Even Dragons are lost without GPS.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft had to delay its delivery to the International Space Center after a navigation glitch with its GPS system. The unmanned craft is carrying about 5,500 pounds of research materials and supplies to the International Space Center. This is the company’s tenth cargo flight with NASA.
“The spacecraft is in excellent shape with no issues, and the crew aboard the space station is safe,” NASA said in a blog post.
Dragon was only seven-tenths of a mile away from the space station when the GPS error was detected. The attempt to dock was aborted at 3:25 a.m. EST. The spacecraft will make another attempt to reach ISS Thursday morning.
NASA spokesman Rob Navias said on NASA TV that the navigation glitch “is an easily correctable issue.” He added, “There’s no threat to any of the science or cargo aboard.”
The @SpaceX#Dragon is in excellent shape and the crew is safe. The next rendezvous attempt is targeted for Thurs: https://t.co/fjAFP6lgskpic.twitter.com/QCHdzkCs8d
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) February 22, 2017
On Sunday, SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon cargo ship from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was a big day for SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk because this was the first company-owned and -operated spacecraft ever to launch from Kennedy’s pad.