SpaceX rolled the Falcon 9 rocket to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday to begin loading time-sensitive research hardware, fresh vegetables and fruit, and cheeses for the space station’s seven-person crew. The CRS-28 mission marked the fifth flight for the reusable Falcon 9 booster stage numbered B1077. The reusable first stage of the Falcon 9 landed on a SpaceX drone ship floating in the Atlantic Ocean. “We’re very excited to have this third of four sets of arrays, and we’re looking forward to having those installed,” said Dina Contella, NASA’s operations integration manager for the International Space Station. NASA has sent four roll-out solar arrays to the space station on SpaceX resupply missions in June 2021 and November 2022.
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Later this month, astronauts Steve Bowen and Woody Hoburg will head outside the space station for two spacewalks to install and assist in the deployment of the two roll-out solar arrays.
The two solar array wings are rolled up on spools to fit inside the 13-foot (4-meter) diameter of the Dragon spacecraft’s rear cargo bay. The delivery of the next set of ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays, or iROSA units, continues a years-long mid-life space station upgrade. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to start the company’s 28th resupply mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX says it aims to fly each vehicle as many as 15 times, and the existing fleet - along with the new Crew Dragon in manufacturing now - will be sufficient to meet the customer demand for resupply and astronaut flights, primarily to the International Space Station. SpaceX has three Cargo Dragon capsules in its inventory, and four human-rated Crew Dragon vehicles, with a fifth Crew Dragon in production. This mission, called CRS-28, is the fourth flight of this Cargo Dragon spacecraft, designated C208. SpaceX flies unpiloted cargo missions to the space station under a Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
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The Cargo Dragon spacecraft headed into orbit on an 18-hour chase of the orbiting research outpost with more than 7,200 pounds of hardware, provisions, and scientific experiments, including two new roll-out solar arrays to upgrade the lab’s power system. Another Falcon 9 rocket took off from a different launch pad earlier Sunday at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The delay from Sunday eliminated a chance for a launch doubleheader on Florida’s Space Coast. EDT (1547 UTC) from pad 39A at Kennedy, a day later than planned after SpaceX scrubbed a launch attempt Sunday due to high winds in the booster’s offshore recovery zone. Liftoff of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket occurred at 11:47 a.m. SpaceX’s 28th resupply mission to the International Space Station lifted off Monday from the Kennedy Space Center, carrying new solar arrays, fresh food, and experiments to sustain research and upgrade the power system on the orbiting laboratory.
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