NASA’s SpaceX CRS-26 Mission to the International Space Station to be held on November 21, 2022. NASA announced the news through its tweeter on 18 Nov, 2022 at 2:12am.They wrote, “Our next resupply mission to the Space station is scheduled to lift off at 4:19pm ET (2119 UTC) on Monday, Nov. 21”.

Liftoff will be from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew.

Returning from space is scheduled for 9:43 a.m. ET on Wednesday, 23Nov, 2022. The Dragon spacecraft will dock autonomously to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.

Dragon Spacecraft

The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. The Dragon spacecraft is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station.

There are total 16 Draco thrusters have been used in Dragon spacecraft; each ones of them is capable of generating 90 pounds of force in the vacuum of space. The thrust in vacuum is 400 N / 90 lbf.

Draco thrusters are used to orient the spacecraft during mission, including perigee maneuvers, orbit adjustment and attitude control.

The Dragon spacecraft is equipped with two drogue parachutes to stabilize the spacecraft following reentry and four main parachutes to further decelerate the spacecraft prior to landing.

Dragon spacecraft has its series, named as Dragon 1, Dragon 2 and Red Dragon. These series of spacecrafts are developed and produced by an American private space transportation company SpaceX.

Dragon 1 was the first spacecraft of Dragon family that flew 23 cargo missions before its retirement in between 2010 to 2020.

Dragon name was given by SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk in a response to critics who considered his spaceflight project impossible.

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