Unless weather intervenes, astronauts will drive out to the Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday afternoon and launch aboard a flight that will take them and their Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. Considering that this is the 64th time that a rocket has carried human beings to the now 20-year-old station, that may not seem like such a big deal. But this is the first time that astronauts will fly on an American rocket since the final launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in July, 2011.
Since that date, the only way Americans—and everyone else—have been getting into space is by hitching a ride with the Russians on the aging, but definitely reliable, Soyuz. Though “hitching” isn’t exactly the right word. Not when the latest contract with Russia set the price at $90 million per seat. It’s not as if a flight on the new Crew Dragon (or Boeing’s still-in-testing Starliner) is all that cheap, but it certainly beats what was being spent. And it keeps America’s access to space from being part of an often-fraught international relationship.
Wednesday, May 27, 2020 · 8:19:37 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
The launch was just scrubbed for today, apparently because of weather conditions. Now they’ll do a sequence of taking the propellants from the Falcon-9, swing the crew arm around, and unload the astronauts.
Likely will target Saturday for another attempt.
Just over a year ago, I was on the ground at Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch of DEMO-1, the uncrewed flight test of the Dragon that docked with the ISS and showed that the system was largely ready for the coming flight. With semi-live coverage from the delightfully retro-future media center at the Cape, I was able to visit the roof of the massive Vehicle Assembly Building, swing by the Falcon 9 rocket sitting on the same pad that saw the launch of Apollo 11, and watch the flight soar in the early morning darkness. I also got the chance to meet astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken during a Q&A session where they talked over their concerns for a DEMO-2 flight that was, frankly, expected to go off some time last year.
Though the DEMO-1 flight went perfectly, with the capsule splashing down just off the coast for a neatly nostalgic recovery, there was a pretty big stumbling block ahead. Just weeks later, that same capsule was back at Kennedy for a test of its emergency escape system—and it kind of blew up. Like … smithereens. You can get something of a feeling for how unexpected this was by listening to the observers.
As setbacks go, that certainly was one. But NASA and SpaceX came together to sort out the occurrence and pretty quickly came to agreement on the cause. Since then, a brand new Dragon capsule has gone through a successful inflight abort test—one that was intentionally designed to destroy the launch vehicle and put the system through close to the maximum stresses possible.
With that test complete—and a long series of tests of the capsules parachute system—NASA cleared SpaceX for the first test launch. The launch vehicle successfully completed a static fire test on Friday, following which the astronauts climbed aboard for a dress rehearsal that brought goosebumps to a lot of the officials and media looking on.
On the surface, Crew Dragon is a capsule with a design that appears similar to the one used by the Apollo astronauts. However, this modern take on the capsule idea can seat up to seven (though it’s expected to carry three to five on most missions) and has a much sleeker, updated interior with a high degree of automation and wide use of touch screen surfaces.
The design of the Crew Dragon also includes a large storage section called the trunk, which allows it to deliver experiments and supplies to the ISS as well as giving it maneuverability for a more extended stay in orbit. The capsule will also serve double duty: After carrying astronauts to the ISS and being recovered from the ocean, the Crew Dragon will be refitted as a cargo version of the Dragon 2 and fly again, bringing experiments and supplies but no people.
Right now, the launch of DEMO-2 is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at 4:33 PM. However, weather could be an issue. NASA is currently giving the mission only about a 40% chance of going off on schedule, and you can bet this is going to be one launch where everyone is super cautious. (Even for the NASA definition of cautious.)
NASA will stream the launch on the NASA channel as well as on Youtube. In the meantime, you can watch the least impressive video ever assembled of a space launch—the one I made of DEMO-1 by placing an iPhone next to me in the all but empty bleachers next to the media center and just leaving it running as the Falcon 9 roared off the pad. It’s actually surprisingly clear … right up until the moment when the noise of the launch literally blows the iPhone off its perch. Watch for the lightning all along the horizon—DEMO-1 went off in conditions that would be unlikely to pass on Wednesday.