[ad_1]
NASA and SpaceX said on Friday they were pressing with plans to launch astronauts into space from US soil for the first time in nearly a decade later this month, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, both veterans of the space shuttle program that was closed in 2011, will take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 27.
If the mission is successful, the US USA They will have achieved their goal of not having to buy more seats on Russian Soyuz rockets to take their astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
It is also an important stage in NASA’s new economic model: The space agency has spent billions on contracts with SpaceX and Boeing to develop spacecraft that will have to make six round trips to the ISS.
The model is supposed to save taxpayers from the financial black holes of past programs, as well as some to come, especially the Space Launch System space rocket that is supposed to take NASA back to the Moon, but is riddled with excessive costs and delays in programming. .
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters that the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule will be only the fifth class of US spacecraft. USA That will bring humans into orbit, after the famous Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.
“If you look globally, this will be the ninth time in history when we put humans on a whole new spacecraft,” Bridenstine said.
“We will do it here in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. I will tell you that this is a high priority mission for the United States of America,” he added.
Behnken and Hurley, who have been training for the “Demo-2” mission for years, will dock with the International Space Station (ISS) and will stay there for one to four months, depending on when the next mission takes place, NASA said. . Steve Stich.
Crew Dragon can remain in orbit for about four months (119 days).
Hurley, who was the pilot for the last space shuttle mission, admitted that it was “disappointing” that the launch is not a public matter, and crowds were discouraged from gathering at Cape Canaveral to witness the show.
“We will not have the luxury of our family and friends being there at Kennedy to see the launch, but it is obviously the right thing to do in the current environment,” he said.
Also read: NASA sets the launch date for the US SpaceX manned mission. USA To the space station
Win by SpaceX
The mission is an important milestone for SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk, who also leads and founded Tesla.
His firm, which started in 2002, has now overtaken aerospace giant Boeing, which failed its unmanned demonstration mission for its Starliner spacecraft last year and will have to start again.
SpaceX, which has received billions of dollars from NASA since the late 2000s, has been supplying cargo to the ISS since 2012, and has established itself as the leader in the private space sector thanks to its reusable rocket, the Falcon 9.
“I will feel a little relief when they are in orbit, I will feel more relief when they get to the station, and then obviously I will start sleeping again when they are back on planet Earth,” said Gwynne. Shotwell, the company’s chief operating officer.
The pandemic has naturally impacted the program, but Shotwell said that every precaution was being taken to protect the astronauts.
“We make sure that only essential personnel are near them. They are wearing masks and gloves. We are cleaning the training facilities twice a day.”
“I think we are really doing a great job of making sure it doesn’t affect the safety or health of astronauts’ lives.”
Half of SpaceX’s engineers have been teleworking, and on launch day, NASA personnel in the mission’s control room will be six feet (two meters) away.
Takeoff is scheduled for 4:42 pm (2042 GMT) on May 27, with the docking of the space station scheduled approximately 19 hours later on May 28.
Your premium period will be expire in 0 day (s)
close x
Sign up for unlimited access Get 50% discount now
[ad_2]
