SpaceX launches mission to bring Starliner astronauts back to Earth

SpaceX is bringing back propulsive landings with its Dragon capsule, but only in emergencies.

Stephen Clar k-Renew 28 September 2024 19:29 UTC

Raise / Galactic Ship Crew Dragon, SPACEX, take off from Cosmodorom in Cape Camberal, Florida with Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA/Kigan Barber

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NASA's hig astronaut and Russian Alexander Golbnov Astronaut on Saturday take off from the Florida Galactic Coast on Saturday for a fiv e-month expedition to the International Galaxy Station.

At 13:17, the person's crew boarded the EDT (17:17 UTC) on the Space X Falcon 9 rocket, sewn between storms and launched a personal launch in space. The 9 Merlin engine that works in paraffin is the first flight from the northeast athletic line of the Galaxy Station in Cape Kanveral, then separates, returns to the plant with Cape Kanveral, and shiatsu from Falcon 9 is a free dumb of the trajectory crew dragon. Bringed a galaxy orbital to Ship SPACEX.

"It was a sweet journey," said Haig when he arrived in space. The next perfect launch Haig and Golbnov will arrive at the Galaxy Station within 17:30 EDT (2130 UTC) on Sunday.

Empty seats

This is the fifteenth flight since 2020 for Space X crews, the 10th launch for Astronauts for NASA, but the launch of the subbotony was unusual for several reasons.

"Our mission is all related to unique issues, and I think this mission will be memorable for almost all missions," said Ken Baua Rock, an assistant officer in NASA. Ta.

First, only two people headed for the track on the Crew Dragon Galactic Ship, in principle, not four astronauts. Initially, the crew, which gained popularity as a crew 9, contained Haig, Golbnov, Zen Cardman Commander, and NASA's Stephanie Wilson astronaut.

However, the failure of the test flight of the Galactic Ship Starliner Boeing has added its own adjustment to NASA's intention. Starliner's mission began in June with NASA astronaut Butchcha Willmore and Sunni Williams. The Boeing spacecraft reached the galaxy station, but the mission was not performed due to the malfunction of the movable device and the leakage of the helium, and last month it is very dangerous for NASA's promotion group to put a ground crew on the starliner. did.

In 2014, NASA selected Space X and Boeing, and signed a billion dollar contract on the production of paid crews. Each company is obliged to manufacture manned spaceships that make astronauts to the International Galactic Station. Space X first sent an astronaut in 2020, and Boeing took a test flight in June, reaching the same limit.

On September 6, the Starliner Galaxy Ship succeeded in landing in New Mexico and returned to Earth. However, Wilmore and Williams were left on the Galactic Station with a long crew of a research institute, which consists of seven astronauts and astronauts. The galaxy station crew installed two temporary spaces made of Styrofoam in the space X Dragon Galactic Ship attached to the outpost in real time, and the Starliner astronauts evacuate from the ensemble in a crisis situation. I was able to move when needed.

Laze x Astronaut Nick Haig and Russian astronaut Alexander Golbnov boarding Space X Space Ship.

Nasa/kim shiflett

This is a shor t-term measure in which the dragon galactic ship can return to the ground in exchange for normal 4. The normal space for Wilmore and Williams will return home in February, when the Crew-9 task was already ended.

The decision to return the Starliner to the ground without a crew gave a certain side results to the galaxy station. The leaders of the NASA Galactic Center, which beared the name of Johnson in Houston, had the opportunity to remove who took out the role of the crew 9 missions and forget who would be a member of the crew.

As a result, Nick Haig and Alexander Golbnov will participate in Crew 9. He was initially prepared to become a crew 9 pilot, but NASA decided to borrow Zena Cardman space as a commander. The 4 9-yea r-old Colonel Galaxy Colonel, Colonel, was regarded as a veteran of the first lon g-term flight to the International Galaxy Station, and in 2018, the Russian rocket "Soyuz" rejected the launch of the launch of the launch of the launch of the launch of the Russian rocket.

In January, NASA announced the first astronaut in the Crew 9 mission. Cardman, a 3 6-yea r-old geological biologist, is the first spac e-fo r-spacer who has no test pilot skills to manage the NASA Galactic Flight. The astronaut, 5 8-yea r-old Stephanie Wilson, who boarded the shuttle three times on the shuttle.

NASA Galactic Flys was the head of Fly Socks, saying that it was very difficult to decide who would fly 9 to the crew. "They have been thinking of arresting Zen for a long time, but in history, they have been decided to arrest those who were behind them, but someday."

Golbenov, a 3 4-yea r-old Russian spacecraft who personally flew to space, moved to the pilot space of the Crew Dragon Galactic Ship, but he was still regarded as a flying expert. There is. His boarding is based on the international agreement between NASA and the Russian Galactic Agency, and the South American astronauts on the Russian spaceship "Soyuz" will fly to the galaxy station. It takes into account to move the space.

Bauersoks stated that NASA would redistribute Cardman and Wilson for future flights.

Before starting, in the Boeing-Flight Space/ Astronaut Nasasani-Williams and Buff-Wilmore.

Operational flexibility

This was the first astronaut's launch from Cape Cambert's Galactic Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40), the highest launch area of ​​SpaceX. Space X has installed important equipment at the launch site to maintain the launch of a galaxy spacecraft of the Crew Dragon, and is a tower of 200 feet or more and a galaxy spacecraft on the top of the Falcon 9 rocket. Covered a manipulator to access astronauts on board.

Until now, the SLC-40 was based on the "Clean Site" architecture, and there were no systems for the Falcon 9 rocket to be upright on the site. Space X also set up a sliding parachute to guarantee an opportunity for astronauts and ground crews to evacuate from the launch pad when extreme history occurred.

Space X built a crew tower last year and prepared to launch a dragon cargo mission to the Galactic Station in March. The launch on Saturdays is the legal ability of this place to support Space X astronaut missions departing from the Kennedy NASA Galactic Center 39A (LC-39A), a several kilometers north of the SLC-40. Is shown.

The launch of the SLC-40 and the manned galaxy ship is emphasized by SPACEX and NASA assistance when compiling the schedule. For example, the LC-39A remains a uniform launcher configured to secure a difficult rocket of Falcon Hevy's Space X. Now, SPACEX is making an LC-39A to launch a NASA Mission Europakripper and Falcon Heavy rockets that have been leaving the earth this year and have only several months to reach Jupiter's goals in 2030.

If the SLC-40 is certified for the launch of a astronaut, the SPACEX and NASA teams will be able to maintain all the opportunities to maintain the mission crew 9 and the Eropa clipper without worrying about the schedule. 。 Currently, there are three launches in Florida's cosmodrome, a Space X dragon spacecraft and a Boeing starliner spacecraft, and at the end of this year, the fourth launch of NASA to launch the lunar spacecraft Artemis II. I plan to add a table.

"This is pretty interesting," said Deputy Director Pam Mera. Pam mela says NASA's deputy administrator. "I think this reflects our position in the NASA galaxy program and the probability of the United States."

Earlier this week, Haig and Golbnov have the opportunity to get used to the SLC-40 and play a role in takeoff. This takeoff platform actually has the same probability as the LC-39A, but a certain amount contains a different layout. In the evening of Tuesday, SpaceX also pulled the hurricane "Helen" external strip through the center of Florida, so then lowered the rocket to a horizontal state and took it on the hangar for savings. Was held.

Inside Angala, Space X technology pointed out that the Falcon 9 engine was exhausted during a test on the outside of the Dragon Galactic Ship. The capsule radiator along the edge was drawn in the edge Dragon Lank-section, and later the ship was rolled back to the launch area on Friday.

"It is important that the radiator is correctly radiating the heat in the universe, and as a result, we fall into the panel, as they are correctly removing the heat, and the true reflectivity. It happened to consume fresh paints to reflect the ability and solar radiation absorption capacity, "He said," SPACEX Vice President, Bill HerstenMeier, for the conference and flight reliability.

HERSTENMAYER talked about the fresh preservation features of a crew dragon that share the collapse, including when all the parachutes could not open during the descent on the ground. This includes the introduction of eight powerful super draco-mover, which is usually used only in cases where it is almost impossible.

Increased/ hangs up to implement the introduction of SUPERDRACO MOVERS in McActic Ship Crew Dragon in 2015.

"In the event of a complete failure of all parachutes, the engines will start at the very last moment. "This gives the crew a chance to land successfully and actually leave the ship. In fact, this method is not used in sampling standards, etc. You can land with one parachute. You can land even if the parachute system is defective. But this is only if all four parachutes simply fail."

When SpaceX first developed the Crew Dragon spacecraft more than a decade ago, the company wanted to use the SuperDraco propulsion system so that the capsule could make a propulsive landing like a helicopter. In the end, SpaceX and NASA decided to switch to a more conventional landing method using parachutes.

The SuperDracos engines remained on the galactic ship Crew Dragon to push the capsule out of the Falcon 9 rocket in the event of a horrific launch failure. The eight engines, with their enormous power, burn hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, which burn on contact with each other.

According to Gerstenmaier's writing, this fallback function had been activated on previous paid Crew Dragon flights, but not on NASA flights. This probability "guarantees an acceptable landing for the crew," he added. "Basically, this is a really bottomless, bottomless, unforeseen situation. I think our philosophy is that in exchange for owning a system that we're not going to use, even if it's probably not fully certified, we give the crew a chance to get out of trouble."

Steve Stich, head of NASA's Paid Crew Program, said the possibility of an emergency landing will be integrated into the return of Crew 8, which has been at the Galaxy Station since March. After the arrival of Haig and Gorbunov as part of Crew 9 and the extended mission of Wilmore and Williams, the Crew 8 mission is scheduled to leave the Galaxy Station in early October and descend into the ocean.

This article has been updated following evidence of a successful launch.