SpaceX CRS-5, also known as SpX-5, 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), conducted 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 ...

for

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 was launched on 10 January 2015 and ended on 11 February 2015. It was the seventh flight for SpaceX's uncrewed

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 ...

cargo spacecraft Uncrewed spacecraft or robotic spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input, such as remote control, or remote guidance. They may also be autonomous, in which the ...

and the fifth SpaceX operational mission contracted to

under an ISS resupply services contract.

Launch history

By July 2014, the launch was scheduled by NASA for December 2014, with docking to the station projected to occur two days after launch. Originally scheduled for a 16 December 2014 launch, the mission was changed to 19 December 2014, in order to give SpaceX more preparation time for a successful launch. The launch was postponed again to 6 January 2015, in order to allow more tests before committing to a firm launch date. On 6 January 2015, the launch attempt was placed on hold at 1 minute 21 seconds prior to scheduled lift-off after a member of the launch team noticed

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 ...

drift on one of two thrust vector control systems of the Falcon 9 second stage engine. As this launch had an instantaneous launch window, meaning no delays are possible in the launch sequence, the flight was postponed to 9 January 2015. On 7 January 2015, the flight was rescheduled for 10 January 2015. 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 ...

launch vehicle carrying the CRS-5 Dragon spacecraft successfully launched on 10 January 2015 at 09:47:10

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

. Dragon reached the station on 12 January 2015. It was grappled by the

Mobile Servicing System 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 ...

(Canadarm2) at 10:54 UTC and berthed to the ''

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

'' module at 13:56 UTC.

Primary payload

The Dragon spacecraft for CRS-5 carried of cargo to the ISS. Included in this was of provisions and equipment for the crew, of station hardware, of science equipment and experiments, and the Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS). CATS is a

LIDAR Lidar (, also LIDAR, an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging") is a method for determining ranging, ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected li ...

remote sensing instrument designed to measure the location, composition and distribution of pollution, dust, smoke, aerosols and other particulates in the atmosphere. CATS is to be installed on the Kibō module external facility and is expected to run for at least six months, and up to three years. Upon completion of its stay, Dragon was loaded with of outgoing cargo, returning it back to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

Post-launch flight test

In an unprecedented test flight, SpaceX attempted to return the

first stage First stage or First Stage may refer to: * First Stage Children's Theater, a professional American children's theater based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin * First stage (rocketry), the first stage of a multistage rocket * the first reading of a bill in t ...

of the Falcon 9 through the atmosphere and land it on a floating platform called the ''

autonomous spaceport drone ship An autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is a modified ocean-going barge developed by SpaceX and equipped with propulsion systems to maintain precise position and a large floating landing platform, landing platform. They were developed to re ...

''. In October 2014, SpaceX had revealed that the ship was being built for SpaceX in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, and by mid-December 2014, the ship was docked in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, ready to go to sea to support the test flight landing attempt.

Results of first landing attempt

SpaceX attempted a landing on the drone ship on 10 January 2015. Many of the

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

objectives were achieved, including precision control of the first stage's descent to land on the platform at a specific point in the south

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and a large amount of test data was obtained from the first use of

grid fin Grid fins (or lattice fins) are a type of flight control surfaces, flight control surface used on rockets and bombs, sometimes in place of more conventional control surfaces, such as planar fins. They were developed in the 1950s by a team led by ...

control surfaces used for more precise reentry positioning. However, the first stage was destroyed due to a

hard landing A hard landing occurs when an aircraft or spacecraft hits the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than in a normal landing. The terms ''hard landing'' and ''firm landing'' are often confused though are inherently different. A hard la ...

. Musk said that one of the possible problems was the grid fins running out of

hydraulic fluid A hydraulic fluid or hydraulic liquid is the medium by which power is transferred in hydraulic machinery. Common hydraulic fluids are based on mineral oil or water. Examples of equipment that might use hydraulic fluids are excavators and backho ...

. The SpaceX webcast indicated that the boostback burn and re-entry burns for the descending first stage occurred, and that the descending then went "below the horizon", as expected, which eliminated the live telemetry signal. Shortly thereafter, SpaceX released information that the first stage did get to the drone spaceport ship as planned, but "landed hard ... Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced". SpaceX made a video of the landing attempt available on

Vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

Gallery

References

External links

NASA Commercial Resupply launch hub

SpaceX CRS-5 mission press kit
{{Orbital launches in 2015 SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft launched in 2015 Spacecraft which reentered in 2015 SpaceX payloads contracted by NASA Supply vehicles for the International Space Station