SpaceX is going to launch four astronauts in the first human-rated commercial spacecraft.
This will not be SpaceX’s first human mission. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley boarded the company’s crew dragon spaceship this summer, landed in Earth orbit, and landed at the International Space Station. After living and working on the space station for two months, they climbed back on the crew dragon, screamed out of the atmosphere and safely parachuted to Earth.
But that whole mission was considered a demo – an important step in getting NASA’s man-space illumination certificate.
On Tuesday, NASA announced that it has finally certified SpaceX’s entire launch system for human spaceflight.
That decision was the result of the agency’s flight-readiness review, in which experts and officials spent two days reviewing SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, crew dragon spaceship, software and mission operations.
The certification comes just days before SpaceX’s next planned astronaut launch, scheduled for Saturday. The company has already got a new crew dragon on the rocket to prepare for this mission, which is its longest and most complex. Called the Crew-1, the space station’s round-trip mission is the first of six that Elon Musk’s rocket company has signed with NASA.
Crew-1 astronauts sit inside the crew dragon during training. From left: Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and Sochi Noguchi.
SpaceX by NASA
“People think it’s just a spacecraft, but it’s a spacecraft, it’s a launch vehicle, it’s all the process on the ground, how you do your mission operation, all our crew will fly safely to the International Space Station and go back. And then get well, “Kathy Luders, who heads NASA’s manned spacecraft program, said in a press briefing Tuesday. “You’ve shown us the data, and we have the confidence to do it. It’s a big trust factor here.”
If weather permits, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 will launch at 7:49 p.m. Saturday and the crew dragon into space. The board will include astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Waker and Sochi Noguchi. They should dock at the space station after eight and a half hours, where they will stay for about six months, marking the longest human spaceflight in U.S. history.
When it’s time to get home, the astronauts will fly back to the crew dragon, which will remain attached to the space station during their stay, followed by a fire-fall weather in Earth’s atmosphere.
“The crew’s life is in our hands – a very important responsibility,” Luders said.
The SpaceX crew dragon guided by four parachutes sank off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean on March 8, 2019.
Corey Huston / NASA
This is the first time NASA has certified a man-flight system since the space shuttle program began nearly 40 years ago. The decision was the culmination of 10 years of development and testing provided by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which was created to restore U.S. human-astronaut capabilities through a business partnership. According to the Planetary Society, the government has spent more than $ 5 billion on those efforts. The program could finally realize its goal with the start of Saturday.
Elon Musk celebrates May 30 after SpaceX launches NASA astronauts Bob Behanken and Doug Hurley from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Ritter / Steve Nacious
“Thanks to SpaceX for its continued support and participation in achieving this goal,” Musk said in a press release. “I can’t be more proud of everyone at SpaceX and all of our suppliers who worked hard to develop, test and fly the first commercial human spacecraft system in history to be certified by NASA. This is a great honor that inspires confidence. Attempts to return to the moon, travel to Mars, and ultimately help humanity become multi-planetary. “
