NASA and SpaceX's Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) carried two astronauts, Douglas Hurley and Bob Behnken. Subsequent missions will carry four astronauts, starting with SpaceX Crew-1 in September 2020. Now, the astronauts flying on SpaceX Crew-2 in 2021 have been announced, and they will likely be launched using "flight-proven" hardware:
NASA and its international partners have assigned crew members for Crew-2, which will be the second operational SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, for the mission. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet will join as mission specialists.
Crew-2 is targeted to launch in spring 2021, following the successful completion of both NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 test flight mission, which is expected to return to Earth Aug. 2, and the launch of NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission, which is targeted for late September. The Crew-2 astronauts will remain aboard the space station for approximately six months as expedition crew members, along with three crewmates who will launch via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The increase of the full space station crew complement to seven members – over the previous six – will allow NASA to effectively double the amount of science that can be conducted in space.
SpaceX's third NASA astronaut launch to reuse Crew Dragon and Falcon 9
If Demo-2 Crew Dragon capsule C206 is able to safely return astronauts Behnken and Hurley to Earth and make it back to dry land in one piece, it could become the first American space capsule in history to launch astronauts into orbit twice. The same goes for Crew-1 Falcon 9 booster B1061: if it successfully launches and lands as part of SpaceX's operational astronaut launch debut, it will be refurbished to become the first liquid rocket booster in the world to support two astronaut launches when it flies again on Crew-2.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by KilroySmith on Thursday July 30 2020, @01:38AM (6 children)
I'm as big a booster of SpaceX as anyone, but "it could become the first American space capsule in history to launch astronauts into orbit twice" is quite the hyperbole - sure, it's the first "capsule", but that's nowhere near the achievements of the Space Shuttle (which, I guess, isn't a "capsule") in getting reused to launch astronauts into orbit.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday July 30 2020, @01:53AM (3 children)
They get really excited over every little milestone. Guinness style.
I quoted that because I didn't see where NASA provided the info (maybe an older article).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday July 30 2020, @02:20AM (2 children)
Me too. Except I'm usually having Guinness by pints instead of little milestones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday July 30 2020, @02:31AM (1 child)
Cubic miles.
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(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday July 30 2020, @02:44AM
Get in touch with FatPhil, he may be able to help with beer in those quantities.
I heard he needs a line of credit at the local pub from time to time and there are signs he's having an acute hypoalcoholemia attack recently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday July 30 2020, @05:29AM (1 child)
Any hype about getting men in space 60 years after the first achievement is kind of beyond reasonable. Having said that, the real test will come after they lose some men.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday July 30 2020, @03:01PM
Looking at the cost it took for us to actually do what we did, it's a wonder, we did it at all. https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/cost-of-apollo [planetary.org]
The amazing thing is we have a private, commercial space program, that actually makes money and saves NASA money. As opposed to the private commercial space contractors that suckled the government teet, before SpaceX. Sure, SpaceX gets that government funding as well, but they were the only ones actually making it a competition.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @03:47AM (3 children)
I remember a couple of years ago, the plan was to use each capsule for astronauts only once, and then retire it or use it for cargo delivery afterward. Especially after the little kaflooie with the Crew Dragon unmanned test vehicle, I'm surprised they're relaxing that rule so soon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @03:55AM
That seems to be an odd way to do a reusable crew capsule, though back then they may have been working on the assumption that making the Crew Dragon reusable would take a few tries to get right. SpaceX seems to like to hedge their bets when they can so I guess that isn't surprising.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday July 30 2020, @04:05AM (1 child)
NASA is probably watching every SpaceX launch closely, so they will know about problems even on a Starlink launch, for example. They must be confident that the reuse/refurbishment process works.
You can spin reusability two different ways: slightly damaged, or "flight proven".
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(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Thursday July 30 2020, @05:21AM
Still, "not end-to-end tested" is a valid description for "new". It's not all spin in my opinion.