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A former NASA astronaut now employed by Axiom Space said the launch of SpaceX’s private astronaut would reuse the same Crew Dragon spacecraft that currently supports NASA’s Crew-1 mission in orbit.
Currently, just weeks after the start of a planned six-month stay in orbit, potentially marking the longest uninterrupted flight of an American spacecraft to date, the Crew Dragon C207 capsule and an expandable trunk section have arrived. at the International Space Station (ISS) on November 16. Known as Crew-1, the mission represents the beginnings of the operational launch of commercial astronauts from SpaceX and NASA, carrying four astronauts to the ISS.
Basically, the mission has been an almost flawless success so far and Falcon 9 has now completed four Crew Dragon launches with no issues. On the Dragon side, the Crew-1 spacecraft performed a little less flawlessly than those tasked with piloting Demo-1 and Demo-2, but SpaceX handled the minor issues that arose with the professionalism and composure of a team. far more familiar with human spaceflight.
Aside from early successes, there is still some uncertainty ahead of Crew Dragon. While several Russian spacecraft have decades of experience spending at least several months in orbit at a time, a crewed US spacecraft has never spent more than 84 days in orbit. SpaceX itself actually broke NASA to secure the record for second place with the launch of the 63-day Crew Dragon Astronaut Demo-2, completed with a successful reentry and splashdown on August 2.
However, Crew-1 is expected to more than double that previous US record and almost triple SpaceX’s second-place record, spending around 180 days (six months, more or less) in orbit. Except in the event of an unprecedented space station or spacecraft emergency, the Crew Dragon C207 will detach from the ISS, return to Earth’s atmosphere, and crash into the Gulf of Mexico or the ocean. Atlantic in May 2021. Of course, as the first salvageable U.S. spacecraft to spend anywhere near this long in orbit, the Crew-1 Crew Dragon will be closely monitored to ensure the safety and reliability of its complex flight systems. re-entry and recovery after about six months exposed to the extremes of space.
Yet success is by far the most likely outcome. When the Crew Dragon C207 splashes, its four astronaut passengers will be carefully pulled out and the inspection and refurbishment process will begin almost immediately after. Crew-1 will technically be the second Crew Dragon spacecraft to be refurbished after orbital spaceflight, following Dragon 2’s inaugural reuse of the Demo-2 C206 capsule perhaps just a month or two before.
The Demo-2 Crew Dragon capsule is currently scheduled to fly for a second time as of March 31, 2021 on SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission, carrying four other astronauts to the ISS. If successful, Crew-2 will represent the first commercial astronaut launch to reuse both an orbital-class rocket thruster and an orbital spacecraft, and the refurbishment and flight process overseen by NASA will thus pave the way for future flight-proven astronaut launches. This includes the first private AX-1 astronaut launch from private company Axiom Space, which is currently scheduled to launch as early as Q4 2021.
The AX-1 will be led by former NASA astronaut Mike Lopez-Algeria and will carry three other private astronauts, including Israeli multimillionaire Eytan Stibbe. SpaceX will therefore be responsible for launching Israel’s second astronaut after the death of Ilan Ramon when a design flaw in the heat shield caused the rupture of NASA’s space shuttle Columbia when it re-entered in 2003.
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