開啟商業(yè)航天時代：太空擒龍（Text+Pics+Video）

mtjs 2012-05-27

展開全文

5月25日13:56 GMT，國際空間站上的機械臂成功抓住了SpaceX Dragon太空飛船，這是商業(yè)太空公司首次向空間站運送補給，也是自航天飛機退役后美國太空飛船首次到訪空間站。美國宇航員Don Petit操作機械臂Canadarm2抓獲了Dragon，2小時后Dragon被放置到空間站Harmony連接節(jié)點，16:02 GMT密封完成。宇航員將在周六進入太空船卸載貨物。Dragon與空間站的對接標志著人類太空飛行歷史上的一個重要里程碑。SpaceX從NASA獲得了16億美元合同，向空間站完成12次補給任務(wù)。NASA TV對全程進行了直播。

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SPACEX MAKES HISTORY

Dragon Becomes First Commercial Spacecraft to Attach to the Space Station

Hawthorne, CA – Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) made history when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle in history to successfully attach to the International Space Station. Previously only four governments – the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency – had achieved this challenging technical feat.

The vehicle was grappled by station’s robotic arm at 9:56 a.m. Eastern. It was pulled in Dragon’s passive common berthing mechanism successfully attached to the orbiting laboratory at 12:02 PM Eastern.

Broadcast quality videos, including video inside of the SpaceX factory, may be downloaded at /spacexlaunch and high-resolution photos are posted at spacexlaunch..

SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk will join NASA Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffredini, NASA COTS Program Manager Alan Lindenmoyer and NASA Flight Director Holly Ridings for a press conference to discuss the remarkable achievement at 1:00 PM Eastern.

When asked for his initial thoughts on Dragon’s capture and move into the history books, Elon Musk stated, “just awesome”.

This is SpaceX's second demonstration flight under a 2006 Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with NASA to develop the capability to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station. Demonstration launches are conducted to determine potential issues so that they might be addressed; by their very nature, they carry a significant risk. If any aspect of the mission is not successful, SpaceX will learn from the experience and try again.

Mission Highlights:

May 22/Launch Day: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched the Dragon spacecraft into orbit from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
May 23: Dragon orbited Earth as it traveled toward the International Space Station.
May 24: Dragon’s sensors and flight systems were subjected to a series of complicated tests to determine if the vehicle is ready to berth with the space station; these tests included maneuvers and systems checks in which the vehicle came within 1.5 miles of the station.
May 25: NASA gave Dragon the GO to attempt berthing with the station. Dragon approached. It was captured by station’s robotic arm and attached to the station.

Coming up Next:

May 25 - 31: Astronauts open Dragon’s hatch, unload supplies and fill Dragon with return cargo.
May 31: Dragon is detached from the station and returns to Earth, landing in the Pacific, hundreds of miles west of Southern California.

DRAGON OVERVIEW Falcon 1

DragonLab DataSheet (875 kb)

Dragon is a free-flying, reusable spacecraft being developed by SpaceX under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. Initiated internally by SpaceX in 2005, the Dragon spacecraft is made up of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members.

The Dragon spacecraft is comprised of 3 main elements: the Nosecone, which protects the vessel and the docking adaptor during ascent; the Spacecraft, which houses the crew and/or pressurized cargo as well as the service section containing avionics, the RCS system, parachutes, and other support infrastructure; and the Trunk, which provides for the stowage of unpressurized cargo and will support Dragon’s solar arrays and thermal radiators.

In December 2008, NASA announced the selection of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) when the Space Shuttle retires. The $1.6 billion contract represents a minimum of 12 flights, with an option to order additional missions for a cumulative total contract value of up to $3.1 billion.

Though designed to address cargo and crew requirements for the ISS, as a free-flying spacecraft Dragon also provides an excellent platform for in-space technology demonstrations and scientific instrument testing. SpaceX is currently manifesting fully commercial, non-ISS Dragon flights under the name “DragonLab”. DragonLab represents an emergent capability for in-space experimentation.

Dragon Spacecraft with Solar Panels deployed

DRAGON HIGHLIGHTS:

Fully autonomous rendezvous and docking with manual override capability in crewed configuration
6,000 kg (13,228 lbs) payload up-mass to LEO; 3,000 kg (6,614 lbs) payload down-mass
Payload Volume: 10 m3 (350 ft3) pressurized, 14 m3 (490 ft3) unpressurized
Supports up to 7 passengers in Crew configuration
Two-fault tolerant avionics system with extensive heritage
Reaction control system with 18 MMH/NTO thrusters designed and built in-house; these thrusters are used for both attitude control and orbital maneuvering
1290 kg of propellant supports a safe mission profile from sub-orbital insertion to ISS rendezvous to reentry
Integral common berthing mechanism, with LIDS or APAS support if required
Designed for water landing under parachute for ocean recovery
Lifting re-entry for landing precision & low-g’s
Ablative, high-performance heat shield and sidewall thermal protection

To ensure a rapid transition from cargo to crew capability, the cargo and crew configurations of Dragon are almost identical, with the exception of the crew escape system, the life support system and onboard controls that allow the crew to take over control from the flight computer when needed. This focus on commonality minimizes the design effort and simplifies the human rating process, allowing systems critical to Dragon crew safety and ISS safety to be fully tested on uncrewed demonstration flights.

For cargo launches the inside of the spacecraft is outfitted with a modular cargo rack system designed to accommodate pressurized cargo in standard sizes and form factors. For crewed launches, the interior is outfitted with crew couches, controls with manual override capability and upgraded life-support.

In fulfillment of the COTS phase I contract, Dragon will perform three cargo demonstration missions:

Demo	Target Date	Duration	Objectives
1	2010	5 hours	Launch and separate from Falcon 9, orbit Earth, transmit telemetry, receive commands, demonstrate orbital maneuvering and thermal control, re-enter atmosphere, and recover Dragon spacecraft
2	2011	5 days	ISS Fly-by. Dragon will approach to within 10 km of ISS and exercise the radio cross-link, demonstrating the ability of ISS crew to receive telemetry from Dragon and their ability to send a command to the spacecraft. After this primary objective is completed, Dragon will leave the vicinity of ISS and perform a comprehensive set of in-space check-outs before returning to earth.
3	2011	3 days	Full cargo mission profile including mate to ISS