Keeping tabs on threatening weather, SpaceX engineers restarted the countdown Sunday for a second attempt to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on an unpiloted test flight to prove the company's Crew Dragon astronaut capsule can safely propel a crew to safety during a catastrophic booster malfunction.
The six-hour launch window was expected to open at 8 a.m. EST, but early Sunday, SpaceX retargeted for 9 a.m. then 10 a.m. "to optimize for decreasing winds in the recovery area." A launch try Saturday was called off due to high winds and rough seas, but offshore conditions were expected to be better Sunday.
The in-flight abort test is a critical milestone for SpaceX and NASA as the space agency prepares to resume launching astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade aboard commercially developed SpaceX and Boeing crew ships.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is closer to flight readiness than Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and could be ready to send two astronauts — Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken — on a test flight to the International Space Station by early March. But only if the in-flight abort test goes smoothly and no other major problems develop.
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To make the unpiloted abort test as realistic as possible, the thrice-flown Falcon 9's first stage was programmed to shut down its engines 84 seconds after liftoff during the most aerodynamically stressful region of flight — a worst-case scenario for the Crew Dragon's emergency abort system.
The powerless booster was expected to be ripped apart as it veered or tumbled into the supersonic airstream, its propellants possibly igniting in a high-altitude conflagration.
But the Crew Dragon was designed to safely boost a crew to safety at any point from the launch pad to orbit. Engineers were confident the spacecraft's eight powerful SuperDraco engines would work as advertised, accelerating the craft from zero to more than 430 mph in just a few seconds.
Following a ballistic trajectory, the Crew Dragon was expected to jettison its no-longer-needed trunk section before reaching a peak altitude of about 26 miles, arcing over for a descent to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean 20 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX recovery crews were stationed nearby to retrieve the capsule while other crews were deployed to clean up any floating Falcon 9 debris.
The in-flight abort test is the last major technical hurdle before SpaceX launches Hurley and Behnken on the piloted "Demo 2" test flight to the space station, the first launch of U.S. astronauts from American soil since the space shuttle's final flight in 2011.
Since then, NASA has relied on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ferry its astronauts to and from the station at up to more than $80 million a seat. NASA's Commercial Crew Program is aimed at ending that sole reliance on the Soyuz while at the same time enabling the agency to launch additional crew members to maximize the science return.
2020-01-19 04:53:00Z
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMidWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNic25ld3MuY29tL25ld3Mvc3BhY2V4LXJlYWRpZXMtZmFsY29uLTktZm9yLXNlY29uZC1zaG90LWF0LWNyZXctZHJhZ29uLWVtZXJnZW5jeS1lc2NhcGUtdGVzdC0yMDIwLTAxLTE5L9IBeWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNic25ld3MuY29tL2FtcC9uZXdzL3NwYWNleC1yZWFkaWVzLWZhbGNvbi05LWZvci1zZWNvbmQtc2hvdC1hdC1jcmV3LWRyYWdvbi1lbWVyZ2VuY3ktZXNjYXBlLXRlc3QtMjAyMC0wMS0xOS8?oc=5
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