Crew dragon resilience to reach the International Space Station backed by Earth.
NASA TV
At 4:27 a.m. PT on Sunday, the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster exploded at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, its engines gleaming on the Florida coast. Gl drop Mudrop-shaped crew Dragon spacecraft picture-perfect launch, nickname elasticity, marked U.S. A historic moment in spaceflight.
Since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, NASA has not sent humans into orbit from American soil in operational missions. The launch for this particular mission has been delayed, pushed back and postponed several times – the original timeline includes the November 2016 launch date. Four years And a few technical stumbles later, Resilience is now docked with the International Space Station.
“Working together in these difficult times, you have inspired the nation, the world and in no small part, the name of this incredible vehicle, resilience,” said Michael Hopkins, Crew-1’s spacecraft commander, before launch. ”
The doc king was to be pt at 8pm and it was needed on time. However, the shadows obscured the view of the space station crew, and the astronauts decided to make a short hold 20 meters away from the docking adapter. After “sunset” and waiting for the shadows to go away, Resilience contacted the ISS and officially “soft captured” at 8:30 p.m., and at about 8:15 p.m.
“This is a new era of operational professional flights from the Florida coast to the International Space Station,” Hopkins said on docking.
The crew consists of an international assembly of Dragon astronauts: Hopkins, Victor Glover and NASA’s Shannon and Walker, plus the Japanese space agency, JXA’s Sochi Noguchi. After a handful of safety checks and receptions early Tuesday morning, the team will get to work on science experiments and maintenance. They are expected to spend the next six months at the station. Dragon is capable of autonomy and is rated to stay on the station for 210 days as per NASA requirements.
The unveiling was celebrated at a post-unveiling conference on Sunday by representatives of NASA and SpaceX. “This is a great day for the United States of America and a great day for Japan,” said NASA Administrator Jim Brydenstein. “The big landmark here is that we are now moving from development and testing and to operational flights.”
“I look forward to enjoying the new era and moving forward together for the future,” said Hiroshi Sasaki, JXA’s vice president.
Less than 10 minutes after launch, the first phase Falcon 9 booster landed safely on the Just Read the Instructions droneship located in the Atlantic. It was the first time a reusable rocket had been used in a mission and was planned to be reused on the next operational flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, Crew-2.
Crew-2 is scheduled to launch in March 2021 and will carry four astronauts again. It will reuse the Crew Dragon Endeavor, which was first used in the SpaceX Demo-2 mission in May.
Through smoke, the first phase of the Falcon 9 on a droneship in the Atlantic.
NASA
After about 12 minutes, the elasticity separated from the second phase and departed its path.
The Falcon 9 rocket is not the first time a crew has launched a Dragon spacecraft. In May, NASA astronauts were Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley The first two humans to be taken into orbit by SpaceX’s workhorse rocket. But it was a test mission, ticking the final bits before NASA’s commercial crew program officially began operations.
Crew-1 signals the return of operational flights to U.S. soil and the first flight to the CCP. Until recently, NASA was buying flights on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Flying SpaceX will save NASA about 25 25 million per seat.
NASA has also contracted with Boeing to deliver astronauts to the ISS, but The company’s crude spacecraft, Starliner, ran into technical problems During its first insolent demonstration launch.
You can Watch the launch replay below.
Updated November 17: Added Doc King Success, headline changed
