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techcrunchappcom · 5 years ago

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SpaceX crew Dragon departs, carrying NASA astronauts toward home

By: New York Times | Published: August 2, 2020 9:16:49 am

NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken head to launch pad 39 to board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for a second launch attempt on NASA?s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA?s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. May 30, 2020. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Two astronauts who took the first commercial trip to orbit have left the International Space Station. They are scheduled to return home Sunday.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley traveled to the space station in May aboard a Crew Dragon capsule built and run by SpaceX, the private rocket company started by Elon Musk.

The Crew Dragon undocked from the space station at 7:35 p.m. EDT on Saturday, with brief thruster firings pushing the spacecraft back.

As the capsule backed away from the station, Hurley thanked the current crew of the space station and the teams on the ground that helped manage their mission.

“We look forward to splashdown tomorrow,” he said.

If the weather remains favorable, it will splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola, Florida, at 2:41 p.m. Sunday, NASA announced.

A safe return would open up more trips to and from orbit for future astronaut crews, and possibly space tourists, aboard the spacecraft.

Isaias is forecast to sweep up along the Atlantic coast of Florida over the weekend. NASA and SpaceX have seven splashdown sites in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, but the track of the storm ruled out the three in the Atlantic.

“We have confidence that the teams on the ground are, of course, watching that much more closely than we are,” Behnken said during a news conference Friday, “and we won’t leave the space station without some good landing opportunities in front of us, good splashdown weather in front of us.”

How can I watch the return of the astronauts?

NASA Television’s coverage will continue through splashdown.

What will happen after they leave the station?

A: The capsule is now performing a series of burns to move away from the station and then line up with the splashdown site.

For much of the trip, Behnken and Hurley will be sleeping. Their schedule sets aside a full night of rest.

Any return journey that exceeds six hours has to be long enough for the crew to get some sleep between undocking and splashdown, Daniel Huot, a NASA spokesman, said in an email.

Otherwise, because of the extended process that leads up to undocking, the crew would end up working more than 20 hours straight, “which is not safe for dynamic operations like water splashdown and recovery,” Huot said.

Just before a final burn that will drop the Crew Dragon out of orbit Sunday afternoon, it will jettison the bottom part of the spacecraft, known as the trunk, which will then burn up in the atmosphere.

At reentry, the Crew Dragon will be traveling at about 17,500 mph. Two small parachutes will deploy at an altitude of 18,000 feet when the spacecraft has already been slowed by Earth’s atmosphere to about 350 mph. The four main parachutes deploy at an altitude of about 6,000 feet.

Once the capsule splashes in the water, it is expected to take 45 to 60 minutes to pluck them out.

Why does Isaias affect the return?

The storm complicated where splashdown could take place. At the splashdown site, winds must be less than 10 mph for the capsule to land safely. There are additional constraints on waves, rain and lightning. In addition, helicopters that take part in the recovery of the capsule must be able to fly and land safely.

The first landing opportunity will aim for only the primary site, Pensacola. If weather there is inconsistent with the rules, the capsule and the astronauts will remain in orbit for another day or two, and managers will consider the backup site, which is Panama City, Florida.

Is it safer to land on water or on land?

Spacecraft can safely return to Earth in either environment.

During the 1960s and 1970s, NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules all splashed down in the ocean while Soviet capsules all ended their trips on land. Russia’s current Soyuz capsules continue to make ground landings, as do China’s astronaut-carrying Shenzhou capsules.

When Boeing’s Starliner capsule begins carrying crews to the space station, it will return on land, in New Mexico. SpaceX had originally planned for the Crew Dragon to do ground landings but decided that water landings, employed for the earlier version of Dragon for taking cargo, simplified the development of the capsule.

Why is the return trip an important part of the Crew Dragon’s first flight?

A: After launch, reentry through Earth’s atmosphere is the second most dangerous phase of spaceflight. Friction of air rushing past will heat the bottom of the capsule to about 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. A test flight of the Crew Dragon last year successfully splashed down, so engineers know the system works.

A successful conclusion to the trip opens the door to more people flying to space. Some companies have already announced plans to use Crew Dragons to lift wealthy tourists to orbit.

In the past, NASA astronauts launched on spacecraft like the Saturn 5 moon rocket and the space shuttles that NASA itself operated. After the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011, NASA had to rely on Russia, buying seats on the Soyuz capsules for trips to and from orbit.

Under the Obama administration, NASA hired two companies, SpaceX and Boeing, to build spacecraft to take astronauts to the space station. NASA financed much of the work to develop the spacecraft but will now buy rides at fixed prices. For SpaceX, the trip by Behnken and Hurley — the first launch of astronauts from American soil since the last space shuttle flight — was the last major demonstration needed before NASA officially certifies that the Crew Dragon is ready to begin regular flights.

Who are the astronauts?

Behnken and Hurley have been friends and colleagues since both were selected by NASA to be astronauts in 2000.

Both men have backgrounds as military test pilots and each has flown twice before on space shuttle missions, although this is the first time they have worked together on a mission. Hurley flew on the space shuttle’s final mission in 2011.

In 2015, they were among the astronauts chosen to work with Boeing and SpaceX on the commercial space vehicles that the companies were developing. In 2018, they were assigned to the first SpaceX flight.

What have the astronauts been doing aboard the space station?

Originally, the mission was to last only up to two weeks, but Behnken and Hurley ended up with a longer and busier stay at the space station. Because of repeated delays by SpaceX and Boeing, NASA ended up short-handed, with only one astronaut, Christopher J. Cassidy, aboard the space station when the Crew Dragon and its two passengers docked.

They stayed two months, helping Cassidy with space station chores. Behnken and Cassidy performed four spacewalks to complete the installation of new batteries on the space station. Hurley helped by operating the station’s robotic arm.

The men have also been contributing to science experiments in low earth orbit. They assisted in a study of water droplet formation in the low gravity environment of the space station using a shower head, and another that used fruit punch and foam to look at how to manage fluids in space. They also helped install new equipment inside the station that will be used in future scientific research.

Cassidy will remain aboard the station with two Russian astronauts, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. All three are to stay on board through October when another crew of one American and two Russian astronauts will replace them.

When are the next Crew Dragon flights, and who will they carry?

A: The first operational flight of the Crew Dragon will launch no earlier than late September. It will take three NASA astronauts — Michael S. Hopkins, Victor J. Glover and Shannon Walker — and one Japanese astronaut, Soichi Noguchi, to the space station.

The second operational flight, tentatively scheduled for February 2021, will carry two NASA astronauts, Robert S. Kimbrough and K. Megan McArthur; Akihiko Hoshide of Japan; and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.

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biofunmy · 5 years ago

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SpaceX, Boeing race to send astronauts to International Space Station

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SpaceX is on the final lap of the Commercial Crew race to space. If its in-flight abort test goes well Saturday, it could beat out Boeing to be the first private company to launch astronauts to the International Space Station.

“This has been a race from the very beginning. Boeing and SpaceX have been very competitive,” said Andy Aldrin, director of the Aldrin Space Institute at Florida Tech. “I don’t doubt that the program managers and their respective company are keeping a close eye on what the other guys are doing and want to get there first.”

The Commercial Crew space race began in September 2014 when NASA selected two private companies, SpaceX and Boeing, to build vessels to return American astronauts to space after the retiring of the shuttle in 2011. The United States has relied on the Russian Soyuz rocket to give astronauts a lift since then.

The goal was to have Americans flying to the space station on American vehicles by 2017.

“We’re looking to a future where we can be a customer, one customer of many customers, in a very robust commercial marketplace in low Earth orbit,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said, “and having multiple providers competing on cost and innovation.”

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At its core, the goal of the Commercial Crew program is for NASA to move away from owning, operating and maintaining spacecraft and instead to buy seats on capsules built by private companies.

Because SpaceX already had a cargo version of its Dragon capsule that docked with the ISS multiple times, it was ahead right out of the gate. In May 2015, SpaceX completed a successful “pad abort test” that simulated how Dragon would carry the astronauts to safety if an emergency occurred during launch.

It took nearly four years for SpaceX to complete the next major test, known as Demo-1, in which an unmanned Dragon docked with the ISS. In between those tests, the company was busy with its core business of cargo resupply missions to the ISS and mock landings and parachute testing.

“SpaceX came into it as a clear favorite. They already had the vehicle, so in theory, they were just going to need to put in the systems that were needed,” Aldrin said, “but as it turns out, that’s a lot more challenging than just putting in life support systems. Getting a vehicle ready to fly NASA astronauts involves a lot of work.”

In the predawn hours of March 2, 2019, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, carrying an anthropomorphic test dummy named Ripley headed for the space station. It was the first commercially built and operated American crew spacecraft and rocket to launch from U.S. soil on a mission to the ISS.

The roar of celebration at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, was almost as deafening as the capsule’s powerful Merlin engines. A couple of days later, Dragon docked autonomously with the ISS – the first U.S. spacecraft to do so – and six days later, it returned to Earth, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.

It was such a historic achievement NASA won a prime-time Emmy for its coverage of the launch.

Nobody was cheering when a month later, the same capsule blew up during a routine abort system test at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was a devastating set-back.

A cloud of orange smoke rises over Cape Canaveral. SpaceX reported an anomaly during test firing of the Dragon 2 in April 2019. (Photo: Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY)

While NASA and SpaceX investigated the incident, SpaceX made modifications to the Dragon capsule while upgrading its parachute system.

Boeing was quietly making progress on its Starliner capsule. The company decided to land the capsule on the ground rather than in the ocean – a first for a U.S. crew capsule.

The pressure to keep up with SpaceX took its toll on employees.

“It feels like we’re failing. There are many days that I feel like I’m failing because of the schedule delays. It’s hard for us,” Boeing design engineer Melanie Weber told Florida Today in September.

Weber said the comments of naysayers motivated the team to push harder.

“I feel like we’re the underdog. There’s a lot of negativity toward us and a lot of people saying that we’re not going to do it and we’re so far behind and it’s just not achievable,” Weber said.

In September, the Russian rocket that ensured America had a presence on the ISS for the past eight years was retired. SpaceX and Boeing were supposed to be making regular trips to the space station by then. With no American replacement ready, NASA was forced to buy more seats on the next version of Soyuz being built.

“Commercial Crew is years behind schedule,” Bridenstine tweeted, “It’s time to deliver.”

Letting go of the reins hasn’t been easy for NASA.

“The most culturally important, the most sacred thing that NASA does is fly astronauts, so giving up control of flying astronauts to a private company is a really big deal,” said Jim Muncy, a space industry consultant. “Let’s just say that NASA hasn’t totally embraced the idea of giving up control.”

In November, nearly six years after being selected, Boeing’s Starliner was ready for its big debut. The spacecraft tested its launch abort system at White Sands Missile Range in the New Mexico desert.

Though the test was considered a success, one of the three capsule parachutes didn’t deploy.

SpaceX and Boeing have been plagued with parachute problems throughout development and testing.

Boeing didn’t let the parachute issue slow down its momentum. About a month later, engineers prepared for Starliner’s orbital flight test, the biggest milestone of their program.

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The orbital flight test hoped to prove the spacecraft’s ability to launch to space, maintain orbit, dock with the ISS and safely return to Earth.

Shortly after launch, a problem with Starliner’s “clock” prevented it from firing its boosters at the right time to put it into the proper orbit to reach the space station.

Engineers scrambled to find a solution, but when it became clear they couldn’t save the mission, they focused on getting Starliner back to Earth safely.

Two days later, Starliner landed in the New Mexico desert. Even though the spacecraft didn’t dock with the ISS, the test proved several of the capsule’s capabilities and was deemed a “successful failure.”

NASA hasn’t decided whether it will require Boeing to repeat the test before crewed flight.

“What you really don’t want to be is so far behind that you lose market share. But what you really, really don’t want to do is push so hard that you fail in a such a way that the customer, the astronauts, lose confidence in your program,” Aldrin said.

After Boeing’s orbital flight test, Bridenstine made the point that these setbacks are why NASA chose two companies in the first place.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine answers questions about the Starliner at a news conference after the vehicle failed to achieve proper orbit after launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in December 2019. (Photo: Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY)

“It is important for us as nation to maintain dissimilar redundancy, so when you look at the Boeing solution and the SpaceX solution, they are not the same, which means that when we do have a challenge that might set us back, the other one can keep going forward without putting us in a position where we might not have crew on the International Space Station,” Bridenstine said.

It’s SpaceX’s turn to move forward. Saturday, the company will test the Dragon’s ability to abort while in flight. This is the last test milestone before crewed flight, which means if it is successful, the historic return of astronauts launching from Kennedy Space Center may be only months away.

Launch Saturday

Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9

Mission: Crew Dragon in-flight abort test

Liftoff: No earlier than 11 a.m. Saturday

Launch Complex: pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center

Contact Rachael Joy at 321-242-3577 and [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @Rachael_Joy.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/01/14/spacexs-flight-abort-test-final-milestone-before-crewed-flight/4464576002/

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bigyack-com · 6 years ago

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Boeing Starliner Landing: What You Need to Know

Boeing’s test of a spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner, is being cut short because a problem with its internal clock right after launch on Friday put it into the wrong orbit. The capsule, which was built to resume launches of astronauts from the United States, was not able to dock with the International Space Station because of the error.

When will Starliner land and how can I watch it?

The capsule, which looks much like the Apollo spacecraft that took NASA astronauts to the moon 50 years ago, is scheduled to parachute to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico at 7:57 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday. NASA Television will broadcast coverage beginning at 6:45 a.m. There is also a backup time of 3:48 p.m. Eastern time if the landing cannot be attempted on the first try.

What will happen during the landing?

The Starliner consists of two pieces: the capsule where astronauts will be sitting, and a service module that contains thrusters and other systems that are not needed for landing. A thruster firing will cause Starliner to fall back into the atmosphere. The service module is to fall into the Pacific Ocean while the capsule is to cross over Mexico’s Baja peninsula north and then land in New Mexico, its touchdown softened by parachutes and airbags.For NASA, attempting to put a capsule down on land is unusual. All previous landings of its capsules — the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs of the 1960s and 1970s — were in the ocean. After all, you might be safer diving into water than an expanse of sand.Russian astronauts have always landed on solid ground, and that approach offers advantages. Salt water corrodes metal, which would complicate plans to reuse Starliner capsules for future missions. Also, a capsule hitting an ocean wave at the wrong angle could sink. (That is what happened during testing of Apollo capsules, requiring a revamping of the design.)The Starliner capsule currently in orbit is scheduled to be used again for a future mission carrying astronauts.

What went wrong on Friday?

Quite simply: Starliner got the time wrong.When the spacecraft separated from the Atlas 5 rocket that lifted it to space, an incorrect clock caused it to start firing its thrusters and try to get into the position and orientation where it thought it should be.“She thought she was later in the mission,” Jim Chilton, senior vice president of the space and launch division at Boeing, said during a news conference on Saturday, “and being autonomous, started to behave that way.”That caused it to use much more propellant than was expected. Its communications antennas also were not pointed in the correct position, which meant it did not immediately receive corrective commands from Boeing’s flight controllers on Earth. Because of the initial problem, not enough propellant remains to rendezvous and dock with the space station.

How did Starliner get the wrong time?

“If I knew, it wouldn’t have happened” Mr. Chilton said. “We were surprised.”The spacecraft’s software set its clock based on the time it received from the Atlas 5 rocket before launch, and it is still too early to tell how it pulled the incorrect information, said Mr. Chilton. He added that the problem was with the Boeing software, not with the rocket, which was built and operated by the United Launch Alliance.

If there were astronauts aboard, would they have been in danger?

This flight did not have anyone on board, but NASA and Boeing officials insist that if astronauts had been in the capsule, they would have been safe. The astronauts might even have been able to take over manual control and send the spacecraft on the proper path.

Did Boeing fix the problem?

Flight controllers were able to send Starliner the correct time. They then performed a couple of thruster firings to raise its orbit to a circular one 155 miles above the surface. That is lower than the International Space Station, which is at an altitude of about 250 miles.Mr. Chilton said the spacecraft’s propulsion, navigation and life support systems are now operating well.“We do have a healthy spacecraft,” said Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator. “There are many good milestones we have been able to achieve.”

What will happen next after Starliner lands?

Boeing and NASA will investigate what went wrong and fix it. NASA officials said it was too early to know whether Boeing will be required to fly another crewless mission to dock with the space station or whether it would be able to put astronauts on the next flight as currently planned.Although the current mission could not perform all of its tasks, if landing is successful tomorrow, the two portions of greatest danger to astronauts — launch and return to Earth — will have been demonstrated.

When will NASA be ready to fly crews to the space station again?

NASA still hopes to carry astronauts to orbit again in the first half of 2020, and has hired two companies to take astronauts to the space station, Boeing and SpaceX. Both have encountered hurdles and delays.The problem with Boeing’s Starliner does not directly affect SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. But that company still has to complete tests of its parachute and conduct an in-flight test of its abort system, currently scheduled for Jan. 11, before it is ready to carry astronauts.Boeing had been aiming for a demonstration flight taking astronauts to the space station in the first half of 2020. But the problems on Friday’s uncrewed test may lead to further delays.NASA has already talked to Russia about buying additional seats on the Soyuz rockets, which have been the only transportation available to astronauts to and from the International Space Station since 2011. Read the full article

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