[ad_1]
SpaceX is preparing for its historic crew 1 trip to the ISS to deliver astronauts to the orbiting research station. The Crew Dragon capsule that will be used for the mission has been dubbed “Resilience” and is currently scheduled for launch with astronauts aboard the ISS later this month. SpaceX delivered the spacecraft to its hangar at Kennedy Space Center earlier this week.
With the arrival of the spacecraft, it will now be connected to the Falcon 9 rocket before the fully assembled rocket makes its way to the launch pad. The short trip to the launchpad is scheduled for this weekend. Currently, the commercial crew capsule launch is scheduled for November 14 at 7:49 PM EST. There will be four astronauts aboard this historic mission, known as Crew-1.
The launch is the first operational flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX has already taken astronauts to the ISS on a 64-day test flight to the space station conducted earlier this year with astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard. The capsule’s Resilience nickname was chosen by Cmdr. Mike Hopkins who said he hoped the mission would be an inspiration for everyone on what’s possible when we work together.
Hopkins pointed out that the definition of resilience means functioning well under stress or during adverse events. 2020 was certainly a challenge and required resilience within the space program. Resilience was chosen as the name of the spacecraft because it is more of a connection with the four astronauts aboard the spacecraft, it is bound to bring something positive into everyone’s life.
The crew aboard the Group 1 flight includes Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins and Soichi Noguchi. An interesting side note from Hopkins is that the crew-2 astronauts will not rename the Crew Dragon Endeavor. It is a spacecraft that went on a test mission to obtain the Crew Dragon certification for space flight.
Source link
