SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 - CRS-3 - Launching April 18, 2014
Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast of the launch of CRS-3
Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 - CRS-3
Written: February 4, 2021
It rained. Blast it. I’m wet
SpaceX CRS-3, also known as SpX-3, is a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, contracted to NASA, which was launched on April 18, 2014. It was the fifth flight for SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft to ISS and the third SpaceX operational mission for NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services contract.
The Falcon 9 with CRS-3 on board launched at 3:25 p.m. EDT on April 18, 2014, to the ISS and scheduled to be grappled on 20 April at 7:14 a.m. EDT by Expedition 39 commander Koichi Wakata, a JAXA astronaut.
Getting ready to launch laying down
This was the first launch of a 6,1 meter tall Dragon capsule on the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle, as previous Cargo Dragon launches used the much smaller v1.0 configuration. It was also the first time the F9 v1.1 has flown without a 13,1 meter tall payload fairing, and this is the first experimental flight test of a potential ocean recovery of the first stage on a NASA/Dragon mission to ISS or with commercial light to medium payloads.
The 68,4 meter tall Falcon 9 v1.1 height is reduced by 7 meters with a Cargo Dragon capsule to 62,3 meter, but the “turtleneck” Payload Adaptor Fitting PAF creates a gap between the top of the second stage and the bottom of the Dragon Trunk, which will increase Falcon 9 v1.1 overall height by a meter at least.
This is the brown “turtleneck” Payload Adaptor Fitting with solar cell panel “ears” getting ready to mate with Cargo Dragon C105. I assume it’s 3 feet or 1 meter tall, but I don’t know for sure. It’s also worth noting that there is 120-140 aircraft grade screws holding the PAF secure to 2nd stage top
Being integrated to each other in this horizontal position puts a lot of strain on the clamps that are used to secure the parts aka. the 2nd stage, the turtleneck ring, the trunk and the Dragon itself to each other. NASA have since memorial times always stacked their stages vertically in a high bay facility called VAB. This is the easiest way of directing the load forces straight down to the rockets hold down clamps and through them into the ground.
Every part of the Falcon 9 rocket is placed by cranes on the Transporter Erector Launcher - TEL who is equipped with rollers to rotate the stage body for easy maintenance access. When fully “stacked” or assembled the TEL is rolled out to the launch site, where it’s locked and secured and then erected. Now a vast number of data cables, power cables, sensor cables, RP-1 pipes, oxygen pipes, nitrogen pipes, helium pipes and air condition pipes are connected to the TEL’s umbilical cords that are connected to the Falcon 9 rocket.
Trouble is that all those data cables, power cables, sensor cables, fuel pipes, oxygen pipes, nitrogen pipes, helium pipes and dry air condition pipes get fried when 9 Merlin 1D engines at full throttle blast right by them during launch. It’s burnt spaghetti tonight again. Dear.
The Dragon Payload
SpaceX CRS-3, also known as SpX-3, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station, contracted to NASA, which was launched on 18 April 2014 and arrived at the space station on 20 April 2014.
It was the fifth flight for SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft to ISS, the fourth berthing with ISS since the COTS 2+ test flight, and the third SpaceX operational mission contracted to NASA under a Commercial Resupply Services contract.
For some unknown reason there was found no detailed weight on the cargo items going to ISS, but it is stated that there is 1.518 kg pressurized cargo and 571 kg unpressurized cargo in the trunk of the Dragon capsule. From another source it’s stated that the cargo aboard the CRS-3 mission has a total mass of 2,089 kilograms (4,605 lb).
This consists of 476 kilograms (1,050 pounds) of supplies for the crew, 715 kg (1,600 lb) of equipment for scientific research, 204 kg (450 lb) of replacement parts and hardware for the space station, 123 kg (270 lb) of equipment for conducting extra-vehicular activities, 600 grams (1.3 lb) of computer equipment and 571 kilograms (1,260 lb) of equipment in the unpressurized part of the spacecraft’s trunk.
On its return to Earth the Dragon will be carrying 1,563 kg (3,450 lb) of equipment, including 740 kilograms (1,630 lb) of scientific research. Among other NASA cargo, including repair parts for the ISS, the SpaceX CRS-3 mission carried a large number of experiments to the space station, including;
High Definition Earth Viewing cameras (HDEV) – four commercial HD video cameras which will film the Earth from multiple different angles from the vantage. The experiment will help NASA determine what cameras work best in the harsh environment of space
Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) will demonstrate high-bandwidth space to ground laser communications
T-Cell Activation in Space (TCAS) – studying how "deficiencies in the human immune system are affected by a microgravity environment”
Vegetable Production System (Veggie) – to enable the growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa ) aboard the outpost for scientific research, air purification and ultimately human consumption. Veg-01 hardware validation test includes a plant growth chamber in which the lettuce is grown in bellows-type pillows using LED lighting
a pair of legs for the Robonaut 2 prototype which has been aboard the space station since its launch on STS-133 in 2011
Project MERCCURI, a project examining the microbial diversity of the built environment on earth and on the International Space Station
The 1,600 kilograms (3,500 lb) of downmass cargo from the mission was returned to the Port of Long Beach via marine vessel on 20 May 2014, two days after splashdown. Time-sensitive cargo is unloaded in California and flown to NASA receiving locations. The remainder of the cargo will be unloaded and transferred to NASA at the SpaceX McGregor test facility in Texas, where the Dragon capsule will be fully decommissioned and drained.
Water was found inside the Dragon capsule but preliminary checks indicated that no scientific equipment had been damaged. The source of the water has not been confirmed and will be investigated during the decommissioning of the capsule. A possible source of water could be thawed ice from the new freezers installed in the Cargo Dragon. An ice buildup in or around the freezers from the humidity in the air can occur on earth, so why not in space. A freezer loses power, defrosts and leaves a puddle of water on the floor.
Major guesswork in progress. Don’t mind me.
In addition to the primary payload, a Dragon cargo capsule resupply space transport mission to the ISS for NASA, SpaceX deployed five secondary payload CubeSats on the CRS-3 Falcon 9 mission. The CubeSats are part of the ELaNa-V mission partially funded under "NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites" program. These spacecraft were released from four Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployers (PPODs) attached to the second stage of the Falcon 9 following the separation of the Dragon from the second stage.
The reentry test of booster B1006
During the 18 April test, the CRS-3 booster became the first successful controlled ocean soft touchdown of a liquid-rocket-engine orbital booster. The booster included landing legs for the first time which were extended for the simulated "landing", and the test utilized more powerful gaseous nitrogen control thrusters than had been used in the previous test to better control aerodynamic-induced rotation.
The Falcon 9 first stage for the CRS-3 mission re-entered the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of the United States. Its re-entry was captured on video by a NASA WB-57 Canberra aircraft.
The booster stage successfully approached the water surface with no spin and at zero vertical velocity, as designed. The SpaceX team was able to receive video from cameras placed on the first-stage booster during soft landing test, as well as vehicle telemetry recorded by aircraft, but swells of 4.6–6.1 meters (15–20 ft) were already reported in the anticipated recovery area.
The first stage successfully hovered over the ocean surface, but heavy waves destroyed the stage before SpaceX chartered boats were able to retrieve it.
Either the Niagara water deluge system failed or trench water from flame trench wasn’t drained
During launch a faulty water deluge spout failed to contain the rocket blast, so a jet of rocket exhaust shot up alongside the rocket body giving it the first coat of sod on it. This is a sign of things to come, because soddy rocket bodies are the signature of landing burns.
My name Jose Jimenez. I always have a Blast before “Blast Off”
From the Movie “The Right Stuff” showing the early sixties mindset about rockets.
