The logistics of keeping the ISS running are complicated. The space logistics include moving to and from the space station:
1. astronauts and cosmonauts
2. science experiments and equipment
3. food
4. water
5. air
6. spare parts
7. and other supplies (clothing, medical etc.)
ISS logistics are a highly coordinated international operation that must be executed with near perfection, every time or the safety of the space station and the crew could be jeopardized. This international effort utilizes more than one spacecraft. The ability to have back up options is important. An accident with a launch vehicle or spacecraft requires an investigation to understand why the craft malfunctioned and that the issue will not repeat. In an 8-month span between October 2014 and June 2015, there were three different resupply missions were lost during or shortly after launch, each from different rockets and different companies.
Here are several of the spacecraft that are required to keep the ISS in operation.
The Dream Chaser Cargo System is a US reusable lifting body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems. Originally was intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System would have been capable of carrying up to seven people to and from low Earth orbit, however was selected by NASA for resupply missions in place of crewed missions. SNC still plans on offering a crewed version in the future with a useful life of at least 25 round trip missions.
The cargo Dream Chaser will resupply the International Space Station with both pressurized and unpressurized cargo. The vehicle will launch vertically on rocket inside of a 5 meter fairing and deliver 5,500 kg of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the International Space Station.
Dream chasser differs from a typical airplane by not having a large wing structure that provide the lift to keep the vehicle in the air. Dream Chaser instead is a lifting body (the fusulage is used to lift) and does have small winglets, or fins, to provide directional stability in flight.
Similar to the Space Shuttle, Dream Chaser allows for a low-g reentry allows and lifting-body design gives Dream Chaser a higher lift-to-drag ratio and allows for greater cross-range landing capability, meaning the landing zone is greatly increased.
Credit: SNC
Dreamchaser seen during testing.
Dragon 2 or Crew Dragon is a reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by U.S. aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, intended as the successor to the Dragon cargo spacecraft. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 rocket and return via ocean splashdown. In comparison to the original cargo Dragon spacecraft, Dragon 2 has larger windows, upgraded flight computers and avionics, improved solar arrays, and a modified outer design.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. The pressurized section of the capsule can carry a mix of both people and environmentally sensitive cargo. Contained within the nose cone are the Draco thrusters, which allow for orbital maneuvering.
Dragon’s trunk not only carries unpressurized cargo but also supports the spacecraft during ascent. The trunk remains attached to Dragon until shortly before reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
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DIAMETER 4m/13ft
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HEIGHT 8.1m/26.7ft
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CAPSULE VOLUME 9.3m3/328ft3
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TRUNK VOLUME 37m3/1300ft3
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LAUNCH PAYLOAD MASS 6,000kg/13,228lbs
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RETURN PAYLOAD MASS 3,000kg/6,614lbs
Credit: NASA
Crew Dragon seen during it's Demo-1 mission.
- DIAMETER 4.56 m/14.96ft
- HEIGHT 5.03 m/16.50ft
- CAPSULE VOLUME 11m3/ 388.46ft3
- TRUNK VOLUME ?m3/ ?ft3
- LAUNCH MASS 13,000 kg
- LAUNCH PAYLOAD MASS TBDkg/TBDlbs
- RETURN PAYLOAD MASS TBDkg/TBDlbs
The Progress also has the ability to raise the Station's altitude and control the orientation of the Station using the vehicle's thrusters while docked with the Space Station.
Both the Progress M and M1 versions have a pressurized Cargo Module to carry supplies, a Refueling Module that holds fuel tanks containing propellant and pressurized gases, and an Instrumentation/Propulsion Module where the Progress systems equipment and thrusters are located.
The Progress spacecraft is launched to the space station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket. It normally docks to the end of the Station's Russian Zvezda Service Module, but it can also dock to the bottom of the Pirs Docking Compartment.
Progress Specifications
First launch to ISS: 2000
Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Launch vehicle: Soyuz rocket
Length: 7.4 m (24.3 ft)
Diameter: 2.7 m (8.9 ft)
Launch mass: 7,440 kg (16,402 lb)
Cargo mass: 1,700 kg (3,748 lb)
Pressurized volume: 7 m3 (247.2 ft3)
Unpressurized volume: N/A
Length on orbit: 6 months
Docking method/location: Automatic docking/Russian segment
Return method: Destructive reentry
Cygnus is a unmanned cargo delivery Spacecraft supporting the International Space Station
Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) developed the Cygnus advanced maneuvering spacecraft to provide cargo delivery services under a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Space Act Agreement. Cygnus supports flights to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) contract. Under the initial $1.9 billion CRS contract, Northrop Grumman was contracted for 11 missions delivering approximately 30,000 kilograms of cargo to the space station. The 1st of these was successfully launched 18 September 2013 and subsequently completed in early 2014. Under the follow-on CRS contract, Northrop Grumman was contracted to provide at least 6 missions carrying over 20,000 kg of cargo to the ISS.
Cygnus consists of a service module and a pressurized cargo module.
Although unmanned, the Cygnus avionics was designed to fully meets all of the demanding NASA safety requirements imposed on human-rated vehicles. The service module incorporates avionics developed by Northrop Grumman and guidance and navigation components that allow for fully autonomous rendezvous with the space station. Cygnus service module is partially derived from and incorporated learnings from GEOStarTM, LEOStarTM. Cygnus is capable of producing 3.5kW with 2 fixed wing UltraFlexTM solar arrays, ZTJ Gallium Arsenide cells.
For propulsion, Cygnus is dual-mode. It utilizes hypergolic propellants either N2H4/MON-3 or N2H4 Propellant. (hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide)
The pressurized cargo module portion of the Spacecraft is manufactured by Thales Alenia Space and incorporated design features and lessons learned from Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. It has a cargo capacity of up to 3,750 kg and a pressurized Volume of 26.2 m3. Cygnus can berth on Node 1 or Node 2 utilizing the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM).
NASA uses Cygnus to carry crew supplies, spare equipment and scientific experiments to the space station.
- DIAMETER 3.01 m/9.87ft
- HEIGHT 5.07 m/16.63 ft
- VOLUME 18.9m3/ 667.45ft3
- TRUNK VOLUME ?m3/ ?ft3
- LAUNCH MASS 6,000 kg
- LAUNCH PAYLOAD MASS 3,500 kg / 7,716 lbs
- RETURN PAYLOAD MASS 0kg / 0lbs
Credit: NASA Cygnus seen here in October 2015 being loaded for an unmanned cargo delivery to the International Space Station
Oct. 20, 2015 - Equipment and supplies loaded aboard a Cygnus spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
The HTV launches from the Tanegashima Space Center aboard an H-IIB launch vehicle with up to 6,000kg of supplies. After the supplies are unloaded, the HTV is loaded with waste materials, including used experiment equipment or used clothes. The HTV will then undock and separate from the ISS and reenter the atmosphere, incinerating the craft and all of it’s contents. While the HTV is berthed to the ISS, the crew can enter and remove the supplies from the HTV Pressurized Logistics Carrier.
HTV specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Length | Approx. 10m (including thrusters) |
| Diameter | Approx. 4.4m |
| Total Mass | Approx. 10,500kg |
| Cargo capacity (supplies and equipment) |
Approx. 6,000kg -Pressurized cargo: 4,500kg -Unpressurized cargo: 1,500kg |
| Cargo capacity (waste) | Approx. 6,000kg |
| Target orbit to ISS | Altitude: 350km to 460km Inclination: 51.6 degrees |
| Maximum duration of a mission | Solo flight: Approx. 100 hours Stand-by (on orbit): More than a week Berthed with the ISS: Maximum 30 days |
The Soyuz spacecraft succeeded the Russian Voskhod spacecraft and was originally designed as part of the Soviet crewed lunar programs. An advantage Soyuz had over the Space Shuttle was the ability to abort in the event of a failure with the launch vehicle. The Soyuz spacecraft is launched on a Soyuz rocket and has needed leverage the abort feature successfully protecting the crew in the process.
Since November 2000, at least one Soyuz has always been at the International Space Station, generally to serve as a lifeboat should the crew have to return to Earth unexpectedly.The retirement of the US Space Shuttle in 2011 left the Soyuz TMA as the sole means of transportation for crew members going to or returning from the orbiting laboratory.
The Soyuz rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station are both automated processes. The Soyuz crew also has the capability to manually intervene or execute these operations. Once docking is complete, the crew members must equalize the air pressure of the Soyuz with the Station before opening the hatches.
No more than three crew are able to launch and return to Earth from the station aboard a Soyuz TMA spacecraft. Upon return to Earth, the vehicle lands on the flat steppe of Kazakhstan in central Asia.
The return to Earth aboard a Soyuz takes less than 3.5 hours.
Soyuz Specifications
Length: 22.9 feet
Diameter: 8.9 feet
Mass Descent module: 6,393 pounds
Orbital module: 2,866 pounds
Propulsion module: 5,732 pounds
Solar array span: 34.8 feet
Volume Descent module: 141.3 ft3
Orbital module: 229.5 ft3
Descent g-loads: 4-5 times the force of gravity
Landing speed: 6.6 feet per second
Bill D'Zio
Co-Founder at WestEastSpace.com
Bill founded WestEastSpace.com after returning to China in 2019 to be supportive of his wife's career. Moving to China meant leaving the US rocket/launch industry behind, as USA and China don't see eye to eye on cooperation in space. Bill has an engineering degree and is an experienced leader of international cross-functional teams with experience in evaluating, optimizing and awarding sub-contracts for complex systems. Bill has worked with ASME Components, Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) for use in launch vehicles, satellites, aerospace nuclear, and industrial applications.
Bill provides consulting services for engineering, supply chain, and project management.
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