Tag: SpaceX

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U.S. Manned Space Program Returns

The reversal of the Obama Administration’s near elimination of American manned space efforts  will be complete when NASA launches astronauts in the SpaceX-built Crew Dragon spacecraft later this month. It will be the first time that American astronauts have travelled to space aboard an American built spacecraft since President Obama prematurely ended the Space Shuttle program. The Obama Administration also cancelled and withdrew funding from follow-up manned programs.

Dragon is a free-flying spacecraft designed to deliver both cargo and people to orbiting destinations. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. Currently Dragon carries cargo to space, but it was designed from the beginning to carry humans. The first demonstration flight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program launched on March 2, 2019 at The Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the space station ahead of schedule on March 3, 2019, becoming the first American spacecraft in history to autonomously dock with the International Space Station.

The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. The pressurized section of the capsule is designed to carry both people and environmentally sensitive cargo. Towards the base of the capsule and contained within the nose cone are the Draco thrusters, which allow for orbital maneuvering.

Dragon’s trunk carries unpressurized cargo and supports the spacecraft during ascent. The trunk remains attached to Dragon until shortly before reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will fly on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, lifting off on a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:32 p.m. EDT May 27, from Launch Complex 39A in Florida, for an extended stay at the space station for the Demo-2 mission. The specific duration of the mission is to be determined.

As the final flight test for SpaceX, the mission will validate the company’s crew transportation system, including the launch pad, rocket, spacecraft, and operational capabilities. This also will be the first time NASA astronauts will test the spacecraft systems in orbit.

Behnken will be the joint operations commander for the mission, responsible for activities such as rendezvous, docking and undocking, as well as Demo-2 activities while the spacecraft is docked to the space station. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2000 and has completed two space shuttle flights. Behnken flew STS-123 in March 2008 and STS-130 in February 2010, and he performed three spacewalks during each mission.

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Hurley will be the spacecraft commander for Demo-2, responsible for activities such as launch, landing and recovery. He was selected as an astronaut in 2000 and has completed two spaceflights. Hurley served as pilot and lead robotics operator for both STS‐127 in July 2009 and STS‐135, the final space shuttle mission, in July 2011.

Lifting off from Launch Pad 39A atop a specially instrumented Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon will accelerate its two passengers to approximately 17,000 mph and put it on an intercept course with the International Space Station. Once in orbit, the crew and SpaceX mission control will verify the spacecraft is performing as intended by testing the environmental control system, the displays and control system and the maneuvering thrusters, among other things. In about 24 hours, Crew Dragon will be in position to rendezvous and dock with the space station. The spacecraft is designed to do this autonomously but astronauts aboard the spacecraft and the station will be diligently monitoring approach and docking and can take control of the spacecraft if necessary.

After successfully docking, Behnken and Hurley will be become members of the Expedition 63 crew. They will perform tests on Crew Dragon in addition to conducting research and other tasks with the space station crew.

Although the Crew Dragon being used for this flight test can stay in orbit about 110 days, the specific mission duration will be determined once on station based on the readiness of the next commercial crew launch. The operational Crew Dragon spacecraft will be capable of staying in orbit for at least 210 days as a NASA requirement.

Upon conclusion of the mission, Crew Dragon will autonomously undock with the two astronauts on board, depart the space station and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. It will splashdown just off Florida’s Atlantic Coast, and the crew will be picked up at sea by SpaceX’s Go Navigator recovery vessel and return to Cape Canaveral.

The mission will also lay the groundwork for future exploration of the Moon and Mars starting with the agency’s Artemis program, which will land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface in 2024.

Photo: Crew Dragon Spacecraft (NASA)

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Dragon brings US closer to manned launches

For the first time in history, a commercially-built and operated American crew spacecraft and rocket, launched from American soil, reached the  International Space Station.

“[The] successful launch marks a new chapter in American excellence, getting us closer to once again flying American astronauts on American rockets from American soil,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “I proudly congratulate the SpaceX and NASA teams for this major milestone in our nation’s space history. This first launch of a space system designed for humans, and built and operated by a commercial company through a public-private partnership, is a revolutionary step on our path to get humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond.”

Known as Demo-1, SpaceX’s inaugural flight with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is an important uncrewed mission designed to test the end-to-end capabilities of the new system. It brings the nation one-step closer to the return of human launches to the space station from the United States for the first time since 2011 – the last space shuttle mission.

Space agency sources noted that “The program demonstrates NASA’s commitment to investing in commercial companies through public-private partnerships and builds on the success of American companies, including SpaceX, already delivering cargo to the space station.”

The public-private partnership combines commercial companies’ approaches to human spaceflight and NASA’s decades-long experience in design, development and operations of a crew space system.

“We are watching history being made with the launch of the SpaceX Demo-1 mission,” said Steve Stich, launch manager and deputy manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

SpaceX controlled the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Control Center Firing Room 4, the former space shuttle control room, which SpaceX has leased as its primary launch control center. As Crew Dragon ascended into space, SpaceX commanded the Crew Dragon spacecraft from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA teams monitored space station operations throughout the flight from Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. 

Mission Objectives 

All the launch pad and vehicle hardware, and the launch day operations, were conducted in preparation for the next flight with crew aboard, including the control teams and ground crews. The mission and testing continues once the Falcon 9 lifts off the pad. 

During the spacecraft’s approach, in-orbit demonstrations included rendezvous activities from a distance of up to 2.5 miles, known as far field, and activities within one mile, known as near field. The spacecraft, in its approach to the space station, demonstrated its automated control and maneuvering capabilities by reversing course and backing away from the station before the final docking sequence. 

Previous cargo Dragon vehicles have been attached to the space station after capture by the station’s robotic arm. The Crew Dragon docked using new sensor systems, new propulsion systems and the new international docking mechanism to attach to the station’s Harmony module forward port, fitted with a new international docking adapter. Astronauts installed the adapter during a spacewalk in August 2016, following its delivery to the station in the trunk of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on its ninth commercial resupply services mission.   

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Dragon carried over 400 pounds of crew supplies and equipment to the space station, and will return some critical research samples to Earth. A lifelike test device named Ripley, looking like an astronaut (named after the lead character in the scifi movie “Alien,” was onboard, outfitted with sensors to provide data on potential effects on humans traveling on the new spacecraft.

For operational missions, Crew Dragon will be able to launch as many as four crew members and carry more than 220 pounds of cargo, enabling the expansion of the crew members, increasing the time dedicated to research in the unique microgravity environment, and returning more science back to Earth.

The Crew Dragon is designed to stay docked to station for up to 210 days, although the Crew Dragon used for this flight test will not have that capability. This spacecraft will remain docked to the space station only five days, departing Friday, March 8. After undocking from the station.

Additional spacecraft mission objectives include a safe departure from the station, followed by a deorbit burn and parachute deployment to slow the spacecraft before splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Florida Space Coast. SpaceX’s recovery ship, Go Searcher, will retrieve Crew Dragon and transport it back to port. Teams will be closely monitoring the parachute system and entry control system operation, which have been changed from cargo Dragons to provide higher reliability for crew flights.

NASA and SpaceX will use data from Demo-1, along with planned upgrades and additional qualification testing, to further prepare for Demo-2, the crewed flight test that will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station. NASA will validate the performance of SpaceX’s systems before putting crew on board for the Demo-2 flight, currently targeted for July.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with Boeing and SpaceX to design, build, test and operate safe, reliable and cost-effective human transportation systems to low-Earth orbit. Both companies are focused on test missions, including abort system demonstrations and crew flight tests, ahead of regularly flying crew missions to the space station. Both companies’ crewed flights will be the first times in history NASA has sent astronauts to space on systems owned, built, tested and operated by private companies. 

SpaceX will be joined shortly by Boeing’s manned spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner. The Starliner was designed to accommodate seven passengers, or a mix of crew and cargo, for missions to low-Earth orbit. For NASA service missions to the International Space Station, it will carry up to four NASA-sponsored crew members and time-critical scientific research. The Starliner has an innovative, weldless structure and is reusable up to 10 times with a six-month turnaround time. It also features wireless internet and tablet technology for crew interfaces.

Both spacecraft are scheduled to carry astronauts to space this summer.

Photo: Dragon/Falcon-9 (NASA)

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Still Lost in Space

Increasingly, NASA appears to be adrift, still capable of great individual deeds but without a clear direction.

Although it continues to get verbal support, the goal of placing American astronauts on Mars was for all practical purposes abandoned by the Obama Administration. So, too, was the Constellation program, which was supposed to be the successor for the Space Shuttle.  That decision also effectively ended U.S. plans to return to the Moon.

There is no current means for US citizens to reach space other than by hitching a ride on Russian craft, a severe humiliation for what was once the world’s preeminent space agency.

Advocates of manned space flight angrily point out that if the White House was intent on cancelling the follow-up to the Shuttle program, it could have kept the Shuttle program alive for several more years.

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NASA’s woes extend beyond manned space flight.  One of the most crucial endeavors the Space Agency is engaged in is cataloging interplanetary objects that could potentially strike the Earth with catastrophic consequences, producing results similar to that which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. A report just released by NASA’s Inspector General discloses that a lack of structure and resources threatens this mission which is, literally, a matter of life and death for the entire planet.

There is some good news, coming primarily from the private sector.  NASA has contracted  with Boeing and SpaceX to build a “Space Taxi” to take Americans to and from the Space Station, freeing the U.S. from dependence on the Russians.

Nasa, announcing the deal, stated in a press release that “U.S. astronauts once again will travel to and from the International Space Station from the United States on American spacecraft under groundbreaking contracts NASA announced Tuesday. The agency unveiled its selection of Boeing and SpaceX to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station using their CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, with a goal of ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia in 2017.”