SpaceX’s historic Demo-2 launch is slated to take place tomorrow — here’s what you need to know.
Additionally, the astronauts are expected to have to manually control the spacecraft for little of the spaceflight. Even the very careful docking process when Crew Dragon reaches the ISS is expected to be done autonomously.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket emblazoned with the famous NASA "worm" logo for the Demo-2 mission/SpaceX's Falcon 9 is the workhorse of the company's growing fleet of rockets. It stands at nearly 230 feet tall and is capable of launching as much as 25 tons to low Earth orbit. Crew Dragon will sit in place of the rocket's nosecone at the top. After launching the spacecraft on its way, the large lower portion of Falcon 9, known as the "booster," will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and attempt to land on the company's droneship in the ocean. SpaceX has landed its Falcon 9 rocket boosters a total 44 times.NASA astronaut Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken walk out of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building during a dress rehearsal for the SpaceX Demo-2 launch.Both Behnken and Hurley have been astronauts since being selected in NASA's class of 2000. Each of them flew on two Space Shuttle missions, with Hurley notably flying on that spacecraft's last mission in July 2011. Both are military veterans prior to joining NASA, with Behnken serving in the Air Force and Hurley in the Marine Corps. For Demo-2, Behnken is the joint operations commander, which means he is responsible for tasks such as reaching the ISS and docking. Hurley is the spacecraft commander and will be responsible for Crew Dragon's launch, landing and recovery. The pair officially entered a pre-flight quarantine on May 13, although the astronauts said they've been self-isolating since mid-March. While astronauts typically enter a quarantine ahead of a mission, the protocol has been additionally strict for Demo-2 due to the coronavirus. NASA commercial spaceflight director Phil McAlister earlier this month said that "direct interaction with the crew is not permitted without appropriate protective gear." Even interaction with VIPs the day before launch will be through a glass wall. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley seen during a dress rehearsal for the SpaceX Demo-2 launch.SpaceX has also taken extra precautions. Shotwell said that, in the last two months before the launch, the company has been "ensuring that only essential personnel" are going near astronauts during training. SpaceX employees "are wearing masks and gloves," she added. "We are social distancing as well. We've got at least half our engineering staff working from home," Shotwell said. Even the mission control room will look different than in years past, NASA said. The agency will use different rooms to keep people safely distant from each other, with NASA looking to add plexiglass between seats and stations for Demo-2.Four hours before liftoff, Behnken and Hurley will suit up. About a half an hour later, the crew will walk out to their Tesla Model X, complete with NASA logos, and drive from the astronaut quarters out to the launchpad.With two and a half hours to go, the astronauts will strap into their seats in Crew Dragon and begin checking that all systems are good to go. Then, with just under two hours until launch, the hatch to the spacecraft will be closed. SpaceX will begin loading the rocket with fuel at T minus 35 minutes to launch, which will initiate a final series of processes and checks. "We've worked closely with NASA since 2006 and all that work is culminating to this historic event ... My heart is sitting right here [in my throat], and I think it's going to stay there until we get Bob and Doug safely back from the International Space Station," Shotwell said. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule stand upright on the launchpad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center ahead of the Demo-2 launch. A few minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9's booster stage will return and attempt to land on the company's barge stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster is towed back in to Port Canaveral after landing on the company's barge.If anything were to go wrong in the last half hour before the launch and even during the launch, Crew Dragon will abort and fire its emergency escape system. The company performedwith no one inside the spacecraft. That test saw SpaceX trigger the system during the most intense part of the launch, to show that it could be done at any time. A rendering shows SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule firing its emergency escape engines during the company's test flightThe Demo-2 mission has only just begun after Crew Dragon reaches orbit. As the final flight test for SpaceX's capsule, NASA said Demo-2 "will validate the company's crew transportation system, including the launch pad, rocket, spacecraft, and operational capabilities." Docking with the ISS will be a critical part of the mission. Although expected to be done autonomously, the docking and un-docking process is essentially a high-speed dance in orbit, as both the ISS and Crew Dragon will be moving at tens of thousands of miles per hour. SpaceX createdof the docking process, so that viewers can try their hand at manually docking Crew Dragon. Notably, the virtual simulator use the actual interface that NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley would use when piloting the spacecraft. The uncrewed SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft at the International Space Station with its nose cone open revealing its docking mechanism while approaching the station.Once Crew Dragon docks, Behnken and Hurley will become part of the crew on the ISS. In addition to performing test on Crew Dragon, the astronauts will join the rest of the ISS crew in conducting research and other tasks. NASA is not sure how long the Demo-2 mission will last. The agency's McAlister said the mission has "an unbelievably complicated set of criteria and considerations" for its duration, which is currently set for between 30 to 119 days. The Crew Dragon spacecraft for future missions will be capable of staying in space for at least 210 days. After un-docking, Behnken and Hurley will point Crew Dragon back toward Earth. The capsule will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and then use its parachutes to slow and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean. The astronauts will then be picked up at sea by SpaceX's ship "GO Navigator" and then return to Florida's Space Coast.SpaceX Demo-2 represents the final step before NASA certifies the SpaceX capsule to fly regular, long missions to the ISS. After those missions begin, SpaceX plans to use Crew Dragon spacecraft for other missions. Those include space tourism, as the company has so far unveiled two deals toSpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule splashes down after its first test flight in March 2019.for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world.
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