For the purpose of restoring domestic launch capability on American soil, NASA launched the Commercial Crew Program (PCC) in 2010. Along with its business partners, Boeing and SpaceX, the focus of this program has been to develop spacecraft with capacity crew that can deliver payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), something that NASA has not been able to do since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.
On May 30, 2020, the CCP served its purpose as SpaceX Crew Dragon The spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket and successfully delivered two astronauts (Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley) to the ISS. Looking to the future, NASA and SpaceX have modified their contract agreement, giving the company permission to use Crew Dragon spaceship and Falcon 9 thrusters to send NASA astronauts to the ISS.
This represents a modification to SpaceX’s Commercial Crew Transport Capability (CCtCap) contract, which includes the final design, development, testing, and evaluation activities required to obtain NASA certification. SpaceX received their CCtCap contract on September 16, 2014, as part of Phase II of the $ 9.6 million Product Certification Agreement (CPC) that NASA awarded them in December 2012.
As NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz told SpaceNews:
“In this case, SpaceX has proposed to reuse future systems or components of Falcon 9 and / or Crew Dragon for NASA missions to the International Space Station because they believe that it will be beneficial from the point of view of security and / or the cost. NASA conducted an in-depth review and determined that the terms of the general contract amendment were in the best interest of the government. “
SpaceX had originally planned to use new Crew Dragon spaceship and Falcon 9 Boosters for each individual launch for NASA. This is what happened during the Demo-2 mission, where both Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 Booster were both brand new. The same will happen for Mission 1 post-certification (PCM-1 or Crew-1), which will take place on August 30 (except delays).
According to Schierholz, the first time that the Crew Dragon it will be reused sometime in 2021, as part of Post-Certification Mission 2 (PCM-2 or Crew-2). Boeing, by contrast, indicated long ago that they would be restoring their CST-100 Starliner spaceship between missions and then reuse them. At this point, all CCP contractors will reuse their spacecraft.
This decision was “bilateral”, according to NASA, and builds on previous cargo-related agreements Continue spacecraft. As part of its Commercial Refueling Services (CRS) contract (where the Cargo Dragon was used to conduct refueling missions to the ISS), SpaceX received approval from NASA in 2017 to use previously flown flights. Continue spaceship as well as Falcon 9 reinforcement
SpaceX previously stated that it planned to reuse the version of Crew Dragon that it will use for missions under its new CRS contract, starting this year. That vehicle is similar to the Crew Dragon but lacks some internal systems needed for manned flights, as well as the SuperDraco thrusters for the Crew Dragon launch abort system. The company estimates that each cargo spacecraft should be able to make five flights.
Hans Koenigsmann, VP of Mission Assurance at SpaceX, stated in March (before the final mission that it involved a charge Continue), the company could use an individual Crew Dragon spacecraft up to six times. Furthermore, the company has made it clear from the outset that they intended for the Dragon of the crew to be fully reusable.
By allowing the company to fly previously-flown spacecraft for them, NASA is expressing confidence in SpaceX’s safety record. Another modification to his CCtCap contract included a formal extension of the Demo-2 mission. While astronauts Behnken and Hurley were originally slated to spend two weeks in space, they will now be there for up to 119 days.
During that time, Behnken and Hurley will participate in Expedition 63 operations aboard the ISS, which will include two scheduled spacewalks. The first spacewalk, by Behnken and Exp. 63 Commander Chris Cassidy, took place today from 07:35 am to 02:20 pm EDT (04:35 am to 11:20 pm PDT). The summary can be seen on NASA television.
The second will take place on July 1, 2020, and will once again involve Cassidy and Behnken performing an EVA that will last up to 7 hours, from 07:35 am to 02:35 pm EDT (04:35 am to 11:35 am pm PDT).
Further reading: SpaceNews
