NASA now plans to launch four astronauts for the International Space Station at that distance SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft On October 31, the Halloween flight, which will mark the first operational use of the capsule following a successful pilot test flight earlier this summer.
The space agency initially targeted October 23 for the “Crew 1” mission, nine days after the launch of two cosmonauts and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft on October 14, and two days after NASA’s flyer Chris Cassidy and two cosmos creams . Earth on October 21 in the second Soyuz morning.
By delaying the Crew Dragon flight until October 31, station crews and flight controllers in the U.S., Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan will have the opportunity to catch their collective breath, allowing extra time to resolve any open questions.
SpaceX
NASA said in a blog post that the new target date will disconnect the crew-1 launch and the arrival of the next Soyuz launch and landing operation. “This extra time is needed to ensure the closure of open works, both on the ground and at the station, before the arrival of Crew-1.”
Crew 1 Commander Michael Hopkins, Pilot Victor Glover, Shannon Waker and Japanese astronaut Sochi Noguchi now plan to detonate the historic Historic Pad 39 at the Kennedy Space Center on October 31 at 2:40 a.m. at the top of the Spanish Falcon 9 rocket.
Docking on the space station is expected to take place around 5 a.m. on November. He will be greeted by Rubins and his two crumates, Sergey Ryazikov and Sergey Kud-Sverkov. It is not yet known whether they welcome their new crumates on the trip with any Halloween treats.
NASA helped develop SpaceX’s crew Dragon and No funds Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Capsule To end the agency’s complete reliance on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for ferries to and from the space station.
Since 2006, NASA has spent about 4 4 billion to buy Soyuz seats for station-bound NASA astronauts. Rubins is currently taking on NASA’s last contracted meeting, the agency is counting on SpaceX and Boeing to keep the station fully staffed for the rest of its operational life.
NASA
Under an initial 6 2.6 billion contract, SpaceX designed the crew of its Dragon cargo ship, which will orbit the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. Boeing built its own capsule under a ૨ 2.2 billion contract, relying on the United Launch Alliance Atlas rocket for orbit.
SpaceX successfully conducted two necessary test flights of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, an unpiloted trip to the station in March 2019 and a pilot flight with NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behkenken. They took off on May 30 and safely Returned to Earth on 2 August.
Boeing launched on its Starliner One Unpiloted test flight last December, But major software problems have interrupted the mission, and a reflea is scheduled for later this year or earlier. A piloted test flight is expected next spring or summer.
Meanwhile, NASA is counting on SpaceX and its crew Dragon to send four astronauts to the space station at a time. Shane Kimbro, Megan McArthur, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet planned to explode on crew 2 missions in late April, replacing their crew 1 comrades.
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