Getting closer to manned space operations, NASA continues to make final demands on SpaceX Dragom-2 spacecraft. Since 2012, Dragon-1 has ferried supplies to the International Space Station [ISS], orbiting about 254 miles above earth’s surface. Since NASA retired it last Space Shuttle Atlantis mission July 21, 2011, it’s depended on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ferry U.S. astronauts to the ISS at a cost of $75 million per seat, one-way. Grounded without an operational spacecraft since 2011, NASA put out private sector bids to build the next generation of spacecraft, largely going to Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Boeing Space Systems. Ahead of Boeing by at least a year, Musk’s Dragon-2 manned spacecraft is scheduled to be the first operational U.S. spacecraft since Atlantis retired in 2011. Slated to blast off from Cape Canaveral March 1, the Dragon-2 spacecraft looks to be the first in space.
When Dragon-2 lifts off March 1, it’s going carry tons of supplies for the ISS plus an ATD [Anthropomorphic Test Device] (Dummy) with various instruments trying to simulate manned space operations. SpaceX prefers not to call it a test dummy. “We prefer to not call them dummies,” (for the record, ATD stands for Anthropomorphi Test Device),” said Kathy Lueders, NASA’s project manager for its commercial crew program. SpaceX’s Hans Koenighsmann sees the ATD test flight a prelude to manned space operations, going through more test runs before NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug Hurely get strapped into place in SpaceX’s Dragon-2 capsule later this year. SpaceX has been several steps ahead of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, due to make a robotic test flight to the ISS April 1, not close to SpaceX’s preparations for manned spaced operations.
Unlike Dragon-1, Dragon-2 has an independent thrusters system capable of propelling the capsule into position on the ISS without the help of a remote control docking arm. Dragon-2 requires no ISS robotic docking procedures, using its own thrusters to help dock the capsule in the ISS. NASA and SpaceX are working hard to work out any more kinks before the Dragon-2 demonstration mission lifts off March 1 from Cape Canveral. Russian officials expressed some concern about the computer system SpaceX uses to initiate the docking procedures. NASA’s Associate Administrator Bill Gersteinmaier said the SpaceX is built with redundant docking systems in the event of a computer failure. SpaceX uses a single fault-tolerant computer system, something Gersteinmaier believes satisfies NASA requirements. “We think that’s acceptable,” moving ahead toward the March 1 launch.
Gersteinmaier looks forward to SpaceX’s demonstration flight with the ATD, getting ready for manned space flight. “I fully expect we’re going to learn something on this flight,” Gersteinmaier said. “I guarantee everything will not work out exactly right, and that’s cool” despite having optimism that things would go smoothly. If all goes well, the Dragon-2 and the ATD will return to earth March 8, splashing down in the South Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. NASA and SpaceX scientists will examine the Dragon-2 spacecraft for how it weathered space debris while in take off, orbit and reentry. Splashing down some 200 nautical miles off the Florida coast, Lueders expects to move the Dragon-2 crew splashdown closer to the coast. Despite having a few remaining kinks to work out, NASA is more than ready to commission its own space vehicle to ferry astronauts to-and-from the ISS.
Since SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket blew up on the launch pad Feb. 26, 2018, Musk has worked feverishly to correct the problem, identified as a faulty strut in the oxygen fuel tank. NASA expressed concerns about the Falcon-9’s composite-material fuel tank, something SpaceX redesigned after the rocket failure. Before the Dragon-2 can lift off with crew on board, NASA wants SpaceX Drago thrusters to withstand low temperatures. “We’re totally avoiding that condition on this mission by controlling the operation parameters of the mission,” said Lueders. Getting closer to manned space operations, NASA also wants SpaceX to guarantee that its parachute system works equally well for the Dragon-2 as it did for the Dragon-1 capsule. SpaceX hopes in March 1 Dragon-2 launch with the ATD on board satisfies all of NASA’s remaining concerns for the first manned space flight since retiring Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2011.
Expecting to complete an un-crewed in-flight abort test of the Dragon-2 capsule in June, Musk expects NASA to give SpaceX the green light for manned space operations. NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug Hurely are waiting patiently to become the first astronauts in a U.S. spacecraft since Atlantis returned to earth July 21, 2011. Getting back to manned space operations has been a monumental task for SpaceX and Boeing, after NASA fell decades behind in its Orion spacecraft project. Whether crewed Dragon-2 lifts off in July is anyone’s guess at this point. Whether it’s July or some other month, SpaceX looks to be the first privately developed spacecraft to get back to manned space operations. All indications point to SpaceX competing its first manned space flight sometime in 2019, paving the way for more missions, including Musk’s goal of getting back to the moon.
