HSKSAT, 3U CubeSat by Harada Seiki

Gallery

SpaceX CRS-26

• 
  Launch of CRS-26
• 
  Dragon approaching the ISS
• 
  Dragon docked to the ISS

See also

• Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station

References

1. Kanayama, Lee (16 September 2022). "SpaceX and NASA in final preparations for Crew-5 mission". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
2. Navin, Joseph (27 November 2022). "NASA, SpaceX launch and dock CRS-26 mission to ISS". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
3. Garcia, Mark (11 January 2023). "Dragon Resupply Ship Splashes Down Returning Critical Science". NASA. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
4. Office of Inspector General (26 April 2018). Audit of Commercial Resupply Services to the International Space Center (PDF) (Report). Vol. IG-18-016. NASA. pp. 24, 28–30. Retrieved 4 April 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
5. "Dragon 2 modifications to Carry Cargo for CRS-2 missions". Teslarati. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
6. Clark, Stephen (2 August 2019). "SpaceX to begin flights under new cargo resupply contract next year". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
7. "SpaceX Commercial Resupply". ISS Program Office. NASA. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
8. Clark, Stephen (21 November 2022). "Second pair of new space station solar arrays set for launch on Dragon cargo ship". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
9. Clark, Stephen (13 January 2021). "Boeing says assembly complete on first set of new space station solar arrays". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
10. "ISS Research Program". Glenn Research Center. NASA. 1 January 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
11. "ESA Television - Videos - 2020 - 12 - Thomas Pesquet Alpha mission training - Suture in space for Alpha with Thomas Pesquet".
12. "Upcoming SpaceX-26 Mission to Launch Several Nanoracks Customer Payloads to the ISS". Nanoracks. 21 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
13. "Past ElaNa CubeSat Launches". NASA. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
14. 「きぼう」から超小型衛星3機放出に成功！ (in Japanese). JAXA. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
15. "The Scintillation Prediction Observation Research Task". Documentation and Information Center, São Paulo Research Foundation. Retrieved 30 November 2022.

External links

• NASA
• SpaceX official page for the Dragon spacecraft Archived 12 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine