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The Crew-1 mission is en route to the International Space Station (ISS) after a successful “hitchhike” launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning. at 00h27 in Lisbon. On board are four astronauts, the Americans Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and the Japanese Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Space Agency (JAXA).
The first official mission that joins SpaceX and NASA, in a set of six that are planned in the Commercial Crew Program, is affirmed as a step towards a new era of regular manned flights from North American territory. In March the Demo-2 mission was successful and the same level of success is expected with Crew-1, with the “twin” spacecraft Resilience, from which it carried astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, and which was christened Endeavor. , is now being revamped and will only be used in the Crew-2 mission, which oddly enough will be led by Bon Behnken’s wife, Megan McArthur.
If all goes according to plan, the team of astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon capsule should arrive at the ISS around 11 a.m. EST, 4 a.m. Tuesday morning and can follow NASA’s special broadcast, which has been following everyone. launch and travel preparation, live with SAPO TEK. Everything happens at dawn and once again it will steal the dream of those who want to follow the event.
After docking, a slow process as it requires great care and precision, it will take a few hours to stabilize and equalize the pressure between the Space Station and Crew Dragon. Only then can the two hatches be opened, which is scheduled for 1:40 am EST, around 6:40 am in mainland Portugal.
The four astronauts traveling on Crew Dragon join the three current occupants of the orbital station and a small ceremony is planned, hopefully without incident. Remember that when the Demo-2 mission arrives, between hugs and greetings, Douglas Hurley hits his head and bleeds.
In preparation for arrival at the International Space Station
Initial plans by NASA and SpaceX called for the historic mission launch on October 31. However, a problem related to the Falcon 9 engines, the same one that was found in the first launch attempt of the US Space Force GPS III-SV04 mission and in the rocket that would be used to launch the Sentinel-6 satellite, caused a delay. for November 14.
The strong winds that were felt at Cape Canaveral caused the mission to be postponed again until November 15. During the night there was finally a “green light” for the launch.
Three minutes later, at 90 kilometers of altitude, and when the Falcon 9 reached a speed of seven thousand kilometers per hour, the first stage of the rocket separated, returning to Earth and landing on the platform “Just read the instructions” of SpaceX. in the Atlantic Ocean.
In the first orbital flight authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration, after tests carried out in March, three astronauts from NASA and one from the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) are on board.
The team faces a six-month mission on the ISS, where they will conduct several scientific experiments in microgravity, joining the three astronauts who are on the Station and forming for the first time a group of seven scientists aboard the orbiting station that they recently celebrated . the 20th anniversary as a “home” for humans out of orbit.
It is recalled that the Falcon 9 that was used for the launch of Crew-1 and the booster from the first phase will be reused for the ship’s next mission, Crew-2, which will have two women as pilots. In addition, according to Benji Reed, head of manned flights at SpaceX, the company led by Elon Musk expects to launch seven missions to transport people and cargo in the next 15 months.
The following gallery shows Crew Dragon’s maneuvering and approach schematics to the International Space Station.
