NASA
On Monday afternoon, a Crew Dragon spacecraft was named Try Fell into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. Now, within two days, SpaceX and NASA are preparing to launch another Crew Dragon.
The landing on Monday sent back a crew of four private astronauts 17 day space travel Sponsored by Axiom Space, a private company. Since the return of the vehicle, NASA’s Business Team Program Manager Steve Stitch said the space agency and SpaceX engineers have been “exploring data” on the dragon’s performance through the atmosphere.
“It was a very clean flight overall, really no big deal,” Stitch said during a news conference with reporters Tuesday morning. “The team looked at a lot of data and they had the opportunity to review everything. They looked at the thermal protection system. They looked at a lot of GNC (guidance, navigation and control). The aircraft data. Apparently, the parachutes were very clean on this plane. They were almost identical, this time there was no sign of a setback, it was good. “
NASA officials were confident enough in Dragon’s performance to destroy the new Crew Dragon Crew capsule. Freedom, Will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday morning at 3:52 am ET (07:52 UTC). The Crew 4 will carry Commander Gazelle Lindgren, pilot Bob Hines and mission specialist Jessica Watkins, as well as all NASA astronauts and European Space Agency mission specialist Samantha Cristoforetti. The weather is fine in both the launch pad and the lower apartment zones.
Five days later Freedom The dock with the space station, four members of the Crew-3 mission launched in November will begin their journey to Earth. This five-day handover will ensure the continued presence of NASA astronauts on the space station.
The return of the Crew-3 will complete SpaceX’s sixth human spaceflight in two years. “It’s really significant because it’s all done by epidemics,” said Jessica Jensen, vice president of customer operations and integration at SpaceX on Tuesday morning.
SpaceX now has four Crew Dragon vehicles: Try, Expansion, ToleranceAnd Freedom. Company officials have said they do not want to build SpaceX Crew Dragons at the moment. On Monday, Benji Reid, the company’s director of human spaceflight, said he expects SpaceX to be able to support six human spaceflights a year. This is a possible breakdown of those tasks:
- Two NASA flights to the International Space Station (this number will remain the same until Boeing’s Starliner launches)
- Two private astronauts to the International Space Station, supported by Axiom Space or other private companies
- Two free-flying trips like the Inspiration 4 and the Polaris aircraft
According to Jensen, SpaceX is determined to continue to fly humans safely into space despite the rapid turnaround. “While this is very exciting and as busy as everyone is talking about, I would like to reiterate that safety is still a top priority,” he said.
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