SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust - CRS-8 - Launching April 8, 2016
Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast of CRS-8
Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 FT - CRS-8
Written: January 31, 2021
The Falcon has landed. Again
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Dragon C110-1 spacecraft to low Earth orbit to deliver supplies and critical cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. SpaceX is targeting an afternoon launch of its eighth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-8) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The instantaneous launch window opens on April 8th at 8:43:32pm UTC. The Dragon will be deployed about 10 minutes after liftoff and attached to the ISS about two days later.
Following stage separation, the first stage of the Falcon 9 will attempt an experimental landing on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Great helicopter footage of the landing at T+08:25.
The Mission step by step
CRS-8 is part of the original order of twelve missions awarded to SpaceX under the Commercial Resupply Services contract.
SpaceX CRS-8, also known as SpX-8, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was launched on April 8, 2016, at 20:43 UTC. It was the 23rd flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, the tenth flight of a Dragon cargo spacecraft and the eighth operational mission contracted to SpaceX by NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services program.
The launch was initially scheduled by NASA to occur no earlier than September 2, 2015. The launch date went under review pending the outcome of the analysis of the failure of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle in SpaceX CRS-7, a June 2015 flight. The return-to-flight (RTF) project included additional improvements.
With additional manifest changes announced by SpaceX in mid-October, CRS-8 was scheduled to be the third launch of the upgraded Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket. By March 2016, the launch date was set to April 8, 2016, with a backup launch window the next day.
The spacecraft was finally launched on schedule, at 20:43:32 UTC on April 8, 2016. The rocket first stage separated around 2 minutes 40 seconds after liftoff, and the second stage separated around ten minutes 30 seconds after liftoff.
The Payload
NASA has contracted for the CRS-8 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the orbital parameters for the primary payload – the Dragon space capsule.
The mission delivered 3,136 kilograms (6,914 lb) of supplies, experiments, and hardware to the ISS. These include the station's first expandable 1 412 kg module, called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which is expected to remain on the station for at least two years of observation and testing.
It's a giant space suit-like fabric bag that's being tested as an inflatable International Space Station module, and future modules should at least be used as storage rooms for garbage, unused science equipment and bulky supplies from Earth that don't need constant airflow.
The Dragon capsule and The Bigelow module getting ready for launch
The pressurized cargo being delivered to the space station by CRS-8 comes to a total mass of 1,723 kilograms (3,799 lb).
This includes 640 kg (1411 lb) of scientific equipment, 547 kg (1,206 lb) of supplies and provisions for the crew, 108 kg (238 lb) of computer equipment, 12 kg (26 lb) of hardware to support EVAs using the US Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits, 306 kg (675 lb) of hardware for the US segment of the outpost and 33 kg (73 lb) to the Russians.
Also delivered in the Dragon were sixteen Flock 2d 3U CubeSats for the Earth-observing Flock constellation, built and operated by Planet Labs, which will be deployed by the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer
After splashdown, the mission returned more than 3,700 lb (1,700 kg) of cargo from the station back to Earth.
