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Historic SpaceX and NASA Manned Mission: Everything You Need to Know

2020-05-30T04:14:53.593Z


It will be the first time in history that a commercial aerospace company has brought humans into Earth orbit. NASA and space fans have waited almost a decade for this h ...


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SpaceX: How was the first launch attempt? 2:07

Cape Canaveral, Florida (CNN Business) - The stakes have never been higher for Elon Musk's SpaceX. On Wednesday, the company attempted to send two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station on a mission called Demo-2 and failed due to bad weather. They will try again this Saturday.

It will be the first time in history that a commercial aerospace company has brought humans into Earth's orbit. NASA and space aficionados have waited nearly a decade for this milestone, which will usher in the return of human spaceflights from American soil.

New opportunity

NASA and space fans were disappointed on Wednesday when the first attempt was suspended due to weather. They have waited almost a decade for this milestone, which will mark the beginning of the return of human space flights to the US soil.

The next release is scheduled for Saturday at 3:22 pm ET. But on whether or not the rocket will take off, that will most likely be determined by the weather forecast again.

Until Friday morning, the 45th Space Wing, an arm of the U.S. Army which oversees all east coast rocket launches, predicts a 50% chance that the weather will stay long enough to launch on Saturday. And the odds are slightly better, around a 60% chance, for the next takeoff window of opportunity on Sunday, May 31 at 3:00 pm ET.

SpaceX postpones launch, why is the wait? 1:21

It's hurricane season in central Florida, and that means launch officials are dealing with weather conditions that are often severe and extremely fickle.

After enduring several thunderstorms and a tornado warning on Wednesday, the sky began to clear at takeoff time. But ultimately, the clouds and lightning risk was too high to allow launch.

With only a few minutes remaining on the countdown clock, authorities even suggested on Wednesday that the rocket could have taken off if the launch time had been only 10 or 20 minutes later.

But that's not a possibility for this mission, as astronauts head into space to connect with the International Space Station, which orbits about 250 miles (402 km) above Earth and travels more than 17,000 miles per hour (27,358 km). /). That means the spacecraft will have to follow an extremely accurate launch schedule.

NASA and SpaceX's plans could change at any time between now and Saturday afternoon, depending on how the forecast changes.

It will also require quite a bit of luck. If the rocket fails and SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule needs to use its emergency abort system to launch the astronauts to safety, they will land in the ocean. And that means that officials must ensure that the landing is not made more dangerous by a severe storm or strong waves, so they scan a massive stretch of the ocean to the Irish coast. The team also uses all kinds of instruments, including radars and weather balloons, to ensure the rocket has a smooth ride throughout the upper atmosphere.

The launch of the SpaceX rocket will be on Saturday 0:41

The launch of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft is moving ahead despite the covid-19 pandemic, which has shut down private and government operations in the United States. NASA says it must continue the mission to keep the International Space Station, a gigantic orbit laboratory, fully staffed by American astronauts.

Senior space agency official Jim Bridenstine also said he hopes this launch will inspire awe and lift people's spirits during the current health crisis.

Because it is important?

The United States has not launched its own astronauts into space since the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011. Since then, NASA astronauts have had to travel to Russia and train on the country's Soyuz spacecraft. Those seats have cost NASA as much as $ 86 million each.

But the space agency decided not to create its own replacement for the shuttle. Instead, it asked the private sector to develop a spacecraft capable of safely transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station, a controversial decision considering that NASA had never before outsourced the development of a human-rated spacecraft. The idea was that commercial companies could cut costs and drive innovation, and NASA would have more time and resources to focus on exploring the solar system more deeply.

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken (left) and Doug Hurley participated in a simulation in March.

In 2014, NASA awarded two contracts: $ 4.2 billion for Boeing to build its Starliner vehicle, and $ 2.6 billion for SpaceX, which planned to create a decent version of the Crew Dragon spacecraft that was already flying with cargo to and from the International Space Station. NASA had already invested money in SpaceX's development of the Dragon capsule used to transport cargo. The space agency has said that Boeing received more money because it was designing the Starliner from scratch.

Boeing recently suffered a significant setback when a Starliner capsule failed to function properly during a key test flight. But if SpaceX can carry out this mission, it will be a great victory for NASA, which has been pushing for more trade associations.

Not to mention, NASA will no longer have to ask Russia for transportation.

LOOK : Boeing's Starliner mission fails to reach the International Space Station

When and where is the takeoff?

NASA and SpaceX now target Saturday at 3:22 p.m. ET for takeoff from the Florida Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Florida. If bad weather or technical issues get in the way, NASA has May 31 as a new backup day.

The rocket will take off from "Pad 39A", a historic site that has been the starting point for missions dating back to the Apollo era, including the first moon landing in 1969. SpaceX is renting the NASA launch pad.

Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon are vertical on the launch pad pic.twitter.com/2nw9h0jxde

- SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 21, 2020

SpaceX and NASA will host a webcast during takeoff, and will keep that coverage live at least until Crew Dragon docks at the space station approximately 19 hours after launch.

CNN and other news networks will also share live updates on television and online.

Is it safe to take off during the pandemic?

According to NASA, yes.

Astronauts have been in strict quarantine together, and extra precautions are being taken to keep everything clean.

NASA, SpaceX and military personnel will need to meet in control rooms to support the launch, and they have implemented additional security measures, such as changing control rooms when a new shift begins so that the other room can be thoroughly cleaned.

READ : NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonauts travel to space station during pandemic

Only a few dozen members of the press will be able to attend the launch, NASA said, and the Kennedy Space Center will not welcome any visitors.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell have also begged people to follow the launch on television to prevent crowds of viewers from triggering a covid-19 outbreak. Some local officials are also asking onlookers not to gather at nearby beaches or other public viewing sites.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has faced strong criticism for his online comments on the coronavirus. He repeatedly expressed his belief that the United States' coronavirus response is exaggerated and shared misinformation about its threat.

READ : Elon Musk criticizes the orders of confinement for coronavirus and describes them as "fascists"

Who flies into space?

Two veteran astronauts: Robert Behnken, 49, and Douglas Hurley, 53.

They work for NASA, but have worked closely with SpaceX and have been trained to fly Crew Dragon, which will become the fifth spacecraft design, after Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle vehicles, which NASA has certified as safe enough for humans.

Behnken and Hurley began their careers as military test pilots and have spent hundreds of hours piloting supersonic aircraft. Both also flew on previous space shuttle missions. When NASA selected them for this mission in 2018, it continued with a long lineage of military test pilots who were considered to be "just right" for groundbreaking moments in the history of human spaceflight.

NASA wants to keep Behnken and Hurley on the space station until another Crew Dragon is ready to send more people on their next mission.

Astronauts told reporters last week that they hope to spend one to three months in space. The maximum duration is 110 days, according to NASA.

When Behnken and Hurley return home, they will board Crew Dragon, travel back through the atmosphere as the vehicle deploys parachutes, and then land in the Atlantic Ocean.

What is Crew Dragon?

It is a chewing gum shaped capsule measuring approximately 4 meters in diameter and equipped with seven seats and touch screen controls.

Crew Dragon and astronauts will go into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and astronauts will board the vehicle on launch day using an "aircrew access arm." After the rocket shoots Crew Dragon into the upper atmosphere, the spacecraft will separate and fire its own thrusters to begin maneuvering toward the space station.

Crew Dragon is fully autonomous, so astronauts will need to monitor systems and stay in touch with mission control unless something goes wrong.

LOOK : Space X's Dragon capsule arrives at the International Space Station

Despite the fact that Behnken and Hurley are traveling with a couple of empty seats on board, they do not plan to bring additional luggage. Behnken told reporters last week that they are only taking a few "small items," although it is still unclear what those items are.

Astronauts will spend approximately 19 hours on board the spacecraft before arriving at the International Space Station.

And yes, Crew Dragon has a bathroom, just in case. Details on how it works have not been released. But an astronaut who worked on the Dragon program said he had seen the design and said the adaptations are "perfectly suited for that task."

Space X and NASA usher in a new space age 2:42

What is the International Space Station?

The International Space Station has orbited Earth for two decades. The United States and Russia are the main operators of the station, but 240 astronauts from 19 countries have visited it over the years.

Rotating teams of astronauts have serviced the space station continuously since 2000, enabling thousands of scientific experiments in microgravity. Research has included everything from how the human body responds to being in space to developing new medications.

Normally, about six people stay on the space station. But right now there are only three: Christopher Cassidy from NASA and Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner from Russia.

WATCH : PHOTOS | Spacewalk: What is it like to live on the International Space Station?

How much will this cost?

Seats at Russia's Soyuz launches have cost NASA as much as $ 86 million each and $ 55.4 million on average over the past decade, according to a 2019 report from the NASA Office of Inspector General .

That same report estimates that the Crew Dragon seats will cost NASA about $ 55 million each. But those are estimates based on a contract that doesn't clearly define cost per seat and only represents the first six missions.

A new analysis by the nonprofit Planetary Society, which promotes science and space exploration, suggests that overall NASA's commercial crew program is a bargain compared to previous human spaceflight programs in States. United.

Is Crew Dragon safe?

Both SpaceX and NASA have had to check Crew Dragon development throughout each major test milestone. And this mission will be no different.

Last week, NASA conducted a “launch readiness review” to ensure that all stakeholders are comfortable moving forward.

Every time a spacecraft leaves Earth, there are risks, and there are no perfect measures to predict them.

But NASA does try: SpaceX is required to ensure Crew Dragon only has a 1 in 270 probability of catastrophic failure, according to a metric the space agency uses. There have been numerous attempts to calculate what the risk was for a given space shuttle mission. Finally, out of 135 missions, there were two shuttle tragedies: a failure rate of about 1 in 68 missions.

It should also be noted that Crew Dragon's previous unmanned trip to space gives him more experience than other US spacecraft. USA before humans were allowed on board. The space shuttle, for example, was never taken in an unmanned test drive.

Crew Dragon is also equipped with a unique emergency abortion system designed to throw astronauts to safety if something goes wrong.

MIRA : Space fashion: astronauts will make a historic launch in a new space suit

How will this affect America's relationship with Russia?

Officials from both countries have maintained their symbiotic relationship on the space station as a beacon of post-Cold War cooperation. But tensions have increased since early 2010, and that has occasionally been extended to the countries' space association.

But the space station has survived other geopolitical tensions. American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are still working closely together.

NASA officials said Russia and Japan, another partner with the station, joined the discussions for a security review of Crew Dragon last week.

How hard was it for SpaceX to get to this point?

SpaceX's relationship with NASA has evolved dramatically over the years. In the 2000s, SpaceX's first rocket launch attempts failed, and the company was nearly bankrupt in 2008 before it successfully launched one of its first Falcon 1 rockets into orbit. After that, NASA took the opportunity and awarded SpaceX a $ 1.6 billion contract to fly cargo to the space station using a new capsule, Dragon, and a rocket, called Falcon 9.

SpaceX and NASA have worked closely, and sometimes awkwardly, together since then. Their association has survived two failed Falcon 9 missions: one in 2015, when a rocket carrying 2,200 kilos of cargo to the space station exploded en route to orbit. In 2016, another Falcon 9 rocket exploded while sitting on a Florida launch pad, destroying a $ 200 million telecommunications satellite.

But the vast majority of the more than 80 Falcon 9 missions that SpaceX has launched so far have gone smoothly.

A rollback in the development of the Crew Dragon spacecraft occurred last year, when SpaceX was conducting a ground test of the vehicle's emergency abort engines that went explosively wrong.

SpaceX worked for months to reconfigure the Crew Dragon design and clean it up with NASA before those aborted engines worked perfectly on a January test flight.

Will Crew Dragon take another trip?

One of SpaceX's main goals is to reduce the costs of launching objects into space by reusing hardware.

Dragon capsules that fly cargo, for example, have been used up to three times.

And since 2015, SpaceX has managed to safely land the Falcon 9's first-stage thruster, the largest part of the rocket that gives the initial liftoff at takeoff, dozens of times.

The rocket used for this week's mission will be brand new, but SpaceX will attempt to retrieve the first-stage rocket by landing it on an unmanned ship after launch.

Each Crew Dragon spacecraft could also make multiple trips to space, the company suggested.

SpaceX's most ambitious reuse efforts will be with Starship, a gigantic spacecraft that is currently in the early stages of development. Musk hopes that every piece of that vehicle, and the giant rocket that will launch it into space, is reusable.

Starship is at the core of Musk's long-term plan for SpaceX: sending humans to live on Mars.

Space x

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-05-30

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