[ad_1] Like the launch itself, the Crew Dragon landing was highly automated compared to many previous human-piloted missions. Behnken and Hurley still accomplished a lot, though, including performing and contributing to numerous experiments while they were aboard the International Space Station. It’s an important occasion beyond the firsts involved. This is the last Crew Dragon […]
Category: commercial crew program
NASA plans to use private spacecraft for crewed suborbital flights
[ad_1] NASA’s private spaceflight plans extend well beyond launching people into orbit. The agency is forming a plan to fly astronauts, investigators and other staff aboard suborbital spacecraft. Once a Suborbital Crew office inside the Commercial Crew Program has qualified a suborbital system as safe to use, NASA will buy seats aboard suborbital flights for […]
Watch SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in-flight abort test at 8 AM ET on Saturday
[ad_1] Tomorrow’s test will demonstrate Crew Dragon’s ability to separate from Falcon 9 and carry astronauts to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency on ascent pic.twitter.com/Cji4S5JDHl — SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 17, 2020 Last March, Crew Dragon successfully flew to the ISS and back, and if all goes well, a crewed flight could occur […]
Watch Boeing’s Starliner test launch at 6:36AM ET
[ad_1] Last year around this time we talked about all of the delays going into the new space race between SpaceX and Boeing, who are competing to build a new spaceflight system that NASA can use to take astronauts to the ISS. Since then, SpaceX successfully sent its Crew Dragon on an uncrewed test flight […]
SpaceX’s next Crew Dragon test could happen next week
[ad_1] An “anomaly” that occurred during another static fire test in April caused an uncrewed capsule to explode. Earlier this month, SpaceX suggested the problem was due to a leak somewhere between the launch abort and orbital maneuvering systems. It has redesigned that part of the capsule. The capsule will eventually transport as many as […]
Elon Musk and NASA’s administrator will talk Crew Dragon on Thursday
[ad_1] Just before Elon Musk took a victory lap to show off SpaceX’s Starship in Texas, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine congratulated him while mentioning that his organization “expects to see the same enthusiasm focused on the investments of the American taxpayer.” He was referring to the long-delayed Commercial Crew program that SpaceX is participating in […]
SpaceX shows off a highlight reel of Crew Dragon parachute tests
[ad_1] As SpaceX continues its progress toward a Demo-2 launch of its Crew Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronauts aboard the company put together this reel of parachute tests. According to the tag, “SpaceX is returning human spaceflight capabilities to the United States with one of the safest, most advanced systems ever built.” I didn’t spot […]
SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule suffers ‘anomaly’ in testing
[ad_1] The company had been gearing up for a mission abort test that would have fired all eight of Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco engines in mid-launch, showing that the capsule could get away from its host rocket in an emergency. That test was supposed to take place in June, but it’s not certain this will happen […]
Watch SpaceX’s Crew Dragon return to Earth starting at 2 AM ET
[ad_1] Just about a week after launching on its inaugural voyage, the SpaceX Crew Dragon has one more step to complete: returning to Earth. First, the uncrewed spacecraft will undock from the International Docking Adapter on the ISS that it has called home for the last few days, which is scheduled to occur at about […]