Elon Musk’s Dragon spacecraft lifts Space Station to new altitude

Elon Musk-led SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft has added a brand new ability to its resume: elevating the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS).

In a first-of-its-kind manoeuvre, Dragon used engines in its trunk part to softly push the orbiting laboratory to a barely greater altitude.

The take a look at burn lasted 5 minutes and three seconds, using two Draco engines powered by an unbiased propellant system housed within the spacecraft’s trunk. The burn efficiently raised the ISS’s altitude by about one mile at perigee, inserting the station into a brand new orbit of 260.9 by 256.3 miles.

This milestone demonstrates Dragon’s capacity to offer reboost providers, a significant position traditionally stuffed by Russian Progress spacecraft. The ISS steadily loses altitude on account of atmospheric drag, requiring periodic boosts to keep up secure operation. Now, Nasa and SpaceX envision Dragon finishing up common orbit-raising burns, decreasing reliance on different automobiles and providing added flexibility.

“This is a significant step in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the station,” Nasa officers stated following the manoeuvre, noting {that a} sequence of longer burns is deliberate all through the autumn of 2025.

The Dragon capsule at the moment on the station started its mission on August 25, delivering hundreds of kilograms of analysis and provides as a part of Nasa’s SpaceX thirty third business resupply mission.

It is anticipated to stay docked by way of late December or early January earlier than returning to Earth with experiments and cargo for restoration off the coast of California.

For SpaceX, the demonstration marks one other enlargement of Dragon’s capabilities and a brand new chapter in U.S. stewardship of the ISS. For astronauts aboard, the reboost offers added assurance that the station will stay safely aloft, with assist from a spacecraft designed not solely to ship cargo, however now to guard the orbiting outpost itself.

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