Marks Successful Launch Of BEAM To ISS, And Droneship Landing
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation praised both SpaceX and Bigelow aerospace for Friday's successful launch of a Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station and the recovery of the booster on a floating barge in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Dragon carried 7,000 pounds of supplies, hardware, scientific research, and technology payloads to the ISS and its crew, including the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). BEAM will be attached to the ISS to test the use of human-rated expandable space habitats in microgravity.
“CSF congratulates SpaceX, Bigelow Aerospace, and all of our commercial partners that are expanding the burgeoning economic activities in LEO,” said CSF President Eric Stallmer. “BEAM represents an important milestone for public-private partnerships that will further expand NASA’s exploration capabilities and commercial opportunities in low-Earth orbit (LEO).”
This mission is part of SpaceX’s CRS contract with NASA, in which the company flies uncrewed Dragon spacecraft to and from the ISS for resupply and return of research to Earth. Scheduled to return to Earth in May, the Dragon spacecraft from CRS-8 will bring back biological samples from astronauts, including those collected during NASA’s one-year mission. Each flight carries important crew supplies, as well as payloads that allow universities and private companies to study the effects of microgravity in an effort to improve our understanding of space.
Additionally, the Federation said it would like to congratulate SpaceX for sticking the landing of the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship. Rapidly reusable orbital rockets are key to a more cost-effective space future, and today’s landing was a giant leap forward in this domain, the Federation said in a news release.
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