A gum drop-shaped fireball is expected to collapse on Earth on Saturday.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, carrying four astronauts for NASA, is expected to crisscross the atmosphere at 25 times the speed of sound, deploy four parachutes as it approaches the Florida coast, and then hover for a slight dip in the air. ocean at 11:36 am. am AND.
The spacecraft, named Resilience, flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in November, carrying Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins of NASA, as well as Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA ). Astronauts have lived and worked in orbit for more than five months – the longest manned space flight in U.S. history.
Their mission, called Crew-1, officially restored NASA’s ability to launch people into space on an American spacecraft for the first time since space shuttles ceased flying in 2011. Six-person spaceflight months have been routine for NASA astronauts launching Russian Soyuz spacecraft. but until now, the United States had never carried out such long-term missions on its own.
Crew-1 is also SpaceX’s first routine astronaut flight for NASA. The agency has already purchased five other Crew Dragon missions. The second, Crew-2, launched four more astronauts on Friday and reached the ISS on Saturday morning.
There are currently 11 people aboard the International Space Station.
NASA
Walker, Glover, Hopkins and Noguchi have welcomed the new arrivals, but the ISS is now crowded. So, on Friday afternoon, the Crew-1 team will board the Crew Dragon Resilience for the return trip.
SpaceX has sent humans back to Earth from the ISS once before – in a crewed test flight called Demo-2. In May, this mission propelled NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken into orbit. They stayed aboard the ISS for two months before crashing in the Gulf of Mexico.
During Behnken and Hurley’s return to Earth, however, a crowd of spectator boats came dangerously close to the spacecraft after it was splashed. To prevent this from happening again, SpaceX, NASA and the Coast Guard plan to secure a 10-mile boat-free perimeter around the Crew-1 overflow site.
Crew 1’s return trip was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but NASA delayed it after forecasts called for high winds in the overflow areas.
Watch Crew-1’s return to Earth live
NASA will broadcast the nearly 8-hour trip – including the fiery dive to Earth and the splashdown at the end – via the livestream below, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.
The entire descent and landing process is automated, but Hurley advised Crew 1 astronauts to make sure they “stay ahead of the capsule,” according to Hopkins, who is the commander of the mission.
“Preparing for this landing is just going through our procedures and making sure, as we go into this sequence of events, that we are ready to go, and that we go through the whole automation process as we go. as that leads us, hopefully, to a safe landing, ”he told reporters on Monday on a call from the ISS.
Walker, Glover, Hopkins and Noguchi will board the Resilience capsule and close its hatch behind them at 3:50 p.m. ET on Friday. After about two hours of control, the now Resilience hooks attached to the space station are expected to retract at 5:55 p.m. ET, detaching the spacecraft from the ISS. The vehicle will then launch its thrusters to reverse.
If all goes well, Resilience will spend the night orbiting Earth and maneuvering into place. Then, the capsule will drop its trunk – a lower part equipped with fuel tanks, solar panels and other equipment – which astronauts will no longer need.
From there, Crew-2’s astronauts could be in for a very bumpy ride.
“The landing was – I’d say it was more than what Doug and I expected,” Behnken told reporters after returning to Earth aboard the spacecraft. “Personally, I was surprised at how quickly the events unfolded.”
“It was like we were inside an animal,” he added.
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft, August 2, 2020.
NASA / Document via Reuters
Behnken also said the pivotal moments in the landing process – like when the capsule separated from its trunk and when the parachutes deployed – were “a lot like getting hit in the back of the chair with a bat. baseball “.
As the Resilience spacecraft nears Earth, it will fire its thrusters continuously, pushing itself further into the atmosphere.
An animation of Crew Dragon crisscrossing the atmosphere.
SpaceX
Soon, the spacecraft will plunge into the atmosphere, superheating the material around it to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. At that moment, Behnken said, he could feel the capsule heating up and the force of Earth’s gravity pulling him in for the first time in two months. It was like being in a juicer, he added.
The Crew Dragon’s heat shield – a collection of heat-resistant tiles that line the spaceship’s belly – must deflect this overheated material to protect the astronauts inside. After Demo-2 landed, NASA and SpaceX found that one of these tiles had worn more than expected. SpaceX therefore reinforced the heat shield with stronger materials.
Once it’s about 18,000 feet above the ocean, Resilience is expected to deploy four parachutes – which brings a “pretty big jolt,” according to Behnken.
The Dragon Endeavor crew lands in the Gulf of Mexico, bringing astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley back to Earth on August 2, 2020.
NASA / Bill Ingalls
From there, Resilience should slide into a slight dip in the ocean at 11:36 a.m. ET. A recovery team will wait to retrieve the charred capsule and transport the astronauts to land.
The SpaceX GO Navigator salvage vessel lifts the Crew Dragon Endeavor capsule from the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola, Fla., August 2, 2020.
NASA / Bill Ingalls
“The landings are always pretty dynamic, especially with capsules like this, especially when the falls open up. So it’s always a little exciting,” Hopkins said.
When asked what he would like to eat upon his return from the ISS, he replied, “If I have an appetite, it’s going to be a bonus.”
