Lifting off from Cape Canaveral March 4 on a Falcon 9 rocket and docking with the International Space Station [ISS] March 5, SpaceX’s Dragon-3 Crew spacecraft splashed down safely in the South Atlantic, off the Florida Coast. When Dragon-2 re-entered the earth’s atmosphere and deployed its parachutes, 47-year-old Elon Musk beat back his critics, breaking new ground for manned space travel. While the March 4 flight was unmanned, it did carry an Anthropomorphic Test Device [ATD] (dummy) wired with sensors for everything but a heartbeat. When all the data was analyzed, it looked like the ATD did just fine, with the Dragon-2 capsule free from contamination, ready for its human astronauts. Only a few more safety tests for NASA to certify Musk’s spacecraft, cable of carrying seven astronauts to the ISS or beyond. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken wait patiently for their maiden voyage on Dragon-2 in July.
Musk founded Space Exploration Technology [SpaceX] in 2002, nine years before NASA’s Space Shuttle program was retired, when Atlantis returned to Earth July 21, 2011. Unlike past NASA programs, including Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, NASA had no replacement for the aging Shuttle fleet. Claiming an Orion spacecraft was in the works, NASA finally had to admit that Orion wouldn’t be ready until the late 2020’s, if ever. Musk set out in 2002 to do the impossible for any private U.S. space company: Build a new reusable manned spacecraft. Since 2011, NASA has spent nearly a billion dollars buying seats on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts to-and-from the ISS. Musk worked feverishly while simultaneously developing his Tesla electric car company, revolutionizing the auto industry with efficient, aesthetically pleasing electric vehicles. When the Dragon-2 splashed down March 8, a new era of U.S. space travel began.
While SpaceX has supplied the ISS 12 times since 2012 with the unmanned Dragon-1 capsule, everything was riding on Musk’s Dragon-2 Crew cabin spacecraft. Docking, undocking, re-entering the earth’s atmosphere without a hitch was a quantum leap in manned space operations. “Everything happened just perfectly, right on time the way we expected it,” said Benjamin Reed, SpaceX Crew Mission Director. Given a $2.6 billion NASA grant in 2015, SpaceX competed with Boeing Space Systems who received $4.2 billion. No one at NASA expected SpaceX to beat out Boeing, whose CST-100 Starliner has yet to complete a test flight like Dragon-2. While expected to do so soon, there’s been no date yet for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner to take an unmanned test flight. Musk’s SpaceX looks poised to receive the lion’s share of NASA’s next grant, perhaps to develop a permanent manned space station on the moon or a mission to Mars.
NASA Administrator Jim Bradenstine took credit for SpaceX’s remarkable achievement without having anything to show for it. Bridenstine knows that NASA’s Orion spacecraft is nowhere in the pipeline, leaving SpaceX and Boeing the only two replacements for the retired Space Shuttles. “This is really an American achievement that spans many generations of NASA administrators and over a decade of work,” said Braidenstine, taking credit for SpaceX. If Brandinstine wants credit, he should explain the failure of NASA to complete its Orion spacecraft, something promised after the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011. Instead of taking credit for Musk’s Dragon-2 Crew capsule, Brindenstine should explain what went wrong with the Orion program. Musk gave NASA plenty of credit for the public-private partnership that made Dragon-2 possible. Musk deserves the credit now for developing the next generation of U.S. spacecraft to get astronauts back into space.
Returning to earth scarred by high heat of re-entry, the Dragon-2 splashed down and was recovered for inspection. NASA’s Program Manager Steve Stich said the Crew Cabin capsule was doing fine after it’s six-day mission to the ISS. “I don’t think we saw anything in the mission so far—we’ve got to do the data reviews—that would preclude us from having a manned mission later this year,” said Stich. Based on Stich’s initial assessment, there’s nothing in the data so far that would stop a manned mission this year. Certainly Musk wants the $58 million he expects to get from NASA to ferry its astronauts to-and-from the ISS, saving NASA $32 million the $80 million price-tag from Russia. NASA has vested interest in letting SpaceX and Boeing complete its Crew cabin operations as soon as possible. Spending $80 million a flight on Soyuz makes no sense at this point, since SpaceX proved its ready for manned space operations after more data analysis.
Completing its ATD mission to-and-from the ISS proved that SpaceX is ready for the next step carrying NASA astronauts back into space. After eight years since retiring the Space Shuttle, NASA has done little to develop its Orion spacecraft as promised in 2011. It took Musk’s SpaceX to get the U.S. back into manned space operations, getting one step closer to launching astronauts Taking credit for Musk’s accomplishments, NASA Administrator Jim Brandinstine overstates the space agency’s role in Musk’s Dragon-2 spacecraft. If NASA were really that advanced, they would have beaten SpaceX back into space. SpaceX looks like they’ll beat Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner into space, but, more importantly, have a more practical spacecraft capable of carrying more astronauts and equipment into space. Judging by the wear of Dragon-2 heat-shield, it looks like Musk has some more work to do to refine the exterior of the Dragon-2 spacecraft.
