Nasa has for the first time entrusted a private company to fly astronauts into space. It is a good Start on Saturday, after he had failed on Wednesday due to the weather.
There are these computer games in which the player reaches the next Level, if he solved certain tasks and hurdles to overcome. He fails, the round starts again from the beginning. So it might be the Nasa astronauts Bob Behnken, 49, and Doug Hurley, 53, acted, as on the Wednesday evening, East coast time, from your brand-new capsule Crew Dragon had to climb: 17 minutes in front of the manned maiden flight of a private company to the International space station ISS is a Thunderstorm over the launch threatened place in Cape Canaveral/Florida. The tour operators Space-X called off the Countdown. So everything is back to zero in this round and back to the Crew quarters.
Three days later, the two astronauts were sitting on Saturday and again in her capsule at the top of the rocket Falcon 9in 70 metres of height, on the historic launch pad 39A, and hoped for better weather. Before, it was run similarly to the Wednesday: After Breakfast, it went into the locker room, Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Buildingwhere 50 years ago the first moon driver had stayed at. There, the astronauts received their white Space-X-space suits, also the visit of the corona due to the masked Nasa chief Jim bride Stine was part of the Déjà -vu. Space-X founder Elon Musk is not over looked at this time. Both of them had wanted Behnken and Hurley three days earlier, at a respectful distance-all Good. Even a little bit sarcastic Tweet Behnkens on Saturday was almost identical: “the Launch Day. In America. Again.”
With the Tesla, the astronauts roared to around 15 kilometers away, the launch site, accompanied by AC/DCs “Back in Black” and the sounds of “The Girl from Ipanema”, took the Lift to the entrance of the bridge and waited in the capsule patient the filling process and the Start.
A third start-up they had, as well as the hundreds of employees of Nasa and Space-X then saves it, even if part temporarily after a Thunderstorm. But then the sky cleared up. “Falcon/Dragon are designed, lightning bear”, had Musk tweeted earlier, “we should not take this risk”. Safety comes first. Therefore, the US President, Donald Trump had to arrive again for the Start to Florida – even though he currently has quite other problems.
The current flight of the “Crew Dragon” is still a test flight
On Saturday, just in time to 15.22 PM local time, picked up the Falcon-9Rocket the crew capsule at the top of ab, twelve minutes later, they reached the Orbit, after about 19 hours of flight, the capsule is scheduled to dock on Sunday at the ISS, which orbits about 400 kilometres above the earth. The astronauts had a small Dino brought the floated promptly because of the weightlessness of the cabin. Previously, the reusable first was FalconLevel landed on a platform off the coast of Florida.
Behnken and Hurley to stay for at least a month on the space station, which is currently occupied with two Russian and one American astronauts. By the beginning of August it will go back to the earth, because the capsule must be subjected to the splashdown in the Atlantic ocean, yet recent investigations. According to current plans, the first regular Crew-flight of the Space to X on 30. August to start the ISS, with four astronauts, which should be about a half a year on the space station.
The current flight Demo 2 is still a test flight, as Nasa’s chief bride Stine stressed. The astronauts want to try in front of the Dock, the manual control with the three touch-screen monitors. Otherwise, the flight is Autonomous. During the Demo 1 Mission had in March 2019 Crew Dragon without astronauts automatically succeed to the ISS, docked, and was returned a week later to the earth. In a Test of a small capsule-engines in Cape Canaveral, she was exploded, but a month later, due to a leak.
The last flight test now runs successfully, it is important for the space Agency, Nasa, since the end of the Space ShuttleFlights had in 2011, no own access to the ISS and more. In the past few years, the US had to astronauts at the Russian colleagues in the Soyuz fly, which will also have the national pride of the Americans hurt. The second goal is to make space travel in the future cheaper. Flights Space-X will cost, according to Nasa information $ 55 million per seat the Russians had recently calculated $ 80 million. A place in the StarlinerCapsule from Boeing, which will be transported after a failed test flight until 2021, astronauts, however, cost $ 90 million. For comparison: A place in the Space Shuttle has cost, according to the calculations of the Planetary Society inflation of approximately $ 170 million at constant.
Private companies are developing lunar lander and missile
Boeing and Space X had won the tender of Nasa, which wants to Charter the capsules in the future as a customer. Nasa chief bride Stine can, therefore, no opportunity to speak of the historic importance of this test flight: “We start again, American astronauts with American rockets from American soil,” he says for weeks like a mantra. Space will fundamentally change, “it comes to the commercialisation of low earth’s orbit”. In the absence of gravity, for example, human organs by 3-d printing, said bride Stine.
He looks for the economy as a whole is a trillion Dollar market in space. In addition, a Public-Private Partnership model can help to return more cost-effective to the moon – this time for good. “If we fly in 2024 to the moon, then with a commercial land system.” Nasa has commissioned a month ago, the three companies-Blue Origin (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), Dynetics, and Space-X to develop a lunar lander, and close to a billion dollars loose. In addition, she is currently working with the Boeing company at the new moon rocket SLS. And there was an indication that space flights will be commercial: “Thank you that today you will be with the Falcon 9 flown are”, listened to the astronauts from the Space-X control center. Hurley is so far satisfied with the capsule: “it is a spectacular space ship,” he commented after the first manual flight. Elon Musk was after the Start, accustomed optimistic: “It is hopefully the first step to a multi-planetary life,” he said. Only on Friday he had suffered a setback when A prototype of its new rocket Starship was exploded in a Test.
The Americans are always up for Pathos, and national pride. This time, Nasa had to call a kind of race out: Who flies first to the shame of the past nine years back from Florida to the ISS, may pick up a special reward: A sealed American flag, with the first and the last Space Shuttle the ISS is flown. To meet this, had to astronauts looking for you but only once. For many years she was lost on the space station, after the last ShuttleCrew to which it belonged, ironically, also Doug Hurley, she had deposited there in 2009. And as for the symbolism, so Behnken and Hurley showed up with a Surprise: During the first press event in the All you announced, giving their capsule the name Endeavour. After all, both astronauts on their first space flight with the same name Space Shuttle completed.
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