Up to now SpaceX has been contracted to launch satellites and unmanned resupply missions to the ISS. But the company has big plans for manned spaceflight. And toward that goal, they tested their emergency abort system for their planned, manned version of the Dragon this week:
SpaceX tweeted this afternoon that had a human been on board the Crew Dragon, they would have "been in great shape" after the successful test. The abort system is located inside Dragon, allowing future crew members to quickly escape in the event of a potential failure.
The remarkable feat played out around 9 a.m. ET today as eight SuperDraco engines lifted Dragon 5,000 feet above the launch pad. Dragon detached from its rocket, deployed its parachutes and continued a controlled descent into the Atlantic Ocean, landing a mile from shore, where it bobbed in the water and waited for a recovery vessel:
Incidentally, the manned version of the Dragon also lands on retros after reentry. It only uses parachutes as a back up. Why we're not piling a little more money into these guys so that we can leave more expensive, less capable—
far more geo-politically perilous—reliance on Russian rockets and engines far behind is a question only the members of House and Senate subcommittees that oversee NASA could answer.
- Oldest ancestor to birds found.
- A nice article about the quiet, misunderstood, brown recluse spider, courtesy of science blogger Greg Laden.
- I have a new job with an Austin tech start-up, it's a company that feels like its going places. My understanding is we are looking to bring a few more people on, some brief details here.
- HuffPo posts some eerie space sounds.
- Yes, the GOP still trying to starve Earth Science because ... climate change:
Recently, a House panel advanced a bill (19-15, along party lines) that would cut funds to NASA’s earth science programs, while boosting the agency’s space-exploration funds. In justifying these changes, House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) said the panel was seeking to strike a difficult balance and “provide NASA with the resources necessary to remain a leader in space exploration in a time of tight budget realities.”