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The spacecraft Crew Dragon drops under his parachutes shortly before diving into the Atlantic Ocean on March 8th. (Credit: NASA / Cory Huston) |
by Jeff Foust
Monday, March 11, 2019
There were a lot of celebrations a week ago when SpaceX successfully launched its spaceship Crew Dragon, which docked at the International Space Station a day later (see "The Time of the Crew" commercial approach ", The Space Review, March 4, 2019) however, this was only part of the mission: a vehicle that can safely transport astronauts to the station must also be able to bring them safely back to Earth.
| "I'm super excited," said Reed of SpaceX. "I can not believe how successful the whole mission has been." |
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk did not reassure everyone about it at a press conference after the launch, noting the differences in shape between the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the proven cargo version. "It's not kind of a smooth taper like Dragon 1 because of the exhaust thruster pods," he said. "It could potentially cause roll instability when back in school."
"I think it's unlikely," he quickly added, noting that the company was doing "a thousand-fold" simulations of the school year. "I would say that hypersonic reintroduction is probably my biggest concern."
So all eyes were back on the Dragon early in the morning, Friday, as he was moving away from the space station. Undocking and maneuvering away from the station went smoothly, as did docking five days earlier. Five hours later, he dropped the main part of the spacecraft, closed the nose of the cone and pulled his thrusters on a de-orbiting maneuver to resettle.
Musk, in the end, did not have to worry. Back-to-school seemed to be going as planned and the spacecraft was spotted – by a NASA plane at high altitude, then by SpaceX's recovery vessels – descending right on the target a few hundred kilometers from the coast from Florida. The four main parachutes of the spacecraft, another area of concern, despite the difficulties of testing, were deployed as planned and the spacecraft was projected at 8:45 am ET. East, six days and almost six hours after taking off from the Kennedy Space Center.
The overall success of the Demo-1 test flight was a pleasant surprise, even for SpaceX employees. "I'm super excited," said Benji Reed, director of mission management for SpaceX's sales teams, in an interview with NASA TV right after the crash. "I can not believe how successful the whole mission has been."
The Dragon Crew spacecraft over the salvage ship GO Searcher after the accident. (credit: NASA / Cory Huston) |
Crew Drago is back home – salvage ships carrying the spacecraft arrived in Port Canaveral on Saturday night – and now focus on analyzing the spacecraft's performance during its mission and determining changes to bring before NASA approves the presence of astronauts in flight for the demonstration. -2 test flights, currently scheduled for July at the earliest.
"We are very interested in the data," said Mike Hopkins, a NASA astronaut assigned to the crew of the first operational Crew Dragon mission after Demo-2 after the crash. "I guess lessons will be learned, improvements and changes we will have to make from that. All of this is part of the testing process. "
| "I do not think we really saw anything in the mission so far … that would prevent us from having the crewed mission later this year," said Stich. |
One of these improvements could be in the process of spaceship recovery. The objective was to have the spacecraft aboard the salvage ship, no more than an hour after the landing, but it took a little longer before the Dragon Crew was towed onto the bridge. ship.
"It's a long wait to be recovered," said NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, who was watching the recovery efforts of one of the ships. "We are going to shorten the schedule a bit knowing that the crew will probably not feel very well at this point."
Nothing, however, was immediately considered a serious problem for Crew Dragon. "I do not think we've seen anything so far in the mission – we need to review the data – which would prevent us from having a crewed mission later this year." said Steve Stich, deputy director of NASA's commercial division. program of the crew.
These data analyzes will take place in the coming weeks, one of which is scheduled for this week, which will focus on the launch and performance of ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center. "This flight is really preparing us for the rest of the year," said Stich.
The launch of this crewed mission, Demo-2, is currently not planned until July, although most expect this date to run at least two months, depending on the time of day. state of play of the reviews of this recent mission as well as the overall schedule of the mission. activities at the ISS. Before Demo-2, you will perform a flight dropping test of the Crew Dragon evacuation system, using the same capsule used to fly Demo-1. This test is currently scheduled for June.
Boeing is also preparing for its undeveloped test flight, which it calls the orbital flight test, of its CST-100 Starliner. This launch is scheduled for April, although NASA and Boeing have not provided a recent update on the preparations for the launch. Even though the spacecraft is ready for April, a calendar loaded with other ISS activities this month, including the Dragon freighter cargo ship and Northrop Grumman's Cygnus cargo ship missions, could to reverse this mission.
The plans for the Starliner crew flight test mission, its equivalent to SpaceX's Demo-2, also remain to be determined. This mission will carry three astronauts, including former NASA astronaut and current Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson. NASA and Boeing have left open the possibility of extending this test flight for up to six months, making it a new ISS crew rotation mission, depending on the needs of the station. (SpaceX's Demo-2 mission will stay at the station for a month at most.)
NASA has not yet made a decision on the duration of this Boeing mission, or even when it will. "As we get closer, we will be able to assess what the needs are, and we will make decisions based on those needs," said NASA's Jim Bridenstine, prior to the launch of SpaceX Demo-1. "I do not have a calendar yet."
| "There is still a lot of work to be done," said Magnus. "We are not yet ready to put humans on one or the other vehicle." |
While the crew Dragon was moored to the ISS, the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Committee (ASAP) met at the KSC. "The amount of work done is impressive" since the group's quarterly meeting, said Sandy Magnus, a former astronaut and ASAP member, at the March 7 meeting. "It is clear that both providers worked a lot."
But, she added, Boeing and SpaceX have a long way to go before NASA can consider placing astronauts on these vehicles. "There is still a lot of work to be done," she said. "We are not yet ready to put humans on one or the other vehicle."
She and other ASAP members warned against the pressure of the schedule on the commercial crew program, saying that they were relieved that NASA was taking action such as the following. purchase additional Soyuz seats to guarantee access to the resort until 2020.
"We are witnessing the beginnings of a transition from development to an operational stance" with the Demo-1 mission, said Patricia Sanders, President of ASAP. "There are a lot of tests, checks and probably touch-ups before the launch and the crew's return to space can begin. We continue to insist that no corners are cut, no essential content is removed, no response to calendar pressure is allowed to influence decisions that unduly affect safety. "
The safe return of the Space Shuttle Crew Dragon, however, has shown with some relief that the beginning of the end of the development of the commercial crew was finally imminent, with astronauts coming soon – later this year, hopefully – driven by these vehicles.
"Fifty years after humans landed on the moon for the first time, the United States has achieved another breakthrough in space exploration," said the astronaut of the United States. NASA Anne McClain shortly after disarming Crew Dragon. "Our fellow astronauts will be boarding Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner vehicles, and we can not wait."
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