Crew Dragon launch a success
The mission is the first time a private company has launched humans into space
The first ever commercially produced crew vehicle, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon module, launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 30 May, docking with the International Space Station 19 hours later. The flight is part of the Demo-2 mission – a final test of the new crew vehicle which will transport astronauts to and from the ISS.
The launch took off at 19:22 UT from Launch Complex 39A – the same launch pad from which NASA sent the Apollo astronauts to the Moon. At the helm were astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken, both of whom have two Shuttle flights to the ISS under their belts.
“While it was an exciting ride, I think we got a couple of minor surprises, just in terms of the way the vehicle is moving and shaking,” Behnken said after arriving at the ISS.
The pair will now become part of the Expedition 63 crew, helping to conduct experiments and maintain the station. The exact length of their stay is still to be determined but it could be as long as 110 days. If the return journey goes well, then the module could begin carrying astronauts to the ISS full-time as soon as 30 August.
The mission is the culmination of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, an initiative which began back in 2010 in response to the cancellation of the Space Shuttle programme. Without the Shuttles the US was unable to launch humans into space themselves and instead had to rely on the Russian Soyuz capsules to reach the ISS.
Rather than developing the module themselves, NASA decided to support private US space enterprise and contracted SpaceX and Boeing to build crew modules capable of carrying up to seven astronauts to low-Earth orbit.
“It’s difficult to put into words how proud I am of the people who got us here today,” says Kathryn Lueders, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager. “When I think about all the challenges overcome – from design and testing, to paper reviews, to working from home during the pandemic and balancing family demands with this critical mission – I am simply amazed at what the NASA and SpaceX teams have accomplished together. This is just the beginning.” www.nasa.gov
Planetary scientists have long suspected that ‘mud volcanoes’ played an important role in shaping the landscape of early Mars but knew little about how such mud would act under the low pressure and frigid temperatures found on the Red Planet. To find out, a team of scientists simulated Martian conditions in a laboratory and discovered that mud on Mars acts similarly to lava from the large volcanoes on Hawaii and Iceland.
“Once again, it turns out that different physical conditions must always be taken into account when looking at apparently simple surface features on other planets. We know that we need to consider both mud and lava when analysing certain flow phenomena,” says Ernst Hauber from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Germany. www.dlr.de