Space.com by Josh Dinner 11/8/2024
Data from today's reboost to help inform the design for SpaceX's ISS deorbit vehicle.The International Space Station is going a just tiny bit faster today, after receiving an orbital boost from SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.
SpaceX's 31st commercial resupply mission lifted off Nov. 4, launching a Dragon cargo vehicle to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS), docking to the station's forward-facing port the next day. Today (Nov. 8), for the first time, Dragon performed an orbit-raising maneuver to stabilize the ISS's trajectory in low-Earth orbit.
Such maneuvers are routine for the orbital lab, which requires periodic boosts to maintain its altitude above Earth and prevent its orbital decay into the planet's atmosphere. Historically, this has been accomplished using Russia's Soyuz and Progress vehicles, and other spacecraft, but, for the first time, it has now been performed SpaceX's Dragon. The milestone marks a symbolic beginning of the end for the ISS, as data from the maneuver will be used toward the design of the deorbit vehicle NASA has contracted SpaceX to construct to plunge the decommissioned space station into the Pacific Ocean sometime after 2030.
Today's reboost began with the ignition of Dragon's thrusters around 12:50 p.m. ET (1750 GMT). The burn was expected to last about 12.5 minutes to raise the station's orbit
"NASA and SpaceX monitored operations as the company’s Dragon spacecraft performed its first demonstration of reboost capabilities for the International Space Station at 12:50pm ET today," NASA posted on X.
More:
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/spacex-dragon-fires-thrusters-to-boost-iss-orbit-for-the-1st-time
