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WASHINGTON – NASA has officially certified SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft for transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station, paving the way for a November 14 launch.
Agency officials completed the spacecraft’s certification by signing a document known as the Human Rating Certification Plan during a flight readiness exam for the Crew-1 mission on November 10. This confirmed that SpaceX met all of NASA’s requirements to safely transport astronauts in the crew. Dragon spaceship and Falcon 9 launcher.
“It’s just a great day which is the culmination of a ton of work,” Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for exploration and human operations, said in a Nov. 10 briefing on the review of flight readiness. Lueders managed NASA’s Commercial Crew Program for several years before being promoted to her current role in June. “It’s NASA telling SpaceX you’ve shown us that you can provide a crew transport capability that meets our requirements.”
NASA officials previously said they plan to finalize certification, the last step in the overall commercial crew development program, during this review. This allowed them to analyze minor changes made after the Demo-2’s test flight this summer, such as changes to its heat shield and a sensor that triggers the release of parachutes when the capsule descends. .
After years of sometimes controversial relations, NASA and SpaceX have had kind words for each other. “This certification milestone is an incredible achievement by NASA and SpaceX that highlights the progress we can make by working with the commercial industry,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. agency.
“Thanks to NASA for its continued support to SpaceX and its partnership in achieving this goal,” Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX, said in the same statement. “I could not be more proud of everyone at SpaceX and all of our suppliers who worked incredibly hard to develop, test and pilot the first commercial manned space flight system in history to be certified by NASA.
The certification and completion of the flight readiness examination paves the way for the launch of the Crew-1 mission on November 14 at 7:49 p.m. east of the Kennedy Space Center. The launch will send NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Vic Glover and Shannon Walker, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, to the ISS for a six-month stay.
This launch remains on schedule despite SpaceX making a minor repair to the Falcon 9 rocket. The company said it will replace a valve on the rocket’s top stage after a review of test data. This postponed a static firing test of the first stage of the rocket by one day, until November 11.
This repair would only take a few hours, according to Benji Reed, senior director of human space flight programs at SpaceX. “I’m not too worried about having to delay further. We have a little more time, ”he said at the briefing. A successful static fire test on November 11 would allow NASA and SpaceX to conduct a “dry dress rehearsal” of launch preparations on November 12 as well as a final launch readiness review.
The review also confirmed that SpaceX fixed an issue with the Falcon 9’s engines that triggered a last-second abandonment of a GPS 3 satellite launch on October 2. SpaceX later determined that a “masking lacquer” material was blocking tiny valves in the engine’s gas generator. SpaceX fixed the problem and successfully launched this GPS 3 satellite on November 5.
SpaceX replaced two of the Falcon 9’s first-stage engines for this mission as part of this investigation. “We looked at all the data on these two new engines. All of this data looks good, ”said Steve Stich, director of the NASA Commercial Crew Program. “So I feel really good with this vehicle.”
NASA and SpaceX highlighted the mission’s various firsts during the briefing, including the first operational commercial crew mission and the first time NASA has flown four people on a capsule. It will also be the first manned orbital mission authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. Stich said the FAA will be responsible for public safety during the launch and re-entry.
“It’s very exciting for us to take this step and have the agency approved our human scoring certification,” Stich said of NASA’s certification of Crew Dragon, noting that he was involved in the process. program for 10 years. “Even though we are certified, I am not treating this flight any differently from any other flight. We’re going to methodically make sure we’re ready to launch. “
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