SpaceX CRS-26, also known as SpX-26, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) launched on 26 November 2022. The mission was contracted by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

and flown by

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

using a . This was the sixth flight for SpaceX under NASA's CRS Phase 2 contract awarded in January 2016.

Cargo Dragon

SpaceX plans to reuse each Cargo Dragon up to five times. Cargo Dragon does not include

SuperDraco SuperDraco is a hypergolic propellant rocket engine designed and built by SpaceX. It is part of the SpaceX Draco family of rocket engines. A redundant array of eight SuperDraco engines provides fault-tolerant propulsion for use as a launch escap ...

abort engines, seats, cockpit controls or life support system needed on a Crew Dragon.

Dragon 2 Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by the American space company SpaceX for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. The spacecraft, which cons ...

improves on

Dragon 1 SpaceX Dragon 1 is a class of fourteen partially reusable cargo spacecraft developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company. The spacecraft flew 23 missions between 2010 and 2020. Dragon was launched into orbit by the co ...

in several ways, including lessened refurbishment time, leading to shorter periods between flights. Cargo Dragon capsules under the NASA CRS Phase 2 contract land near

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in the ocean.

Payload

NASA contracted for the CRS-26 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date of launch, and

orbital parameters Orbital elements are the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit. In celestial mechanics these elements are considered in two-body systems using a Kepler orbit. There are many different ways to mathematically describe the same o ...

for the Cargo Dragon.

ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSA)

Second pair of new solar arrays using XTJ Prime space solar cells. They were delivered to the station in the unpressurized trunk of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft. The installation of these new solar arrays, designated 4A and 3A, required two spacewalks: one to prepare the worksite with a modification kit and another to install the new panel.

Research

NASA Glenn Research Center studies: European Space Agency (ESA) research and activities: * ESA's Suture in Space experiment investigating how tissues heal in weightlessness. Living tissue from biopsies will be cut and sewn back together, before being sent to space where astronauts will activate the cells to monitor the healing mechanisms.[] * ESA's Osteogenic Cells experiment which aims to investigate the mechanisms of impaired bone formation during space flight and whether microgravity conditions alter osteoblast function in vitro. * As part of the research payload, the Artery in Microgravit

experiment from the ESA Orbit Your Thesis programm

will be installed inside the ICE Cubes Facilit

CubeSats

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

s carried by this mission, deployed through NRCSD#24 (including ELaNa 49) and J-SSOD#24: * TJREVERB, a 2U CubeSat built by students from

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, Thomas Jefferson, or TJ) is a Virginia magnet high school in Fairfax County, Virginia operated by Fairfax County Public Schools. The school occupies the building of t ...

. TJREVERB is testing Iridium with Passive Magnet Stabilization in Low Earth Orbit.
ORCASat
a 2U CubeSat for the precision photometric calibration of major astronomical observatories worldwide (notably the Rubin Observatory in Chile and

Pan-STARRS The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS1; List of observatory codes, obs. code: IAU code#F51, F51 and Pan-STARRS2 obs. code: IAU code#F52, F52) located at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, US, consists of astronomical ...

in Hawaii).
MARIO
(Measurement of Actuator Response and Impedance on Orbit) is a 3U CubeSat collaboration between the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

's Michigan eXploration Laboratory (MXL), Extreme Diagnostics, and Michigan's Active Intelligent and Multifunctional Structure (AIMS) Lab, and

. The mission objective is to characterize the performance of piezoelectric actuators and health monitoring systems in low Earth orbit conditions. Test data will help develop future advanced space mechanisms. * NUTSat is a 2U CubeSat for systems engineering training and commercial aircraft safety technology demonstration mission, fro
NFU
Let'scom
Gran Systems
and NSPO. * LORIS (Low Orbit Reconnaissance Imagery Satellite) from Dalhousie University, will be the first CubeSat from Atlantic Canada to be launched by the Canadian Space Agency. The mission objective is to obtain photographs via the camera payload, which will be used to study and monitor shorelines and ocean life activit

* petitSat, from

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC ...

. * SPORT (Scintillation Prediction Observations Research Task), a collaboration between the

Brazilian Space Agency The Brazilian Space Agency (; AEB) is the civilian authority in Brazil responsible for the country's Space exploration, space program. It operates a spaceport at Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara, Alcântara, and a rocket launch site at Centro ...

(AEB), the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA) in Brazil, the

National Institute for Space Research The National Institute for Space Research (, INPE) is a research unit of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Brazil), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations, the main goals of which are fostering scientific r ...

(INPE), and NASA's

Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville postal address), is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government's ...

. SPORT is a 6U CubeSat that will advance our understanding of the nature and evolution of ionospheric structures around sunset to improve predictions of disturbances that affect radio propagation and telecommunication signals. * DanteSat, from NPC SpaceMind. * Surya Satellite-1 (SS-1), 1U CubeSat by Surya University * OPTIMAL-1, 3U CubeSat by ArkEdge Space * HSKSAT, 3U CubeSat by Harada Seiki

Gallery

References

External links

NASA

SpaceX official page for the Dragon spacecraft
{{Orbital launches in 2022 SpaceX Dragon 2 SpaceX payloads contracted by NASA Supply vehicles for the International Space Station Spacecraft launched in 2022 Spacecraft which reentered in 2023 2022 in the United States