The Crew Dragon capsule, which SpaceX prepared for manned space missions, was finally launched for the first time today after a long period of development. Crew Dragon, which will allow American astronauts to be sent back into space from US soil, is of great importance for NASA.
The test flight, named SpaceX by DemoX 1, started today at 10.49. Since Crew was Dragon’s first attempt, the mission was made without the crew. With the Falcon 9 rocket, the capsule which is taking off from Kennedy Space Center continues its journey towards International Space Station (ISS). The capsule is expected to arrive at the ISS on March 3 and be locked into the station.
Crew Dragon is an updated version of Dragon’s capsule, which SpaceX has been using since 2012, for manned missions. According to the Soyuz capsule, which is the only spacecraft that can carry people to the ISS, Crew Dragon has a much wider and simpler interior design. SpaceX says Crew Dragon can carry astronauts up to 7 people in total.
Image from Crew Dragon during today’s flight.
Earth floats gently in zero gravity pic.twitter.com/XUH3KeDPVe
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2019
Because Crew Dragon is a SpaceX product, it also has reusability features. The capsule will return to Earth after a period of time at the International Space Station and, if desired, will be able to take astronauts back into space.
Astronauts wear the Crew Dragon space uniforms a little different than normal. The clothing, aesthetics, and functionality brought together by Elon Musk for the first time in recent years, attracted a lot of attention with its futuristic design.
Of course, SpaceX’s aesthetically pleasing eye for this new generation of space outfits should not be kept with NASA’s large, bulky astronaut clothes. Because the clothes in the shared photos will only be used in the already pressurized environments like Crew Dragon inside. In other words, these clothes do not have any functionality in the deep, dark, cold space of space. It’s not possible to go on a spacewalk with these clothes.
Crew Dragon capsule first manned test flight is expected in July. This flight will have a historic significance for NASA. As you know, since the cancellation of the space shuttle program in 2011, NASA has been unable to launch its astronauts into space. The payment of $ 80 million to Russia for a single seat in the Soyuz capsule had been a major problem in the internal affairs of the United States.
NASA invested $ 2.6 billion in SpaceX in 2014 to develop the Crew Dragon. The capsule was originally expected to fly for the first time in 2024, but due to unexpected technical problems, there was a delay of about two years. Crew Dragon official flights will begin in 2024. The capsule is also expected to carry space tourists to the International Space Station.
Demo-1 live stream:
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