Spacex debuts new crew capsule in crucial test flight
Spacex closes in on human spaceflight with this weekend’s debut of a new capsule designed for astronauts. The six-day test flight will be real in every regard, beginning with a Florida liftoff today and a docking on Sunday with the International Space Station, AP reported.
But the Dragon capsule won’t carry humans, rather a test dummy — named Ripley after the tough heroine in the ‘Alien’ films — in the same white Spacex spacesuit that astronauts will wear.
NASA doesn’t expect this crucial shakedown cruise to go perfectly. But the lessons learned should improve safety when two NASA astronauts strap into a Dragon as early as July.
“Giant leaps are made by a series of consistent smaller steps. This one will be a big step!” retired astronaut Scott Kelly, NASA’S former one-year space station resident, tweeted on Thursday.
Boeing is also in the race to end NASA’S eight-year drought of launching US astronauts on US rockets from US soil. The space agency is turning to private taxi rides to reduce its pricey reliance on Russian rockets to get astronauts to and from the space station. NASA is providing $8 billion for Spacex and Boeing to build and operate these new systems.
“On a personal level, this is an extremely important mission,” Spacex executive Hans Koenigsmann told reporters Thursday. “And I’m pretty sure it’s not just me, I think everybody within Spacex feels this and wants to get this right.”
Let’s take a look at the newest space ride:
Crew vs. cargo
Spacex has made 16 space station deliveries over the past seven years. The private company overhauled the cargo Dragon capsule to make it safe — and comfortable — for passengers.
It’s slightly bigger — 27 feet (8 meters) tall — and also launches atop a Spacex Falcon 9 rocket. But now there are four seats, three windows, computer touch screens and life-support systems. Instead of solar wings, solar cells are on the spacecraft itself. And eight engines are built into the capsule walls for use in an emergency; these abort engines could shoot the capsule off a malfunctioning rocket anytime during the launch.
Spacex chic
You can’t go into space looking dowdy. Spacex founder and chief executive Elon Musk wants Dragon riders looking sharp and 21st century, just like their new, white, sleek spaceship.
The streamlined spacesuits are also white with black trim, with matching helmets and gloves. No bulky orange flight suits left over from NASA’S space shuttle program. Boeing is going with royal blue spacesuits for its Starliner capsule crews.
Along for the ride
Humans could one day be given the power of ‘super vision’ which would allow them to see in the dark, scientists said.
Nanoparticles inserted into the eyes of mice boosted their natural abilities beyond the normal range of colors and enabled the rodents to see infrared light, according to The Independent.
Using the new procedure the research team at the University of Science and Technology of China said they could actually modify someone’s vision to detect a wider spectrum of colors, with potential military applications.
“We could give humans night vision abilities, without the night vision goggles,” the lead researcher Dr. Tian Xue told The Independent.
Along with extending natural vision, Xue and his team think the technique The life-size Ripley — wearing Spacex’s slick new spacesuit — is strapped into one of the capsule’s seats. The dummy, whose name was unveiled Thursday, is rigged with sensors to see how it holds up.
Ripley is similar to Starman, which blasted off last year in the driver’s seat of Musk’s red Tesla convertible, on a test launch of the company’s bigger Falcon Heavy rocket. The capsule can accommodate up to seven astronauts. For this test, it’s carrying 450 pounds (200 kilograms) of supplies and gear.
Old pad, new look
Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A, used a half-century ago for Apollo moon shots and later space shuttle flights, has been remodeled and gussied up by tenant Spacex.
Most notable is the long, enclosed, gleaming white walkway at the top. The old bridge for rocket-boarding astronauts was open to the elements. Astronauts like the new, air-conditioned design.
“They’re very happy that it’s covered, and we’re trying to keep the mosquitoes out. Those Florida mosquitoes, they can get in anywhere,” said NASA’S commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders.
Hot competition
Just because Spacex is first off the pad doesn’t mean it will launch astronauts before Boeing. Spacex is shooting for a July crew launch, but that could slip depending on the results of the upcoming demo and a launch abort test this spring.
Several items — parachutes and thrusters, among others — still need work and possibly redesign before certified for human use. Boeing is targeting an April test flight of its Starliner capsule without crew, and a launch with three astronauts no earlier than August.
NASA’S Doug Hurley and Boeing’s Christopher Ferguson — who both flew that final shuttle mission — will test drive the new commercial capsules. Hurley will ride the Dragon and Ferguson the Starliner.