SpaceX Falcon 9 For Dragon 2 Crew-1 Mission Is In Florida For Prelaunch Preparation

SpaceX Falcon 9 for the Crew-one mission arrived in Florida on Tuesday. This booster'due south serial number is B1061 and as per today's report, information technology will be reused on the NASA Crew-2 mission to the ISS. (Image Credit: SpaceX)

Aerospace launch services provider and equipment manufacturer Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) made history before this twelvemonth when it flew NASA astronauts Col. Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS) on top a Falcon ix rocket and inside its Dragon 2 crewed spacecraft. The two astronauts flew equally function of NASA'south DM-ii sit-in mission that aims to exam and certify the Dragon 2 for crewed missions to the ISS for resuming manned spaceflight from U.South. soil after the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

Now, with the Dragon 2 coiffure aiding Expedition 63'southward commander Chris Cassidy onboard the ISS in replacing the aging station's batteries, SpaceX and NASA are busy preparing for the first commercial crew mission of the Dragon 2 spacecraft revealed the agency today.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Will Fly 4 Astronauts To The ISS Once NASA Certifies Dragon 2 Vehicle As Flight Worthy

Similar to the Dragon 2 DM-2 mission, a Falcon nine booster will too fly the Crew-ane mission to the ISS later this year once the Dragon two has been fully evaluated past NASA every bit flight worthy for ferrying astronauts to the orbiting space laboratory. This booster arrived in Florida on Tuesday, the agency confirmed today where it will exist joined by the Crew-1 Dragon vehicle one time the vehicle finishes its testing taking place in Hawthorne, California.

As part of updates to the DM-2 Dragon ii'south testing that is currently underway in depression earth orbit (LEO) NASA revealed that both information technology and SpaceX are preparing for the first commercial launch of the mission. Bureau officials, in a press briefing, stated that a minimum time gap of 6 weeks is needed between the splashdown of the Dragon 2 vehicle currently being tested and for the Crew-1 mission to take to the skies to resume manned spaceflight to LEO from America.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 with the Dragon 2 crew vehicle on top launching from the Kennedy Infinite Centre'due south Launch Pad 39A earlier this year. (Image Credits: NASA/Neb Ingalls)

At the fourth dimension of NASA's briefing, the Dragon two spacecraft that will undertake the Coiffure-ane mission was undergoing propulsion organisation and valve leak checks, with the vehicle slated to enter acoustic testing once these were finished. After testing, the Coiffure-i Dragon 2 is slated to exist shipped to NASA's facilities in Florida, where it will bring together the Falcon 9 booster that arrived before this week.

The Falcon 9 for the Coiffure-1 mission will undergo pre-launch processing in SpaceX'southward facility in the Air Force's Cape Canaveral Air Forcefulness Station. Timeline of arrival for the Dragon 2 from Hawthorne is unknown, but given that the DM-two Dragon 2 currently docked with the ISS is notwithstanding to return, SpaceX and NASA have plenty of time to smooth things out for the Crew-one mission.

As opposed to the DM-2 Dragon 2 which is capable of docking only with the ISS' Harmony module, the Crew-1 Dragon 2 volition as well be able to dock with other modules of the space station. The spacecraft will not only wing American but also international astronauts to the ISS, and equally part of the Crew-one mission, the Dragon ii volition behave astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins and Soichi Noguchi to the space station.

Similar to the DM-ii mission, the Crew-1 mission volition likewise launch from Launch Complex 39A in NASA'south Kennedy Infinite Center in Florida. The proclamation comes as Behnken and Cassidy commence some other series of spacewalks today that are aimed at replacing the ISS batteries, with today's spacewalk being the start of the last two that are part of a v-year attempt for replacement.