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HOUSTON: The first US astronauts chosen to fly aboard a SpaceX capsule built for NASA ignored a slew of design and test incidents, claiming that such setbacks were "part of the process" and that the new technology was much more advanced than the space shuttle program completed eight years ago.
Veterans of the 48-year-old Space Shuttle Bob Behnken and 52-year-old Doug Hurley are scheduled to take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, later this year, in the first flight of the Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.
Two other astronauts, 50-year-old Mike Hopkins and 43-year-old Victor Glover, are scheduled to launch the vehicle's first official operational mission at a later date, possibly along with two other crew members. ;other countries.
Although a series of design problems and test accidents may end up delaying the launch for the first time this year until 2020, astronauts have expressed confidence in the capabilities and the space vehicle safety developed through NASA's new commercial partnerships. They also stated that space flights were not always tidy and clean.
"People think to a certain extent that it's pretty glamorous to be able to go into space, but it's actually a messy camping trip," Hurley told Reuters at the time. Recent interviews with astronauts conducted at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
SpaceX, a California-based company owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, successfully launched an unmanned Crew Dragon at the space station in March as part of a test mission called Demo 1. The capsule was recovered. safely in the Atlantic and was found several days later. later.
But the following month, April 20, SpaceX experienced a major setback when the same crew Dragon exploded during a ground test of the emergency release boosters of the vehicle, designed to propel the capsule and its crew to the rocket shelter in the sky. case of launch failure.
INQUIRY ON "ANOMALY"
The April accident, described as an "anomaly" by SpaceX and NASA in the language of aerospace engineers, is being investigated, although the astronaut team has gained "remarkable" access "to the investigation conducted by SpaceX, said Behnken.
"In general, the anomaly that has happened to us in the past is the best, because we will solve it … and we will make sure that it does not happen again," said Behnken. "We are the risk takers, and being aware of this risk is also extremely important."
Hopkins said, "It's part of the process, and it's no wonder it has happened, we all want to have some of these difficulties, but … as long as you have a good process, a good one. team put together, you can get through them. "
The Dragon Crew and the Falcon 9 rocket that propel it into orbit are two SpaceX creations. The first crew launch of the two will mark a major milestone, not only for the Musk company, but also for NASA, which wants to recover the manned space flight from US soil after nearly 10 years.
NASA pays SpaceX and its aerospace industry rival, Boeing Co, nearly $ 7 billion combined, to allow everyone to build rocket and capsule launch systems to transport astronauts to the space station . Since NASA ended its space shuttle program in 2011, US astronauts had to board Russia's Soyuz satellite for missions to the orbit research laboratory.
The first unmanned flight of the Boeing Starliner crew capsule is expected to follow SpaceX's first crewed mission, which will be followed by a mission carrying real astronauts into space by 2020.
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