It was the last step before I could send a manned flight to the International Space Station. On Sunday January 19, SpaceX successfully simulated the emergency ejection of astronauts from a rocket moments after launch, according to a live broadcast of the test, the last major test before the shipment is expected in a few months from a NASA crew to the International Space Station. The test launch, with no one on board, started at 10:30 a.m. at the Kennedy space center in Florida with the takeoff of a Falcon 9 rocket, at the top of which the new SpaceX capsule, Crew Dragon, was fixed. The rocket was programmed as if it were to launch the spacecraft into orbit.
One minute and 24 seconds after takeoff, at an altitude of approximately 19 kilometers above the Atlantic and while the rocket was traveling at more than 1,500 km / h, an abandonment sequence was triggered to simulate a anomaly: the capsule ignited its powerful SuperDraco thrusters to eject from the rocket and distance itself from it as quickly as possible. In a manned mission, the maneuver would save the astronauts strapped inside Dragon, if the rocket ever had a problem or followed a bad trajectory.
Shortly after the sudden separation, the rocket disintegrated into a large ball of fire, which SpaceX had warned of. Crew Dragon continued, alone, its course towards the sky until about 40 km of altitude, before falling naturally towards the Atlantic Ocean. Then, the four large parachutes of the capsule opened to slow the fall and the ditching in the Atlantic, where rescue teams had been pre-positioned. Nine minutes after takeoff, Crew Dragon landed, apparently without damage. Analysis of the capsule and the flight data will confirm whether everything went well, and whether the vehicle is considered reliable for placing astronauts there. A press conference will take place Sunday at 11:30 a.m. (4:30 p.m. GMT) with officials from NASA and SpaceX.
Two American astronauts for a flight in March
The seemingly normal course of this perilous test is great news for SpaceX and for NASA, which urgently needs to certify a vehicle to transport its astronauts to the ISS this year. Since 2011, the United States has been obliged to have its astronauts travel on the Russian Soyuz rockets, the only ones to have this capacity since the retirement of the American shuttles. NASA signed a similar contract with Boeing, which developed the Starliner capsule.
In March 2019, SpaceX had made a one-week empty round trip to the ISS with Crew Dragon. In April, a ground test of the SuperDraco propellants had caused an explosion, but SpaceX and Nasa claim to have solved the problem after investigation. Boeing was to perform the same mission to the ISS in December, but an orbit error led to shortening the mission and bringing back Starliner two days after launch, a setback for the aerospace giant. The first manned flight of Crew Dragon will have as passengers American astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. If all goes well, this mission will take place at the earliest in early March, said Kathy Lueders, head of NASA's commercial flight program on Friday.
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