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The SpaceX Crew Dragon was sent into space at the top of a Falcon 9 rocket tonight, beginning the crucial test of a spacecraft destined to carry NASA astronauts to and from the Space Station international.
The takeoff took place at the scheduled time at 2:49 pm (Eastern Time) on Saturday (23:49 pm Friday) from 39A Historic Launch Complex located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, point departure of the last mission of the shuttle and trips to the moon. in the Apollo era.
Within minutes, the second leg of the Falcon 9 put the unprepared capsule in orbit, while the first propeller allowed a successful sea landing on a drone ship stationed hundreds of miles off the Atlantic Ocean.
The late-night event, followed by hundreds of spectators near the Florida launch site and by thousands of webcasting witnesses, kicked off the first orbital flight of a spaceship built privately and designed to transport humans.
"Today's successful launch marks a new chapter in American excellence, once again bringing US astronauts flying US rockets into the US," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. said via Twitter. He called the mission "a revolutionary step on our path to bring humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond".
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, looked tired but happy at a press conference after the launch. "To be honest, I'm a little emotionally exhausted, because it was super stressful," he told reporters. "But it worked … until now."
Although no human is aboard this first Crew Dragon capsule, you can state that there is a mechanical crew member. SpaceX has placed a manikin loaded with sensors in one of the Dragon's seats, to measure how rigorous the ride will be for astronauts at the end of the year.
Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of reliability of SpaceX construction and flight systems, hesitated to call the test device a manikin. "We call her a" smartie "and she calls Ripley," he said at a pre-launch briefing.
This name pays tribute to the character played by Sigourney Weaver in the "Alien" series of sci-fi movies. It also brings some anthropomorphic balance to the SpaceX test dummies: at the inaugural launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last year, the test payload included a Tesla Roadster with a dummy dubbed "Starman" in place of the driver.
The Dragon Crew is a dramatically improved version of the Dragon Cargo carrying supply missions to the International Space Station since 2012. "There is virtually nothing in common with Dragon 1," Musk said.
This mission is designed to test all spacecraft systems prior to crewed missions later this year. Kathy Lueders, NASA's Commercial Team Program Manager, said it was essential to minimize the risks of a brand new type of vehicle before people boarded.
"It's an invaluable exercise for us, learning in the space environment how these systems will work and then making sure these systems are ready to go when we're going to send our crews on," she said. Thursday pre-launch briefing.
Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana said the unprepared mission also served as a rehearsal for ground operations. "This is not just a test flight for the vehicle," he told reporters at a press conference launched Friday. "This is a test flight for the entire management team."
In addition to Ripley – and the stuffed Earth that was placed on one of the seats to serve as a "super high tech, zero g" indicator, in the words of Musk, the Crew Dragon carries 400 pounds of supplies and equipment for the station. The robot controlled appointment is scheduled early Sunday morning.
In recent weeks, Russian space officials have expressed concern over the Dragon's ability to have sufficient back-up computer capacity for this crucial link. To address these concerns, NASA and Roscosmos have developed a plan to prepare the three crew members of the station to shelter in a moored Soyuz spacecraft in case the rendezvous takes a bad ride. turn.
Assuming everything goes as planned, NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian David Saint-Jacques will open the hatch, test and inspect the interior of the Dragon after berthing. Meanwhile, cameras connected to the robotic arm built in Canada by the station will inspect the outside.
The Dragon must remain docked at the station for five days, and then land and descend on March 8 in a spill in the Atlantic Ocean. "It's obviously something we have to practice in anticipation of the actual crew flight being fast to the right place, that we have all the potential medical care at the right time," said Koenigsmann.
Musk has ranked next week's descent among the most crucial tests of the Crew Dragon. "I would say that hypersonic reintroduction is my main concern," he said.
Earth floats gently in weightlessness pic.twitter.com/XUH3KeDPVe
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2019
NASA awarded multi-billion dollar contracts to SpaceX and Boeing in 2014 to develop commercial space taxis for the transportation of astronauts to and from the space station to fill the vacuum left by the withdrawal of the fleet of space shuttles in 2011. In the meantime, NASA has paid the Russians as much as $ 80 million per seat for back and forth on the Soyuz spacecraft.
Boeing is expected to send its Starliner space capsule to the space station for the first time next spring. The current schedule provides for SpaceX's first Crew Dragon crew to take place in July to the Demonstration Mission 2 or Demo-2 space station. The first crewed Boeing launch is scheduled for August.
The crews for these missions have already been chosen. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will use the Dragon, while the Starliner will carry Nicole Mann and Mike Fincke of NASA, as well as Boeing test pilot Chris Ferguson (former NASA Space Shuttle Commander) ).
There is a good chance that the scheduled flight schedule will slide. "I do not think we all agree that we're not ready for the Demo-2 mission," Behnke told reporters.
For example, NASA wants to make sure that SpaceX has fully responded to concerns about Falcon 9's composite helium tanks wrapped in composite materials, which have been redesigned after a ramp explosion. launch in 2016. The parachutes of the Crew Dragon are still being tested. some design changes made to the propeller system of the gear.
Other "unknown unknowns" may well be discovered during unprepared test flights or at the next tests of launch abandonment systems for the Crew Dragon and Starliner spacecraft. Due to these uncertainties, NASA has been discussing with the Russians the purchase of additional Soyuz seats to ensure that US astronauts will continue to have access to the space station in case of further delay.
This is an updated version of a report that was first released at 11 am on March 1st.
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