SpaceX confirms that its Crew Dragon capsule, designed to transport humans, was destroyed during a fire

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This could seriously derail the company's plans to start sending astronauts to the International Space Station this year.

Crew Dragon had a good start to the year in 2019 and did an unmanned demo flight in March in which he docked at the space station and returned home safely. But on April 20, the spacecraft was undergoing a "series of engine tests" at a Cape Canaveral facility when something was not going well during the last leg.

Thick plumes of smoke rose in the Florida skies, raising concern that there had been some sort of explosion related to a serious problem. But at the time, SpaceX only confirmed that an "anomaly" had occurred.

NASA and SpaceX were scrutinized after what appeared to be a test sequence that was leaked online. He showed the Space Shuttle in flames. The Orlando Sentinel announced earlier this week that NASA's internal memos obtained by the point of sale had confirmed the authenticity of the video.

For the first time since the incident, SpaceX released Thursday a more detailed account of what happened.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft was destroyed, said Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of SpaceX's insurance mission, during a press briefing on a separate mission from SpaceX.

He said the event was related to the startup of Crew Dragon 's SuperDraco engines, which feed the spacecraft' s emergency evacuation system.

In the event of a launch problem, for example, SuperDraco engines can move the capsule away from a defunct rocket and put the crew in safety. A demonstration of the security abandonment system had been scheduled for June.

SpaceX Crew Dragon, built to transport humans, returns home from the ISS

Koenigsmann said that it was still possible to put SpaceX's schedule back on track for Crew Dragon to launch people this year, but admitted that the incident was "definitely not a good thing." good news for the entire time ".

He added that the investigation of the engine problem is still ongoing. And he noted that other Crew Dragon spacecraft were already under construction, so the company would not start from scratch.

Crew Dragon is already late, but NASA wanted the capsule to start flying US astronauts later this year.

The United States does not have the technology to bring humans into orbit since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. In addition, NASA has paid Russia about $ 80 million per seat to send astronauts to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz capsules. t very popular in the congress halls.

NASA has decided to ask the private sector to design and build a new generation of spacecraft.

SpaceX and Boeing, (BA) which builds a vehicle called Starliner, won $ 2.6 billion and $ 4.2 billion contracts, respectively, in 2014. Both capsules were scheduled to start flying in 2017, but were delayed.
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SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, beat Boeing on the launch pad by sending Crew Dragon on an unarmed test flight in March, during which the capsule docked at the ISS for a few days before go home. This mission seemed to unfold without a hitch.

Crew Dragon was to perform a key test of his emergency abandonment system in June. And his first crewed mission, which will include astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, was scheduled for July, although NASA recently said the schedule was being revised.

Boeing 's goal is to launch the unprepared test flight of Starliner in August, potentially putting the capsule on the track to allow astronauts to fly their planes by the end of the summer. ;year.

Federal surveillance authorities warned NASA last year that further delays could harm American astronauts if the new capsules were not ready to fly in 2019. NASA had reserved only seats for Soyuz until December. But the space agency revealed in February that it would seek to get two more seats – one on a flight that would leave later this year and the other on a mission scheduled for spring 2020 – to ensure "a safe and continuous research activity and activity on ISS".

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