Crew Dragon's first manned flight will take place on May 27

On May 27, NASA will again launch American astronauts aboard an American launcher from American soil, tweeted Jim Bridenstine, administrator of the space agency. Nine years after the withdrawal of the space shuttles in July 2011, SpaceX relaunched American manned flights and became the first private company capable of sending men into space!

The Nasa has just announced, with a certain pride, that SpaceX will make its first manned flight on May 27 to the International space station. On board of Crew Dragon, the astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, who both flew twice in a shuttle. Take-off is scheduled for May 27 at 4:32 p.m. (8:32 p.m. GMT) from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, where the Apollo missions of the NASA lunar program.

The two American astronauts will join the orbital complex for a mission whose duration has not yet been specified. For the moment, there is still talk of a short mission, but NASA could decide to extend it to relieve the crew's work aboard the Station.

Currently, after back to Earth, February 6, by Alexander Skvortsov, Christina Koch and the astronautESA Luca Parmitano, there will only be three people on board (NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, and cosmonauts Russians, Nikolai Tikhonov and Andrei Babkin). A situation which limits scientific activities on board and restricts extra-vehicular trips, which are nevertheless necessary!

Animation of Crew Dragon. © Space X

Historic flight!

Despite the pandemic of Covid-19 which affects the United States, operations have continued in recent weeks to prepare for the launcher and the capsule to this historic flight.

Indeed, it will be the first manned flight launched from American soil and since the withdrawal of space shuttles in July 2011. Since that date, American astronauts were forced to use the space transport system Soyuz Russians.

With this flight, SpaceX will open a new chapter in the history of the space conquest by becoming the first private company to carry out a manned flight, after having been the first company to develop a partially reusable launcher. Certainly, the funding is public, certainly NASA accompanied SpaceX throughout the development of its transport system but still, what a feat for SpaceX, a company founded by Elon Musk less than twenty years ago, in 2002!

Nasa and SpaceX: the Dragon capsule will make its first human flight in May

Article by Rémy Decourt published on 19/03/2020

Although NASA is closely monitoring the development ofepidemic of Covid-19, obviously, the health context linked to coronavirus will not prevent the launch of the first manned flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. Just a slight delay for this first launch since 2011, departing from American soil to the ISS and carried out by a private company.

The launch of the Crew Dragon capsule of SpaceX, which is to transport astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time, is scheduled between mid-May and the end of May, NASA said Wednesday, announcing a date for the first human-made flight launched by the United States to the ISS since 2011.

The business rocket of billionaire Elon Musk, " Falcon 9, will launch Crew Dragon, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board (…) from Florida. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting a takeoff date at the earliest between mid-May and late May ", Said the American space agency in a communicated.

First flight with crew

In March, the capsule had made a round trip to the ISS, to which it had moored more than 400 kilometers from the Earth, with only one manikin on board. The vehicle had spent six days in space before returning to the Atlantic. Since the end of the space shuttles in 2011, after thirty years of service, only the Russians have been going back and forth to the ISS. SpaceX has made the journey to International space station fifteen times since 2012, but only to refuel the station.

To reduce costs, NASA has, for the first time, entrusted the transport of its astronauts to private companies: the space agency no longer owns the vessels or rockets and buys a service, for a fixed price. Boeing also won a contract and is developing its own capsule, Starliner.

SpaceX: Crew Dragon in the starting blocks for its first manned flight

Rémy Decourt article, published on February 19, 2020

In a few weeks, SpaceX could become the first private company to carry out a manned flight. However, neither Nasa nor SpaceX wanted to communicate on the target launch date, probably in May. As for Boeing, its capsule is nailed to the ground until the commission of inquiry set up after the too many problems encountered by the Starliner during its Review flight, gives its conclusions.

While SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule arrived at its launch site for the NASA Kennedy Space Center, in preparation for its first manned flight, neither Nasa nor SpaceX dared to give a date for this flight. If there is little doubt that it will take place in May or June, the date often cited is that of May 7, NASA does not wish to rush its communication.

As for SpaceX, we want to be calm. After a unmanned Review flight successfully completed in March 2019 and a successful flight Review of the launch abandonment system (January 2020), all the lights are green. For this first mission, the Crew Dragon should have on board NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. The latter two should then stay at least a week on board the orbital complex, but NASA could decide to extend the mission of the two astronauts for a few more weeks to ease the work of the crew aboard the Station.

Boeing expectant

As for Boeing, the situation is much more complicated. After the disappointment of his unmanned Review flight (December 2019), the aircraft manufacturer could be forced to make a second one, which would postpone the date of entry into service of its transport system until the end of the year. This situation explains, among other things, why NASA is negotiating one or even two places on board the next Soyuz flights to the ISS.

After this first partially successful Review flight, NASA and Boeing admitted that several problems had danger the capsule, in particular due to multiple problems of software, including a computer code error that could have been tragic for the capsule. NASA highlighting possible difficulties in the corporate culture of Boeing, not hesitating to allude to the crisis of the 737 MAX aircraft to explain these complications. The independent investigation, set up to make the light on these major dysfunctions, must deliver its conclusions at the end of February. They will decide the immediate future of the program, which will certainly require a second unmanned Review flight.

This will also interest you

Crew Dragon, the SpaceX capsule to take astronauts on the ISS SpaceX is one of three candidates mandated by NASA to supply a new capsule for passenger relief on the International Space Station. Here is a ehealth of the Crew Dragon, the ship developed for the occasion.

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