Bengaluru, NFAPost: Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched on Saturday NASA astronauts from Kennedy Space Center joined with their compatriots at the International Space Station.
The mission becomes the first private company to send humans into orbit and ending a nine-year gap in human spaceflight from the U.S.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX mission which was supposed to lift off to International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday got deferred last time due to unfavourable weather.
SpaceX Founder and CEO expressed his happiness in the successful mission.
According to NASA the mission set another history in human beings’ space sojourn. The mission marks the end of 11-year-old dependency of NASA on Russia’s space agency Roscosmos’s Kazakhistan facility for its manned launches and SpaceX will become the first private company to send astronauts into orbit.
As per latest information Crew Dragon has separated from Falcon9’s second stage
NFAPost along with Indian space community and umpteen entrepreneur is looking at the feat of Elon Musk like any other space enthusiasts. NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will liftoff on May 27 on a SpaceX rocket and Dragon Capsule bound for the ISS.
It is interesting to note that the Elon Musk’s drama unfolds from the Kennedy Space Center, where NASA sent men to the moon and the US sent its last space shuttle to space in 2011. It is a fact that Florida’s Space Coast has seen bubbling with activity as plenty of launches are happening even amid the Covid-19 pandemic. According to space analysts, the region is witnessing launches of satellites, robotic explorer missions and supplies for the space station. Elon Musk’s SpaceX mission is expected to lay the foundation for future manned flights to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
It will be a dream come true moment for mercurial entrepreneur Elon Musk who bulldozed conventional wisdom. After competing with multiple companies and its own failures, SapceX won the contracts for the Commercial Crew Programme of NASA along with Boeing in 2014.
Unperturbed by the fact that its competitor Boeing received the lion’s share, slightly more than 60% of the $6.8 billion NASA awarded fund, SpaceX under the leadership of Elon Musk undertook multiple testing and test flights.
Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will suit up SpaceX designed spacesuits for the historic launch aboard a brand new spacecraft Tesla Model X. “Getting a chance again to see human spaceflight in our own backyard. That’s the thing that’s most exciting for me,” said Bob Behnken. The last time American astronauts did that was the first Space Shuttle in 1981.
Hurley, 53, a retired Marine, and Behnken, 49, an Air Force colonel, will spend one to four months aboard the orbiting lab, currently down to a three-man, half-size crew. They’ll lend a hand with experiments and possibly spacewalks, before ending their mission with an Atlantic splashdown, a scene not seen for a half-century.
Even after facing brickbats of the local community for the development of launching site near the community of Boca Chica, Texas, SpaceX worked hard with a minuscule budget and reusing components to achieve success.
“We had to be super scrappy. If we did it the standard way, we would have run out of money. For many years, we were week to week on cash flow, within weeks of running out of money. It definitely creates a mind-set of smart spending. Be scrappy or die: Those were our two options. Buy scrap components, fix them up, make them work,” once Elon Musk told a leading media house on his lean model of working.
The company’s startup model helped SpaceX to operate the team lean in every department. Besides moving fast and keeping costs low as it basic DNA of SpaceX , the company engineers used 3D printed parts for prototypes and re-designed quickly to achieve success in each and every mission.
The biggest failure in SpaceX mission was when the Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad in 2016 putting the company under tremendous pressure. It delayed the company’s efforts to get the rocket rated for human spaceflight and it took more than a tear ti redesign the system.
Besides successful completion of “pad abort test” in 2015 which simulated how Dragon would whisk astronauts to safety if an emergency happened during launch, SpaceX also undertook major flight known as Demo-1 and helped in business cargo supply missions to the ISS. The company’s Crew Dragon test and parachute landing tests also gave SpaeX much confidence.
Elon Musk is a blue-eyed boy among entrepreneurs and innovator around the globe for his achievement through Tesla, The Boring Company and SpaceX and just weeks before SpaceX will take astronauts to the International Space Station. Even though becoming a laughing stock for his big promises that failed to materialise and fight with investors, the world is looking at Elon Musk success.
SpaceX success led by Elon Musk will be another feather in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs approach: you start out with a clean slate. It’s called First Principles thinking. Let’s question everything. Yes…..let Elon Musk be successful in his endeavour to look at the problem fresh and use any tool they can to give them an edge.
NASA, SpaceX to Launch First Astronauts to Space Station from U.S. Since 2011
A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will fly on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, lifting off on a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:33 p.m. EDT May 27, from Launch Complex 39A in Florida, for an extended stay at the space station for the Demo-2 mission. The specific duration of the mission is to be determined.
As the final flight test for SpaceX, this mission will validate the company’s crew transportation system, including the launch pad, rocket, spacecraft, and operational capabilities. This also will be the first time NASA astronauts will test the spacecraft systems in orbit.
Behnken and Hurley were among the first astronauts to begin working and training on SpaceX’s next-generation human space vehicle and were selected for their extensive test pilot and flight experience, including several missions on the space shuttle.
After successfully docking, Behnken and Hurley will be welcomed aboard station and will become members of the Expedition 63 crew. They will perform tests on Crew Dragon in addition to conducting research and other tasks with the space station crew.
Although the Crew Dragon being used for this flight test can stay in orbit about 110 days, the specific mission duration will be determined once on station based on the readiness of the next commercial crew launch. The operational Crew Dragon spacecraft will be capable of staying in orbit for at least 210 days as a NASA requirement.
Upon conclusion of the mission, Crew Dragon will autonomously undock with the two astronauts on board, depart the space station and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Upon splashdown just off Florida’s Atlantic Coast, the crew will be picked up at sea by SpaceX’s Go Navigator recovery vessel and return to Cape Canaveral.
The Demo-2 mission will be the final major step before NASA’s Commercial Crew Program certifies Crew Dragon for operational, long-duration missions to the space station. This certification and regular operation of Crew Dragon will enable NASA to continue the important research and technology investigations taking place onboard the station, which benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration of the Moon and Mars starting with the agency’s Artemis program, which will land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface in 2024.
