Dragon Will Dock With ISS After One Day Delay On Sunday

After initial problems with its thrusters caused a delay, ISS Program and SpaceX managers Saturday gave the go-ahead for the SpaceX’s Dragon cargo vehicle to rendezvous with the station on Sunday, March 3, one day later than originally planned.

The station’s Mission Management Team unanimously agreed that Dragon’s propulsion system is now operating normally along with its other systems and ready to support the rendezvous two days after Friday’s launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

SpaceX officials reported to the multinational management team that all of Dragon’s systems are operating as planned in the wake of the temporary loss of three of four banks of thrusters after Dragon separated from the Falcon 9 rocket Friday. The time required to recover normal operation of all 18 Draco thrusters and verify their readiness caused the one-day delay.

Dragon is scheduled to be captured Sunday at 6:31 a.m. EST by NASA Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford and NASA Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn. Once grappled, Dragon will be installed onto the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module by ground experts at mission control in Houston. The cargo vehicle will be bolted into place through commands by Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency.

The operation of time-critical scientific experiments being delivered to the station on Dragon will be reviewed during the course of berthed operations to ensure that all planned investigations are completed. Despite the one-day delay in Dragon’s arrival at the station, its unberthing, release and splashdown remain planned for Monday, March 25.

SpaceX said it has high confidence there will be no repeat of the thruster problem during rendezvous, including its capability to perform an abort, should that be required.

NASA TV coverage of rendezvous and grapple on Sunday, March 3 will begin at 3:30 a.m. EST. Coverage of berthing operations on NASA TV will begin at 8 a.m.

The mission is the company's second regular cargo delivery and third trip to the space station. SpaceX completed its first resupply mission in October following a test flight in May. The company has a $1.6 billion contract with the NASA for at least a dozen resupply flights.

SpaceX's October mission also wasn't flawless. Less than two minutes after launch, one of the rocket's nine engines shut down. The failure caused the eventual loss of an Orbcomm Inc. satellite that was flying in the rocket as a secondary payload.

NASA is relying on SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., based in Dulles, Virginia, to help resupply the station after retiring its shuttle fleet in 2011.

The agency depends on Russia to carry astronauts to space at about $63 million per seat. It wants companies such as SpaceX and Boeing Co. to eventually do that work.