The men have been aboard the International Space Station for two months, after it was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
Their journey began with a landmark launch in May that marked the first manned mission to take off from US soil in nearly a decade, and it could be the first of many if the capsule safely splashes off the Florida coast this weekend.
As of Thursday night, NASA said it still planned to move forward with the crash, but “the teams will continue to monitor the weather before undocking on Saturday night,” the space agency said in a tweet.
A safe homecoming is crucial. Although SpaceX previously launched a Crew Dragon on an unmanned demo mission, Hurley and Behnken’s mission is still considered a test. Both men are veteran NASA astronauts and test pilots specifically trained to respond to any technical issues that may arise in the new vehicle, and NASA will not officially certify Crew Dragon as a human-rated spacecraft until it makes a safe return. .
And the return trip is, in some ways, an even riskier journey than launch. Crew Dragon will need to traverse Earth’s atmosphere at 17,500 miles per hour. Rapid air compression and friction between air and spacecraft It will heat the exterior of the spacecraft to about 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA.
Behnken described his experience re-entering the atmosphere on previous NASA missions last year: “You actually see light from the atmosphere as it heats the outer parts of the spacecraft. You see some orange lights flickering in the plasma as it passes out the windows, “he said. “The vehicle is going through something quite severe, and we hope it will take care of us as it takes us to the entrance.”
Then, as the Dragon of the Crew approaches Earth, it will deploy a small set of parachutes, called “drogue parachutes,” to begin to slow their descent before a large column of four parachutes deactivates to slow down further. the vehicle. If all goes well, Crew Dragon will travel at less than 20 miles per hour when it touches the water.
Astronauts will experience much higher G-forces on the Dragon crew, Hurley said. And it will mark the first time that astronauts have landed in water since 1975.
Even after a dip, the journey can be jarring. Water can push the spacecraft, making astronauts uncomfortable while waiting for recovery ships to arrive.
“It takes a little time, so … we both will have the appropriate hardware ready if we start to feel a little sick,” Behnken said during a press conference on Friday. The “hardware,” the astronauts clarified, will be a paper bag, much like the one kept in the pockets of rear seats by airlines for nauseated passengers.
Behnken and Hurley will also need to land in a place with calm weather so that strong winds and high waves do not interfere with the splashing or recovery process. That means the climate criteria for the splash are even stricter than for launch.
NASA and SpaceX officials will continue to monitor the forecasts until Crew Dragon re-enters the atmosphere.
Clashes with Mother Nature have already been a recurring theme on Hurley and Behnken’s journey. Its first launch attempt in May was destroyed by thunderstorms. And during its second (successful) launch attempt on May 31, the countdown clock hit zero just as another batch of storm clouds cleared the sky.
If the weather prevents Crew Dragon from decoupling this weekend, NASA and SpaceX will try again next Wednesday, August 5.
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