SpaceX CRS-10, also known as SpX-10, was a

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

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) which launched on 19 February 2017. 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 ...

as part of its

Commercial Resupply Services Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first phase of CRS contracts (CRS-1) were sign ...

program and was launched 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 ...

aboard the 30th flight of the

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

rocket. The mission ended on 19 March 2017 when the Dragon spacecraft left the ISS and safely returned to Earth.

Operations history

CRS-10 is part of the original order of twelve missions awarded to SpaceX under the

contract. In June 2016, a NASA Inspector General report had this mission manifested for November 2016. The launch was then put on hold pending investigation of the pad explosion in September 2016, with a tentative date no earlier than January 2017, subsequently set for 18 February. On 12 February 2017, SpaceX successfully completed a static fire test of the Falcon 9 engines on Pad 39A. An initial launch attempt on 18 February 2017 was scrubbed 13 seconds before its 15:01:32 UTC launch due to a thrust vector control system issue in the rocket's second stage, resulting in a 24-hour hold for launch no earlier than 19 February at 14:39 UTC. The faulty

actuator An actuator is a machine element, component of a machine that produces force, torque, or Displacement (geometry), displacement, when an electrical, Pneumatics, pneumatic or Hydraulic fluid, hydraulic input is supplied to it in a system (called an ...

was repaired at the launch pad overnight, and the rocket was returned to vertical approximately six hours before the scheduled launch time. CRS-10 was launched from

Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) is a rocket launch site at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island in Florida, United States. The site and its collection of facilities were originally built as the Apollo program's "Moonport" and later mod ...

Pad A on 19 February 2017 at 14:39 UTC, the first launch from the complex since

STS-135 STS-135 ( ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter '' Atlantis'' and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 ...

on 8 July 2011, the last flight of the

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...

, and the first uncrewed mission from the site since the launch of the

Skylab Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...

space station on 14 May 1973; this complex is also where the

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

missions were launched. Following the successful launch, the first stage proceeded through a three-burn flyback and landed safely in

Landing Zone 1 Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2, also known as LZ-1 and LZ-2 respectively, are landing facilities at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station used by SpaceX. They allow the company to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket or the two side boost ...

, the first daytime landing of a Falcon rocket on land. The Dragon spacecraft rendezvoused with the International Space Station on 22 February, but its approach was automatically aborted by an on-board computer at 08:25 UTC when a data error was reported in its navigation system. This is the first rendezvous abort by a Dragon spacecraft. The problem was traced to an incorrect data value in the spacecraft's

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...

, critical to operations as this data informs the vehicle of its relative position to the space station. The abort resulted in a 24-hour hold on its approach. The error was corrected in this time, during which the spacecraft entered a "racetrack" trajectory around the station to reset its approach. An error-free second attempt resulted in Dragon being captured by the station's

Canadarm2 The Mobile Servicing System (MSS) is a robotic system on board the International Space Station (ISS). Launched to the ISS in 2001, it plays a key role in station assembly and maintenance; it moves equipment and supplies around the station, suppo ...

on 23 February at 10:44 UTC, with berthing to the ''Harmony'' module taking place a few hours later at 13:12 UTC. This abort was later revealed in a NASA Inspector General audit to have resulted from incompatibilities between NASA's and SpaceX's software development processes. The CRS-10 mission ended on 19 March 2017. The Dragon spacecraft was detached from the International Space Station by Canadarm2 on 18 March 2017 at 21:20 UTC, moved to a stow position below the station where it stayed overnight, and was released at 09:11 UTC. Dragon performed three departure burns to move it away from the station before conducting a final de-orbit burn at around 14:00 UTC. The spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 14:46 UTC, about southwest from

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. Dragon returned of material from the ISS, including research samples, science and crew equipment, and spacewalking hardware. Also removed from the station was of external payload—including a MISSE module, the

OPALS Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a ...

experiment, and Robotic Refueling Mission demonstration equipment—which was placed in Dragon's unpressurized trunk and disposed of when the trunk section burned up on re-entry.

Primary payload

NASA contracted the CRS-10 mission from SpaceX and therefore determined the primary payload, date/time 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 Dragon

space capsule A space capsule is a spacecraft designed to transport cargo, scientific experiments, and/or astronauts to and from space. Capsules are distinguished from other spacecraft by the ability to survive reentry and return a payload to the Earth's surfa ...

. CRS-10 carried a total of of cargo to the International Space Station, including of pressurized cargo including packaging and of unpressurized cargo. External payloads on the CRS-10 spacecraft are the SAGE III Earth observation experiment and its Nadir Viewing Platform (NVP), and the U.S. Department of Defense's Space Test Program Houston 5 (STP-H5) package including the Raven navigation investigation and the Lightning Imaging Sensor. Some science payloads include ACME, LMM Biophysics, ZBOT, and CIR/Cool Flames. The following is a breakdown of cargo bound for the ISS: * Science investigations: * Crew supplies: * Vehicle hardware: * Spacewalk equipment: * Computer resources: * Russian hardware: * External payloads: ** SAGE-III: ** STP-H5:

Trial of new flight safety system

SpaceX's CRS-10 launch was the "first operational use" of the Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) on "either of

Air Force Space Command An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

Eastern or Western Ranges." AFSS is replacing "the ground-based mission flight control personnel and equipment with on-board Positioning, Navigation and Timing sources and decision logic. The benefits of AFSS include increased public safety, reduced reliance on range infrastructure, reduced range spacelift cost, increased schedule predictability and availability, operational flexibility, and launch slot flexibility." The system consists of software developed by NASA, the Air Force, and

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

, to which SpaceX adds an additional software layer customized for its rocket. AFSS has flown on 13 previous Falcon 9 missions in a so-called "shadow mode" for testing.https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/03/air-force-reveals-48-launches-year-cape/
Chris Gebhardt, NASASpaceflight.com, 20 March 2017, accessed 30 March 2017.

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