Crew-1 Dragon Relocates at ISS to Make Way for Cargo Dragon
takyon writes:
Dragon Resilience performs port relocation to clear way for future vehicles
The SpaceX Crew-1 Dragon Resilience performed a relocation to a new docking port aboard the International Space Station on Monday in order to make way for future crew and cargo vehicles on the U.S. side (which includes Canada, Japan, and Europe) of the orbital complex.
This type of move from one docking port to another, whilst common for the Russian Soyuz vehicles, is a first for a U.S. crew vehicle - as the Space Shuttle previously has no need to relocate ports as it was the sole U.S. human and cargo vehicle requiring docking ports until the Crew Dragon system came online in 2019.
Dragon Resilience's relocation began at 06:30 EDT/10:30 UTC, whereupon the craft undocked from International Docking Adapter-2 (IDA-2) / Pressurised Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2) on the forward port of the Harmony module. The 45-minute procedure saw Resilience back away from the Station to 60 meters before commanding its Draco thrusters to perform an automated flyaround, which involved maneuvering through a 90-degree arc to align with PMA-3/IDA-3 on the zenith (space-facing) side of Harmony. Dragon Resilience then initiated the final approach, using its rendezvous systems to guide itself and its four occupants back toward the Station for a re-docking at 07:15 EDT/11:15 UTC.
All four of Resilience's crewmembers - NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins and Shannon Walker and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi - were onboard the spacecraft during the relocation to protect against the unlikely scenario of a failed redocking.
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