SpX-DM2

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mission emblem
Mission emblem
Mission dates
Mission: SpX-DM2
COSPAR-ID : 2020-033A
Spacecraft: Crew Dragon
serial no. C206 Endeavor
Crew: Douglas Hurley ,
Robert Behnken
Begin: May 30, 2020, 7:22:45 pm ( UTC )
Starting place: Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A
Space station: ISS
Coupling: May 31, 2020, 2:16 pm (UTC)
Decoupling: August 1, 2020, 11:35 pm (UTC)
Duration on the ISS : 62d 9h 19min
Landing: August 2, 2020, 18:48 (UTC)
Landing place: Gulf of Mexico
Flight duration: 63d 23h 25min
Team photo
Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken
Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken
◄ Before / After ►
Boe-OFT
(unmanned) 		SpaceX Crew-1
(manned)

The SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2 , SpX-DM2 or SpaceX Demo-2 for short , is the first manned space mission of the US spaceship Crew Dragon . It brought two members of ISS Expedition 63 to the International Space Station on May 31, 2020 and docked with the ISS at 14:16 UTC . Robert L. Behnken was the first to leave the Dragon crew at 17:22 UTC, followed by Douglas G. Hurley . On August 2nd, she landed back on earth with both astronauts on board.

The mission is part of the Commercial Crew Program of NASA for privately operated shuttle flights to the ISS . The flight was originally planned for 2017. After a number of problems and setbacks in the Crew Dragon development , the spacecraft launched on May 30, 2020. The astronauts named it Endeavor .

crew

On August 3, 2018, NASA nominated Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley as test pilots for the SpX-DM2 test flight . Hurley, who also took part in the last space shuttle mission STS-135 in 2011, is the commander of the spacecraft, Behnken is joint operations commander . It is the third space flight for both of them. Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover formed the substitute team.

Mission purpose and planning

On May 21, 2020 the Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon was erected at the launch tower of ramp 39A
Launch of the Falcon 9
Crew Dragon during the docking maneuver at the ISS

The Crew Dragon is a successor version of the Dragon spaceship developed by SpaceX , designed for manned flights . It will be tested for the fourth and final time on this mission. After that, annual crew exchange missions to the ISS are planned with the spaceship, alternating with the CST-100 Starliner, which also flies once a year . In this way, the US would like to regain its own manned access to space, which has not been possible since the space shuttle operations were discontinued in 2011. Since then, all passenger transports to the ISS have been carried out by Russian Soyuz spaceships . The new spacecraft from NASA should also offer redundancy again . Because of this resumption of manned US space travel, the SpX-DM2 mission is also presented under the slogan Launch America .

The original plan was for the Demo 2 spaceship to dock with the ISS for a ten-day stay . After a Dragon capsule exploded during an engine test in April 2019 , the next copies produced were reassigned. So now a spaceship is used for the demo 2 mission, which should actually only be used for the following flight USCV-1 (the first "regular" Crew Dragon mission) and which is suitable for a flight duration of up to 110 days. NASA used this long-term option to extend the SpX-DM2 mission to two months. This at least temporarily eliminates the understaffing of the US segment of the space station with only one astronaut ( Chris Cassidy ), which was caused by the delays in the development of the Dragon 2 and the CST-100 Starliner.

Behnken and Hurley monitor and test the space capsule's systems during the flight and after docking with the station. If necessary, you can also control the spaceship by hand.

Launch site

All Crew Dragon flights depart from ramp 39A of the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral , Florida . SpaceX rented this historic launch site from NASA in 2014. The launch complex 39 was the starting point of all Apollo moon flights and space shuttle missions. SpaceX had the tower renovated and fitted with a new, swiveling " passenger boarding bridge ".

Mission history

Video of the launch
Recovery of the Dragon capsule after the successful landing

A first attempt to start on May 27, 2020 was canceled almost 17 minutes before the end of the countdown due to bad weather, the second on May 30 at 9:22 p.m. ( CEST ) was successful.

A Falcon 9 served as the launch vehicle . The rocket put the Crew Dragon into low earth orbit , from where it headed for the ISS. The reusable first stage successfully landed on SpaceX's floating landing platform .

After a 19-hour flight, the Dragon automatically docked at the station. There Hurley and Behnken took part in ISS Expedition 63 as long-term crew members . They left the ISS on August 1 for Earth aboard the Dragon capsule and parachuted with it on August 2, 2020 in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. It was the first water landing by space travelers since the return of the Apollo capsule of the Apollo Soyuz Test Project in 1975. All other manned spacecraft today land on the mainland.

The capsule was then hoisted onto the salvage ship GO Navigator . After it had been thoroughly checked for any leaking fuel gases, the hatch could be opened and the two astronauts left the capsule with the help of the rescue crew. After a medical examination on board, it was confirmed at the subsequent press conference that both astronauts are well.

SpaceX puts the capsule itself through a four-month refurbishment process. It is to be used again in the Crew-2 mission in 2021.

  • Hurley (left) and Behnken on May 23, 2020 at the launch pad

  • NASA ISS control center in Houston

  • The crew on board the ISS

  • For the first time, the mission used the old NASA "worm logo" (here signed by the astronauts)

Trivia

The flag of flight STS-135

The STS-135 crew attached the flag to a bulkhead of the Harmony ISS module

On July 10, 2011, the STS-135 mission, the last space shuttle flight , docked with the ISS . Five days later, US President Barack Obama and STS-135 Commander Chris Ferguson revealed during a phone call that a special US flag had been brought to the ISS on this flight . This flag was already on board the first shuttle mission STS-1 in 1981 and should now remain on the ISS as a trophy for the first American private company to succeed in bringing astronauts to the station.

On the day of the announcement by Barack Obama , SpaceX tweeted : " SpaceX commencing flag capturing sequence ... " (SpaceX starts the flag capture sequence ...), an allusion to the game Capture the Flag . With a successful Demo 2 mission, SpaceX would achieve the goal it set at the time and receive the flag. The competitor Boeing with the spacecraft CST-100 Starliner, whose first manned flight Boe-CFT is expected to be postponed to 2021 due to technical defects, would go away empty-handed . The planned crew of the Boe-CFT mission includes Chris Ferguson, who brought the flag to the ISS together with the current SpX-DM2 commander Douglas Hurley.

In preparation for the first commercial crew mission, the flag first had to be found on the ISS. Astronaut Scott Tingle succeeded in doing this in 2018 after a search lasting several weeks. The flag was in a shipping container in a corner of the Unity ISS module .

vehicle

Departure of the astronauts

In contrast to the usual Astrovan the transportation of the crew carried out to launch pad with a modified Tesla Model X .

Wake-up call

Since the Gemini program , the astronauts have been woken up in the morning with a predetermined song, the wake-up call . In the case of SpX-DM2 crew was the Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath .

Indicator of weightlessness

In order to indicate that weightlessness has been reached, the crew brought a small dinosaur doll on board. The Apatosaurus named Tremor was chosen by the sons of the two astronauts.

See also

Web links

Commons : SpaceX Demo-2  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Videos

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eric Ralph: SpaceX's first NASA astronaut launch closer than ever as spacecraft and rocket near Florida. In: Teslarati. February 5, 2020, accessed February 6, 2020 .
  2. ↑ The @SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is named Endeavor, @JimBridenstine says. Tune in for #LaunchAmerica updates:… pic.twitter.com / boHMe8mqmv. NASA, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  3. ^ A b Norah Moran: Crew Dragon Docks to Space Station. May 31, 2020, accessed on May 31, 2020 .
  4. ^ A b NASA, SpaceX to Launch First Astronauts to Space Station from US Since 2011 . NASA, April 17, 2020
  5. ↑ Frank Wunderlich-Pfeiffer: Space travel has arrived in the 21st century. Addendum from May 31, 2020, 7:05 p.m. In: Golem.de . May 31, 2020, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Elon Musk: Crew Dragon spacecraft for NASA could fly astronauts in 3 to 4 months . CNN Business, October 1, 2019.
  7. ↑ Stephen Clark: Dragon crew names their spacecraft Endeavor; complete first manual flight test. Spaceflight Now, May 30, 2020, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  8. ^ Marie Lewis: Meet the Astronauts Flying SpaceX's Demo-2. August 3, 2018, accessed August 5, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b NASA DM-2 . , accessed on May 25, 2020.
  10. ↑ Источник: США планируют запустить корабль с экипажем на МКС в конце июля. In: RIA Novosti. March 22, 2019, Retrieved March 22, 2019 (Russian).
  11. ↑ Twitter messages from Chris Gebhardt. Nasaspaceflight.com, October 5, 2019.
  12. ↑ Michael Sheetz: How NASA and SpaceX plan to launch astronauts in May despite a pandemic . CNBC, April 3, 2020.
  13. ^ Bob Granath: NASA, SpaceX Sign Property Agreement for Historic Launch Pad. NASA, April 22, 2014, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Michael Sheetz: SpaceX crew launch live updates: Launch is postponed, NASA to try again Saturday . CNBC, May 27, 2020.
  15. ↑ Amy Thompson May 30, 2020: Liftoff! SpaceX launches 1st astronauts for NASA on historic test flight. Accessed May 31, 2020 (English).
  16. ↑ NASA astronauts splash down after journey home aboard SpaceX capsule. In: Reuters. August 2, 2020, accessed on August 2, 2020 .
  17. ^ GO Navigator - Dragon Recovery. In: SpaceXFleet.com. Retrieved August 3, 2020 (UK English).
  18. ↑ a b SpaceX's Crew Dragon Successfully Executed First US Splashdown Since 1975. August 2, 2020, accessed August 3, 2020 (American English).
  19. ↑ a b Robert Z. Pearlman: President Obama Reveals Astronauts' Secret Souvenir on Final Shuttle Mission . Space.com, July 15, 2011.
  20. ↑ Twitter message from SpaceX, July 15, 2011.
  21. ↑ a b Before SpaceX can 'capture the flag,' an astronaut had to find it . Collectspace, May 20, 2020.
  22. ↑ After botched test flight, Boeing wants refly its Starliner spacecraft for NASA . The Washington Post , April 7, 2020.
  23. ↑ Chris Bergin: From Shuttle Sadness to Dragon Delight - USA prepares to regain domestic crew launch capability . Nasaspaceflight.com, April 28, 2020.
  24. ↑ Anna Heiney: NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 Crew Heads for Launch Pad. NASA, May 30, 2020, accessed June 1, 2020 .
  25. ↑ NASA: NASA's SpaceX Demo-2: Watch Arrival of Astronauts Behnken and Hurley to Space Station. May 31, 2020, accessed on June 2, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Robert Z. Pearlman: SpaceX 'stowaway' revealed by crew as sons' dinosaur toy 'Tremor'. In: livescience.com. Future US, Inc., June 1, 2020, accessed June 2, 2020 .