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NASA Announces Target Date for First SpaceX Crew Dragon Flight

posted by chromas on Saturday November 24 2018, @10:50AM   Printer-friendly
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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

NASA announces target date for first SpaceX Crew Dragon flight

SpaceX is targeting Jan. 7 for launch of its first Crew Dragon commercial ferry ship on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station, NASA announced Wednesday, a major milestone in the agency’s drive to end its sole reliance on Russian Soyuz crew ships for carrying astronauts to orbit.

If the shakedown flight goes smoothly — and if a NASA safety probe unveiled Tuesday doesn’t turn up any show stoppers — SpaceX could be ready to launch the first piloted Crew Dragon atop a Falcon 9 rocket in the June timeframe, carrying veteran NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the space station.

[...] The unpiloted Crew Dragon flight coming up in January, known as Demo-1 on the SpaceX manifest, will launch from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Liftoff is expected around 11:57 p.m. EST (GMT-5) when Earth’s rotation carries the pad into the plane of the station’s orbit.

Once released from the Falcon 9, the spacecraft is expected to carry out an autonomous rendezvous with the International Space Station, gliding in to a docking at the lab’s recently modified forward port where shuttles once berthed. After a short stay, the capsule will undock and return to Earth with an ocean splashdown.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Saturday November 24 2018, @02:39PM (3 children)

    by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Saturday November 24 2018, @02:39PM (#765881) Journal

    I don't see why it can't carry some non-essential cargo.

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    • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday November 24 2018, @03:16PM

      by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 24 2018, @03:16PM (#765885) Journal

      Agreed. I can think of a few uncompelling reasons why you wouldn't....but nothing approaching the value of hauling some stuff up.
      .
      Stock for the 3d printer....extra filters...extra space MREs...another bucket of air...
      .
      Maybe the the _second_ place entries in those contests to get an experiment to the ISS :-p

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @04:13PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @04:13PM (#765902)

      Presumably they'll want a known-weight ballast in both directions. I think filling it with a bunch of sacks of little model capsules would be cool. Perhaps sensibly cobranded with NASA to garner some good will. Maybe send them to science teachers and museums around the world as a publicity thing. Use them in charity raffles and the like to help establish the brand and engage the public.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @05:16PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @05:16PM (#765924)

      Like the Orange One?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 25 2018, @01:28PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 25 2018, @01:28PM (#766149)

    Lest we forget history, putting up a capsule and docking isn't exactly big news,
        https://www.nasa.gov/apollo-soyuz/overview [nasa.gov]

    On July 15, 1975, an Apollo spacecraft launched carrying a crew of three and docked two days later on July 17, with a Soyuz spacecraft and its crew of two.
    ...
    The United States launched an Apollo command and service module on a Saturn IB rocket. The Apollo spacecraft, while nearly identical to the type that orbited the moon and later carried astronauts to Skylab, was modified to provide for experiments, extra propellant tanks and the addition of controls and equipment related to the docking module.

    The Soyuz was the primary Soviet spacecraft used for manned flight since its introduction in 1967. The docking module was designed and constructed by NASA to serve as an airlock and transfer corridor between the two craft.

    During nearly two days of joint activities, the mission's two Soviet cosmonauts and three U.S. astronauts carried out five joint experiments and exchanged commemorative items.

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