SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 1 in 2010 was the unmanned first spaceflight of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, the Dragon C1, which orbited the Earth, and the second overall flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9. It was also the first demonstration flight for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program for which SpaceX was selected. The primary mission objectives were to test the orbital maneuvering and reentry of the Dragon capsule. The mission also aimed to test fixes to the Falcon 9 rocket, particularly the unplanned roll of the first stage that occurred during Flight 1. The capsule was carried to orbit by a Falcon 9 rocket, which made its second scheduled launch. Liftoff occurred on December 8, 2010, at 10:43 am EST (1543 GMT).
The success of the mission has allowed SpaceX to advance its vehicle testing plan. With the two back-to-back "near-perfect" Falcon 9 launches (including Falcon 9 Flight 1 in June) "and the successful orbital operation, reentry and parachute landing of its first Dragon capsule" SpaceX "will ask NASA to combine objectives laid out for the remaining two COTS missions ... and permit a berthing at the [space station] during its next flight, targeted for mid-2011.
Dragon
While in orbit, a battery of automated tests were performed including thermal control and attitude control to maintain uninterrupted TDRS data links. At 11:15 am, SpaceX announced that it had achieved contact with the Dragon module through the TDRS system. After the two planned orbits and a flight time of 3:19:52 the craft was manually de-orbited, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 2:02 pm EST approximately 800 kilometers (500 mi) west of Baja California after all three parachutes successfully deployed. SpaceX reports that all test objectives were completed, and the recovery craft arrived to retrieve the spacecraft within 20 minutes of splashdown. The craft landed within 800 meters (2,600 ft) of the targeted location, well within the 60-by-20-kilometer (37 by 12 mi) recovery zone.
Second stage
The second stage engine was reignited in orbit after separation from the Dragon capsule. This allowed SpaceX to work on a secondary mission objective of expanding the launch capability envelope by testing in-space engine reignition and ability of the vehicle to achieve a beyond LEO. Even though the nozzle of the Merlin Vaccuum second-stage engine had been substantially trimmed-due to two cracks discovered only a few days before the scheduled launch-the second stage reached an altitude of 11,000 kilometers (6,800 mi).
Start of mission Launch date: 8 December 2010, 15:43 UTC Rocket: Falcon 9 v1.0 Launch site: Cape Canaveral SLC-40 Contractor: SpaceX
End of mission Landing date: 8 December 2010, 19:02 UTC Landing site: Pacific Ocean, approx. 800 km (500 mi) west of Baja, Mexico Orbital parameters Reference system: Geocentric Regime: Low Earth Perigee: 288 km (179 mi) Apogee: 301 km (187 mi) Inclination: 34.53 degrees Epoch: 8 December 2016
Launch of Falcon 9
Dragon capsule after recovery from ocean landing
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Courtesy: msn.news - The Telegraph - Sarah Knapton 29.06.19
