ISS Astronauts Move Crew Dragon to a New Docking Port

Having multiple spacecraft going to and from the International Space Station (ISS) is great for scientific progress, but it can cause the occasional traffic jam. Astronauts have executed the first-ever Dragon port relocation maneuver at the ISS, moving one Dragon to a new port, leaving space for the next few capsules to dock at the station.

It’s common practice on the ISS to keep at least one human-rated spacecraft docked at all times. This provides a means of escape for astronauts in the event of a system failure on the ISS or a high risk of impact with space debris. The current escape pod is Resilience, the Dragon capsule that went up to the ISS in November, carrying the first crew members on a regular rotation.

Resilience remained docked at the forward port on the station’s Harmony module, until 6:30 AM Eastern time on Monday. Four astronauts boarded the vessel and backed it 60 meters away from the station. 38 minutes later, the crew Dragon was docked with the module’s zenith port. This frees up the forward docking port for the next Crew Dragon, which will arrive later this month.

In late April, Resilience will leave the zenith port behind, making its way back to Earth. That will make way for the upcoming cargo Dragon, which will dock at the zenith port in June. Cargo missions need to dock at this location so the station’s robotic arm can unload materials from the trunk compartment on the vehicle.

The Crew-2 launch later this month will bring NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide to the station. This mission will use the Dragon capsule known as Endeavor, the same one that flew the successful Demo-2 mission in 2020. Crew-1 will splash down on April 28, returning NASA’s Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Victor Glover, as well as JAXA’s Soichi Noguchi.

The ISS will probably only get busier as time goes on. SpaceX is the only commercial spaceflight company with a human-certified vehicle, but Boeing is still plugging away at the CST-100 Starliner. After a flunked uncrewed orbital test in late 2019, Boeing and NASA have decided to re-launch the orbital test this summer. After that, Boeing hopes to have a regular flight to the ISS before the end of the year.

Continue reading

Qualcomm’s New Snapdragon 888 Will Power Flagship Android Phones in 2021

The 888 comes with a new CPU design, integrated 5G, and a massive GPU boost. It's shaping up to be the most significant update to Qualcomm's flagship system-on-a-chip (SoC) in years.

Samsung Reveals Galaxy S21 Family With Snapdragon 888, $200 Price Cut

All three devices have the latest Snapdragon 888 ARM chip, lower price tags, and no included charger. Read our full breakdown of the different models here.

Qualcomm Revamps Snapdragon 865 Again, Calls It Snapdragon 870

Qualcomm just unveiled a new high-end 800-series ARM processor, and I know what you're thinking. Didn't Qualcomm already announce its 2021 flagship system-on-a-chip (SoC)? It did, but the new Snapdragon 870 will slot in below the flagship Snapdragon 888.

EA Will ‘Allow’ BioWare to Pull Dragon Age 4’s Unnecessary Multiplayer

EA will allow developers not to ship multiplayer in Dragon Age 4 after Anthem tanked and Jedi: Fallen Order soared. How kind of them.