[ad_1]
The four astronauts carried by the company’s Dragon capsule
SpaceX entered the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, have successfully completed the first voyage of NASA’s new space transport vehicle after nine years of dependence on Russia (You may be interested in: International Space Station: 20 Years of Life in Space)
The first phase of docking with the ISS, called “soft capture”, concluded at 04H01 GMT, according to live images broadcast by NASA on the Internet. The second phase, or “hard catch”, took place a few minutes later.
American astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover Y Shannon Walkerand Japanese Soichi Noguchi They floated in zero gravity through the hatch to the ISS, where they were greeted with shouts and hugs from the three crew members of the station.
(See also: An alternative explanation for the accelerated expansion of the universe)
“Thank you so much for letting me say hello to all of you,” NASA manned space flight program director Kathy Lauders told the astronauts in a video message.
“I just want to tell you how proud we are of you,” he added.
The Crew Dragon capsule as seen from the International Space Station.
The capsule, called “Resilience”, was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket. from private company SpaceX, NASA’s new means of space transportation after nine years of dependence on Russia.
“This is a great day for the United States and Japan,” NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said at a news conference.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off without error and at the scheduled time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (southeast).
(Also: Unal installed the first Colombian geophysical station in Antarctica)
“It was an incredible launch,” said Captain Hopkins, once in orbit.
Less than three minutes after take-off, at an altitude of 90 km and while the rocket was traveling at 7,000 km / h, the first level of the spacecraft detached without incident to return to Earth, as it will be reused in a mission scheduled for 2021 which will lead four astronauts to the ISS.
Twelve minutes after take-off, at an altitude of 200 km and a speed of 27,000 km / h, the capsule Dragon has come out of the second phase.
SpaceX confirmed that the capsule was in the correct orbit to reach the ISS just over 27 hours after takeoff. The crew joined two Russians and one American on the ISS, where they will remain for six months.
(In other news: Two meteor showers will grace the skies of November)
This “operational” flight continues the successful demonstration mission carried out from May to August, in which two American astronauts were taken to the ISS and subsequently taken to the Land securely from SpaceX.
SpaceX plans two more manned flights in 2021 for NASA and four missions to refuel the station over the next 15 months.
A purely private trip, via its partner Axiom Space, is also planned for the end of 2021. NASA has hinted that American actor Tom Cruise could travel to the ISS, which has not been confirmed.
“NASA was a complete disaster when we took over. It is now the hottest and most advanced space center in the world again, by far!” Wrote the outgoing US president on Twitter. Donald Trump, appropriate the success of a plan launched under the mandate of his two predecessors.
Joe Biden, who will replace Trump in January, also praised the Nasa ya SpaceX, but from another angle.
“It is proof of the power of science and of what we can achieve by combining innovation, ingenuity and determination,” tweeted the president-elect.
The mission encountered a problem with the cabin temperature control system, but it was quickly fixed. “It was just a small initial problem,” confirmed Kathy Lueders.
To the moon
The capsule Dragon de SpaceX It is the second device capable of reaching the ISS today, along with the highly trusted Russian Soyouz, who since 2011 has brought all visitors to the station after the United States stopped crewed flights nine years ago.
A second shuttle, built by Boeing, could be operational in a year.
NASA hopes, however, to continue cooperating with Russia. To do this, he has proposed to provide seats for his cosmonauts on future missions and intends that the Americans continue to use the Soyouz regularly.
The reality is that the links between Washington and Moscow in the space realm, one of the rare areas where they were still good, they are weakening.
Breaking more than 20 years of cooperation for the ISS, Russia will not participate in the next mini-station conceived by the NASA around the Moon, the Portal.
For Artemis, the American program to return to the moon in 2024, NASA has signed alliances with other space agencies, including Japan and Europe, but the future is not clear since it has not yet received the tens of billions of dollars needed to finish it. .
Y Joe Biden did not resume the 2024 target.
AFP
.
[ad_2]
Source link
