In July 2014, the launch was scheduled by NASA for February 2015, with berthing to the station occurring two days later. However, as a result of delays in the launch of the previous SpaceX CRS-5 mission, SpaceX CRS-6 launched on 14 April 2015. In late March, 2015, the launch was scheduled for 13 April 2015,[3] but was later postponed to 14 April 2015 due to weather conditions.[4]
Falcon 9 and Dragon undergoing preparations in Florida in advance of launch to the International Space Station.
A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) application submitted for temporary communication frequency authority notes the launch planning date as no earlier than 8 April 2015. The application also confirms communication uplinks for use with the first stage of this mission as it conducts another attempt at a first-ever propulsive landing on the Autonomous spaceport drone ship after staging.[5]
Launch of the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle carrying the CRS-6 Dragon spacecraft on 14 April 2015
Payload
Primary payload
NASA has contracted for the CRS-6 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date/time of launch, and orbital parameters for the Dragon space capsule. The Dragon spacecraft was filled with 2,015 kg (4,442 lb) of supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support about 40 of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will occur during Expedition 43 and Expedition 44.[2]
SpaceX has the primary control over manifesting, scheduling and loading secondary payloads. However, there are certain restrictions included in their contract with NASA that preclude specified hazards on the secondary payloads, and also require contract-specified probabilities of success and safety margins for any SpaceX reboosts of the secondary satellites once the Falcon 9 second stage has achieved its initial low Earth orbit (LEO).
SpaceX CRS-6 included science payloads for studying new ways to possibly counteract the microgravity-induced cell damage seen during spaceflight, the effects of microgravity on the most common cells in bones, gather new insight that could lead to treatments for osteoporosis and muscle wasting conditions, continue studies into astronaut vision changes and test a new material that could one day be used as a synthetic muscle for robotics explorers of the future. Also making the trip was a new espresso machine for space station crews.[2]
Falcon 9 first stage approaches the drone ship. The stage makes a hard landing followed by a tip-over.
Falcon 9 first stage attempts landing on ASDS after second stage with SpaceX CRS-6 continued onto orbit. Landing legs are in the midst of deploying.
After the separation of the second stage, SpaceX conducted a flight test and attempted to return the nearly-empty first stage of the Falcon 9 through the atmosphere and land it on a 90 m × 50 m (300 ft × 160 ft) floating platform called the autonomous spaceport drone ship. The unmanned launch vehicle technically landed on the floating platform, however it came down with too much lateral velocity, tipped over, and was destroyed.[11] Elon Musk later explained that the bipropellant valve was stuck, and therefore the control system could not react rapidly enough for a successful landing.[12]
This was SpaceX's second attempt to land the booster on a floating platform after an earlier test landing attempt in January 2015 had to be abandoned due to weather conditions. The booster was fitted with a variety of technologies to facilitate the flight test, including grid fins and landing legs to facilitate the post-mission test. If successful, this would have been the first time in history that a launch vehicle booster was returned to a vertical landing.[9][13]
On 15 April 2015, SpaceX released a video of the terminal phase of the descent, the landing, the tip over, and a small deflagration as the stage broke up on the deck of the ASDS.[14]
Capsule reflight
The Dragon capsule used for this mission was successfully flown a second time in December 2017 with SpaceX CRS-13. The capsule made its third and final flight as part of the SpaceX CRS-18 mission on 25 July 2019.
^ abcd"SpaceX CRS-6 Sixth Commercial Resupply Services Flight to the International Space Station" (PDF). NASA. April 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^Lawler, Richard. "SpaceX's next try at landing a reusable rocket is minutes away". Engadget. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
^"OET Special Temporary Authority Report". Retrieved 4 April 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^"ARKYD: A Space Telescope for Everyone". KickStarter. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
^Wilhelm, Steve (16 October 2014). "First step toward asteroid mining: Planetary Resources set to launch test satellite". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
^"Antares 130 debut with fourth Cygnus ready for second attempt". NASASpaceFlight.com. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
^ abGraham, William (13 April 2015). "SpaceX Falcon 9 scrubs CRS-6 Dragon launch due to weather". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
^"Nanoracks-Ambassador High School-Pollen Propulsion in a Microgravity Environment (Nanoracks-AHS-Pollen Propulsion)". NASA. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^"CRS-6 First Stage Landing". YouTube. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
^. Twitter. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
^Bergin, Chris (3 April 2015). "SpaceX preparing for a busy season of missions and test milestones". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
spacex, redirects, here, orbital, mission, cygnus, also, known, commercial, resupply, service, mission, international, space, station, contracted, nasa, eighth, flight, spacex, uncrewed, dragon, cargo, spacecraft, sixth, spacex, operational, mission, contracte. CRS 6 redirects here For the Orbital ATK CRS 6 mission see Cygnus CRS OA 6 SpaceX CRS 6 also known as SpX 6 was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station contracted to NASA It was the eighth flight for SpaceX s uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft and the sixth SpaceX operational mission contracted to NASA under a Commercial Resupply Services contract It was docked to the International Space Station from 17 April to 21 May 2015 SpaceX CRS 6The SpaceX CRS 6 Dragon spacecraft as seen from the ISS on 17 April 2015NamesSpX 6Mission typeISS resupplyOperatorSpaceX NASACOSPAR ID2015 021ASATCAT no 40588Websitehttps www spacex com Mission duration30 days planned 36 days 20 hours 31 minutes achieved Spacecraft propertiesSpacecraftDragon C108Spacecraft typeDragon CRSManufacturerSpaceXLaunch mass6 000 kg 13 000 lb Dimensions8 1 m 27 ft height 4 m 13 ft diameter Start of missionLaunch date14 April 2015 20 10 41 UTCRocketFalcon 9 v1 1Launch siteCape Canaveral SLC 40ContractorSpaceXEnd of missionDisposalRecoveredLanding date21 May 2015 16 42 UTCLanding sitePacific OceanOrbital parametersReference systemGeocentric orbit 1 RegimeLow Earth orbitInclination51 65 Berthing at ISSBerthing portHarmony nadirRMS capture17 April 2015 10 55 UTCBerthing date17 April 2015 13 29 UTCUnberthing date21 May 2015 09 29 UTCRMS release21 May 2015 11 04 UTCTime berthed33 days 20 hoursCargoMass2 015 kg 4 442 lb 2 Pressurised2 015 kg 4 442 lb NASA SpX 6 mission patch Commercial Resupply Services SpaceX CRS 5SpaceX CRS 7 Cargo Dragon SpaceX CRS 5SpaceX CRS 7 Contents 1 Launch history 2 Payload 2 1 Primary payload 2 2 Secondary payload 2 3 Return payload 3 Post launch flight test 4 Capsule reflight 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksLaunch history EditIn July 2014 the launch was scheduled by NASA for February 2015 with berthing to the station occurring two days later However as a result of delays in the launch of the previous SpaceX CRS 5 mission SpaceX CRS 6 launched on 14 April 2015 In late March 2015 the launch was scheduled for 13 April 2015 3 but was later postponed to 14 April 2015 due to weather conditions 4 Falcon 9 and Dragon undergoing preparations in Florida in advance of launch to the International Space Station A Federal Communications Commission FCC application submitted for temporary communication frequency authority notes the launch planning date as no earlier than 8 April 2015 The application also confirms communication uplinks for use with the first stage of this mission as it conducts another attempt at a first ever propulsive landing on the Autonomous spaceport drone ship after staging 5 Launch of the Falcon 9 v1 1 launch vehicle carrying the CRS 6 Dragon spacecraft on 14 April 2015Payload EditPrimary payload Edit NASA has contracted for the CRS 6 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload date time of launch and orbital parameters for the Dragon space capsule The Dragon spacecraft was filled with 2 015 kg 4 442 lb of supplies and payloads including critical materials to directly support about 40 of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will occur during Expedition 43 and Expedition 44 2 Among other items on board Planetary Resources will transport an Arkyd 3 known as Arkyd 3 Reflight to the ISS aboard Dragon on CRS 6 6 Planetary plans to deploy the smallsat from the ISS via a Nanoracks provided service in an attempt to validate and mature the technology of its Arkyd series of spacecraft This is the second Arkyd 3 satellite in October 2014 the first Arkyd 3 satellite was destroyed on launch in the explosion of the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares launch vehicle carrying it aboard the third Cygnus cargo resupply flight to the ISS 7 8 Planet Labs will transport 14 Flock 1e Earth observation CubeSat satellites for later deployment from the space station via an agreement with Nanoracks operator of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space CASIS 9 Secondary payload Edit SpaceX has the primary control over manifesting scheduling and loading secondary payloads However there are certain restrictions included in their contract with NASA that preclude specified hazards on the secondary payloads and also require contract specified probabilities of success and safety margins for any SpaceX reboosts of the secondary satellites once the Falcon 9 second stage has achieved its initial low Earth orbit LEO SpaceX CRS 6 included science payloads for studying new ways to possibly counteract the microgravity induced cell damage seen during spaceflight the effects of microgravity on the most common cells in bones gather new insight that could lead to treatments for osteoporosis and muscle wasting conditions continue studies into astronaut vision changes and test a new material that could one day be used as a synthetic muscle for robotics explorers of the future Also making the trip was a new espresso machine for space station crews 2 A part of this payload includes science experiments from high schools such as a project from Ambassador High School in Torrance California 10 Return payload Edit Dragon returned 1 370 kg 3 020 lb of cargo to Earth 2 Post launch flight test EditMain article SpaceX reusable launch system development program Falcon 9 first stage approaches the drone ship The stage makes a hard landing followed by a tip over Falcon 9 first stage attempts landing on ASDS after second stage with SpaceX CRS 6 continued onto orbit Landing legs are in the midst of deploying After the separation of the second stage SpaceX conducted a flight test and attempted to return the nearly empty first stage of the Falcon 9 through the atmosphere and land it on a 90 m 50 m 300 ft 160 ft floating platform called the autonomous spaceport drone ship The unmanned launch vehicle technically landed on the floating platform however it came down with too much lateral velocity tipped over and was destroyed 11 Elon Musk later explained that the bipropellant valve was stuck and therefore the control system could not react rapidly enough for a successful landing 12 This was SpaceX s second attempt to land the booster on a floating platform after an earlier test landing attempt in January 2015 had to be abandoned due to weather conditions The booster was fitted with a variety of technologies to facilitate the flight test including grid fins and landing legs to facilitate the post mission test If successful this would have been the first time in history that a launch vehicle booster was returned to a vertical landing 9 13 On 15 April 2015 SpaceX released a video of the terminal phase of the descent the landing the tip over and a small deflagration as the stage broke up on the deck of the ASDS 14 Capsule reflight EditThe Dragon capsule used for this mission was successfully flown a second time in December 2017 with SpaceX CRS 13 The capsule made its third and final flight as part of the SpaceX CRS 18 mission on 25 July 2019 See also EditList of Falcon 9 launchesReferences Edit DRAGON CRS 6 N2YO com Retrieved 31 May 2021 a b c d SpaceX CRS 6 Sixth Commercial Resupply Services Flight to the International Space Station PDF NASA April 2015 Retrieved 31 May 2021 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Launch Schedule Retrieved 4 April 2015 Lawler Richard SpaceX s next try at landing a reusable rocket is minutes away Engadget Retrieved 13 April 2015 OET Special Temporary Authority Report Retrieved 4 April 2015 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain ARKYD A Space Telescope for Everyone KickStarter 26 May 2016 Retrieved 31 May 2021 Wilhelm Steve 16 October 2014 First step toward asteroid mining Planetary Resources set to launch test satellite Puget Sound Business Journal Retrieved 19 October 2014 Antares 130 debut with fourth Cygnus ready for second attempt NASASpaceFlight com 27 October 2014 Retrieved 31 May 2021 a b Graham William 13 April 2015 SpaceX Falcon 9 scrubs CRS 6 Dragon launch due to weather NASASpaceFlight com Retrieved 14 April 2015 Nanoracks Ambassador High School Pollen Propulsion in a Microgravity Environment Nanoracks AHS Pollen Propulsion NASA 3 April 2015 Retrieved 6 April 2015 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain CRS 6 First Stage Landing YouTube Retrieved 16 April 2015 Elon Musk on Twitter Twitter Archived from the original on 15 April 2015 Retrieved 14 April 2015 Bergin Chris 3 April 2015 SpaceX preparing for a busy season of missions and test milestones NASASpaceFlight com Retrieved 4 April 2015 CRS 6 First Stage Landing SpaceX 15 April 2015External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to SpaceX CRS 6 NASA SpaceX NASA CRS 6 press kit April 2015Portal Spaceflight Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title SpaceX CRS 6 amp oldid 1132157897, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
