Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
SpaceX to simulate crewed mission
Demonstration launch may signal return of U.S. astronaut missions
It’ll be a moment the Space Coast hasn’t witnessed in nearly a decade, when a capsule outfitted for astronauts takes a ride to the cosmos.
The early Saturday launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule won’t have crew inside for now, but if it’s successful, the liftoff will clear the way for the first astronaut-piloted launch from the United States since the shuttle program was shuttered in 2011.
The demonstration mission also is the first endeavor by a private American company to send an astronaut capsule to the International Space Station.
And it’ll kick start a sequence of launches contracted under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which paid SpaceX $2.6 billion and Boeing $4.2 billion to build, test and operate astronaut capsules that would eventually ween the nation off its dependency on Russia to reach the space station.
The U.S. has paid about $81 million a seat for rides on Russia’s Soyuz rockets to keep the ISS staffed by Americans.
SpaceX’s demo test, scheduled for 2:49 a.m. Saturday from Kennedy Space Center’s complex 39A, will be the first launch in the program and a chance for teams to iron out any final details before putting astronauts in the seven-seat Crew Dragon. A crewed
SpaceX launch could come as soon as July. Boeing’s test is scheduled for April, followed by a crewed launch in August.
So far, the weather is looking favorable for the launch. According to the 45th Weather Squadron, conditions are 80 percent “go” for launch Saturday, with the possibility of thick cloud cover. Conditions worsen for a back-up launch window on March 5, with weather 60 percent “go” for launch due to the potential for rain.
The test flight
When it does take off, SpaceX’s test flight will simulate a crewed mission as closely as possible, said Hans Koenigsmann, the company’s vice president of build and flight reliability, last week.
Inside, the 16-foot-tall capsule will be fully outfitted to simulate a crewed launch, including a mannequin in a SpaceX astronaut suit that will also take the ride.
She’ll be named Ripley, after Sigourney Weaver’s character, Ellen Ripley, in the 1979 film “Alien.” Last year, SpaceX sent a dummy named “Starman” riding a red Tesla roadster on the maiden flight for its ultrapowerful Falcon Heavy rocket.
“[The mannequin] will measure the responses on the human body and measure the environment,” Koenigsmann said. “We want to make sure everything is perfect for the safety of the astronauts.”
Also on board will be radiation monitors, utilization hardware to bring samples back to Earth and other crew supplies, said Kirk Shireman, manager of the International Space Station Program. In all, Crew Dragon will shuttle about 400 pounds of supplies.
Apart from a demonstration mission, Shireman said teams are taking the mission seriously from the
standpoint of the ISS. There are currently three astronauts aboard the space station — American Anne McClain, Russian Oleg Kononenko and Canadian David Saint-Jacques.
“Even though this is a test mission for us...We also have been very aware that this is a mission and vehicle that’s going to the space station and we need to make sure it can safely go and rendezvous with the space station,” said Kathy Lueders,
manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
The crew on the ISS is preparing for Dragon’s arrival on Sunday. They’ll board the capsule shortly after it docks and take photos from inside.
Their safety was the only lingering concern that persisted following an all-day readiness review at KSC last week. In December, officials from Russia’s Roscosmos space agency expressed concern that SpaceX’s capsule
did not have a backup computer system in case the capsule lost power and potentially collided with the space station.
NASA’s associate administrator of human exploration and operations, William Gerstenmaier, assured the issue would be cleared before Saturday’s launch. NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has also outlined several areas of concern in both the SpaceX and Boeing capsules that will need to be resolved before a human launch.
Nevertheless, challenges are expected for Saturday’s launch — and that’ll be good, Gerstenmaier said. It’ll give teams a chance to fix any final issues before launching with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard.
“I guarantee everything will not work exactly right, and that’s cool,” Gerstenmaier said. “...We want to maximize our learning.”
After the launch, if it takes off Saturday, the capsule is expected to spend five days docked to the ISS before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida on March 8.
NASA will then review the flight data and performance, and, if all goes well, certify business mogul Elon Musk’s space company for its next major milestone: Launching with crew.
“Human spaceflight is basically the core mission of SpaceX, so we are really excited to do this,” said SpaceX’s Koenigsmann. “There is nothing more important for us than this endeavor.”