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All eyes are on the official mission that unites SpaceX and NASA in the Commercial Crew Program, which is another step towards realizing a new era of regular manned flights from North American territory. The last time the astronauts left American soil was in July 2011, with the Space Shuttle, whose program was disabled.
NASA began investing in 2010 in a partnership program with private companies for the transport of astronauts, selecting SpaceX and Boing as partners, but Elon Musk’s company is more advanced and this has determined that Crew Dragon has launched this model of commercial flights, and half a dozen more are planned in the coming years. Boeing continues to test but has not been very happy with the results.
Since the end of the Space Shutlle, North American astronauts have had to hitchhike the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to reach the Space Station, as it was the only one to fly manned flights, but the cost of each “ticket” was growing more and more. , reaching 90 million dollars for each passenger.
In addition to the cost, the launch of NASA astronauts from North American soil and with “autonomous transport” is also a source of national pride and the Crew Dragon mission has also been used as a political flag by the Trump administration and “to make it great again. America”.
In March, the Crew Dragon test team took more than 19 hours to reach the Space Station, that is, until the spacecraft docked at the station. But this time the time is even longer, almost another 10 hours late.
Soyuz has an average travel time of six hours and in October broke a new speed record, taking just over three hours on the journey between the launch site in Kazakhstan, the Roscosmos and the Space Station, becoming the first spacecraft with astronauts on board approaching in just two orbits.
Focus on quality, not time
NASA explains that the concern for the Crew Dragon mission in March, and now with Crew-1, is to get a successful test and not so much to shorten travel times. The mechanics of the orbital approach is the reason for the delay, and it is all related to the choice of the moment of launch.
The launch window depends on factors such as weather conditions, as explained by Benji Reed, mission director for Crew Dragon in May.
In practice, the SpaceX probe could take less time than assumed on these two missions if NASA and Elon Musk’s company had opted for other dates.
The images below show the processes of entry into orbit and the approach to the Space Station. The entire mission is being watched live by NASA and the estimated time for docking at the International Space Station is at sunrise on Tuesday, 4 am in mainland Portugal. SAPO TEK will also accompany the mission.
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