SpaceX CRS-20


SpaceX CRS-20, also known as SpaceX-20, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station launched on 7 March 2020. The mission was contracted by NASA and was flown by SpaceX using Dragon. This was SpaceX's last flight for Dragon CRS and concludes the NASA CRS-1 contract extension. The second contract was awarded in January 2016 and will begin with the SpaceX CRS-21 mission planned for October 2020 using Dragon 2.
The Dragon capsule C112 used for CRS-20 previously flew to the ISS on CRS-10 and CRS-16. It arrived at the ISS on 9 March at 10:25 UTC and was captured by the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, the last-ever capture of a Dragon with Canadarm. Cargo Dragon 2 vehicles, which will replace Dragon 1, will dock directly at the space station.
The 1st stage booster B1059 previously supported the CRS-19 mission.

Launch schedule history

On February 2016, it was announced that NASA had awarded a contract extension to SpaceX for five CRS additional missions. On June 2016, NASA Inspector General report had this mission manifested for 2019, but by June 2019 the launch had been pushed back to March 2020.

Primary payload

NASA contracted for the CRS-20 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date of launch, and orbital parameters for the Dragon CRS. The CRS-20 mission carries 1977 kg of cargo to ISS.
Bartolomeo, is an external payload platform developed by Airbus Defence and Space, German-built and operated by the European Space Agency. Bartolomeo provides power and data transmission for up to 12 payload slots and is the first external commercial research platform to be installed on the ISS.
Along with Bartolomeo, the Dragon cargo mission delivers about a ton of scientific experiments, including biological research investigations studying microgravity's impact on stem cells, intestinal diseases and chemical reactions. The Bartolomeo platform was robotically removed from Dragon’s trunk section and installed outside ISS on 2 April 2020. A spacewalk to route power and communication wiring to the Bartolomeo facility for activation has been postponed. The EVA was originally planned in mid-April, but the space station will not be at full staffing level of six crew members until autumn 2020. When activated, Columbus will have a new outdoor deck to host a range of materials science, Earth observation and space science instruments.
Interoperable Radio System is the foundation element of the ARISS next-generation radio system on ISS. A total of 4 flight units and 10 total units are being built by the ARISS hardware team. This first IORS radio will be installed in the ISS Columbus module. As of July 14, 2020 the IORS is stowed. The install and operations procedures are now available on board ISS..
The IORS installation, wiring, and activation has been delayed until restoration of six-member crew occurs later in 2020. A second flight unit is expected to be launched on a later 2020 cargo flight for installation in the Russian Service module.
The Dragon spacecraft was also packed with spare parts and replacement hardware for the space station's research facilities and life support systems. The components included upgraded hardware for the station's urine processing system, which converts human waste into drinking water. The new components allow NASA teams to test out modifications designed to extend the lifetime of the urine processing system's distillation assembly ahead of future missions to the Moon and Mars, which will require longer-lasting life support equipment.
The twenty missions by SpaceX under the CRS-1 contract carried more than 94,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station, and returned about 74,000 pounds of equipment and specimens to Earth, according to NASA.