The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching Crew Dragon on its first NASA operational astronaut mission arrived in Florida on Tuesday after a three-day trip from Texas.
After the arrival of the new Crew Dragon spacecraft (likely C207) that will transport three NASA astronauts and a Japanese crew member (JAXA) to the International Space Station, this is an important milestone for the upcoming astronaut launch. from SpaceX. Like the Booster Falcon 9 (B1058) that became the first commercial rocket in history to launch humans into orbit, the Falcon 9 Booster B1061 will fly for the first time with a manned Crew Dragon.
As expected, NASA ordered new Falcon 9 rockets for SpaceX’s first astronaut launches. However, in a higher Surprise, the space agency appears to have given SpaceX permission to reuse not only the Crew Dragon capsules, but also the Falcon 9 boosters as soon as Crew-2. For Falcon 9 B1061, that could have major ramifications.
From now on, the timing of the SpaceX Crew-1 launch depends almost entirely on the successful completion of the ongoing Demo-2 Crew Dragon mission. SpaceX’s first astronaut-tested spacecraft is currently docked on the International Space Station (ISS) as one of the two astronauts it launched is working hard to take spacewalks to repair and upgrade the orbital outpost. Crew Dragon C206 is slated to return to Earth with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley no earlier than (NET) in early August in what will be the spacecraft’s first reentry, descent, and splash attempt with humans on board.
In many ways, Demo-2’s return to Earth will be the biggest challenge of the entire mission for SpaceX and Crew Dragon, as the lives of its passengers will depend more than ever on the sequential completion of multiple complex operations. Of course, Crew Dragon C201 already completed a flawless orbital launch, reentry, descent and landing debut over a year ago, but what’s at stake for Demo-2 will be as high as possible with real lives on the line.
If Crew Dragon C206 manages to safely re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, deploy parachutes, and gently splash in the Atlantic Ocean, NASA and SpaceX say it will take just a few weeks to fully review the mission, inspect the spacecraft, and fully qualify. Crew Dragon for operational missions. As such, assuming a collapse in early August, Crew-1 could launch as early as September 2020.
With Falcon 9’s B1061 booster now available at SpaceX’s launch facility in Florida, that goal is much more within reach. In particular, thanks to NASA unexpectedly giving SpaceX permission to launch astronauts on flight-tested rockets as soon as Crew-2, Falcon 9 B1061 could technically become the first commercial rocket in history to launch astronauts twice if recovered successfully after Crew-1. Of course, SpaceX could very well inject the booster directly into its rocket fleet to support an ambitious H2 2020 launch manifesto, but there is a clear possibility that SpaceX will cling to B1061 for reuse in Crew-2 sometime in H1 2021. For now, however, the priority is to safely launch four astronauts on Crew Dragon’s first operational mission.
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