Newly installed thrusters will fire to give the 450-ton spacecraft a little nudge.
The International Space Station (ISS) has been in orbit for over 26 years, housing astronauts at an altitude of 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. But even at that distance, the space station can’t escape the drag of Earth’s atmosphere as oxygen molecules and other gases collide with it, causing it to lose altitude over time.
For the ISS to retain its status in orbit, NASA and its partners perform the occasional reboost maneuver. This is typically done using the space station’s own thrusters (which are tiny and relatively weak) or with Russia’s Progress spacecraft and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus. For the first time, however, and starting in September, NASA will use SpaceX’s Dragon vehicle to help sustain the space station’s orbital altitude.A boost kit in the trunk
SpaceX’s Dragon launched to the ISS on Sunday at 2:45 a.m. ET, carrying more than 5,000 pounds of supplies to the orbiting lab. The otherwise routine commercial resupply mission carried a little something extra this time around, a propellant system tucked inside Dragon’s trunk for a reboost demonstration.
