SpaceX’s Crew-5 astronaut mission for NASA stays on track to launch subsequent week, supplied Mom Nature cooperates.
SpaceX and NASA held a flight readiness assessment (FRR) for Crew-5 immediately (Sept. 26) that lasted greater than 9 hours. No main technical points have been recognized through the FRR, so the Crew-5 groups proceed to work towards a launch from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy House Heart (KSC) at 12:46 p.m. EDT (1646 GMT) on Oct. 3.
“I believed it was a really thorough assessment,” Steve Stich, supervisor of NASA’s Business Crew Program, mentioned in a name with reporters this afternoon. “We’re nonetheless on monitor for the launch on Oct. 3.”
In footage: Amazing launch photos of SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission
That plan, nonetheless, is contingent on Hurricane Ian having however a minor impression on KSC, which is on Florida’s Atlantic coast.
Ian is at the moment churning its manner north via the Caribbean, and its winds have already begun lashing the Florida Keys. Present fashions predict that the storm will hit Florida’s Gulf Coast significantly onerous over the following few days, however KSC may very well be within the line of fireplace as effectively. Certainly, NASA is rolling its huge Artemis 1 moon rocket off KSC’s Pad 39B tonight as a protecting measure, to get the precious {hardware} safely inside the power’s Car Meeting Constructing. (Artemis 1 had been scheduled to launch to the moon on Tuesday; it is too quickly to invest about its subsequent goal liftoff date.)
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule that may fly the Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) are protected; they have not but rolled out to Pad 39A. If the climate cooperates, the Crew-5 stack will probably roll out on Sept. 29, the identical day that the mission’s 4 crewmembers fly in to KSC, Invoice Gerstenmaier, vp of construct and flight reliability at SpaceX, mentioned throughout immediately’s briefing.
These 4 astronauts — NASA’s Nicole Aunapu Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan’s Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina — have been presupposed to arrive at KSC immediately, however the specter of Hurricane Ian is protecting them away for now. (Crew-5 will mark the primary time a cosmonaut has flown to the ISS on a personal American spacecraft.)
If the storm nixes an try on Oct. 3, backup alternatives will probably be out there on Oct. 4 and Oct. 5, in addition to Oct. 7 via Oct. 9, Stich mentioned. (Oct. 6 is out of play due to orbital dynamics points.) The Crew-5 astronauts will spend about 5 months aboard the orbiting lab earlier than coming again residence to Earth.
Although immediately’s FRR went easily, the groups recognized two minor points to look into additional, Stich mentioned. One issues bonds on a portion of the Dragon’s perimeter, and the opposite is a possible non-standard weld in composite overwrapped strain vessels (COPVs), that are a part of the Falcon 9’s propulsion system.
Each points are anticipated to be closed out within the subsequent day or two, Stich and Gerstenmaier mentioned.
It is unclear if the weld concern even impacts the Crew-5 Falcon 9, which will probably be flying for the primary time. However it’s doable, on condition that the problem popped up on different COPVs made utilizing the identical methods and/or personnel, Gerstenmaier mentioned.
“We have truly flown it in another circumstances on another rockets and it is carried out effectively, however that does not imply it is ok for crew,” he mentioned of the weld.
“We have examined it already as soon as and it seems prefer it’s passable. We will assessment that knowledge with NASA tomorrow. They will check out it, double test our work, be certain that it is okay,” he added. “So I might say this is sort of a precaution that we’re going ahead with to only ensure that we’re flying the most effective {hardware} we will.”
The Crew-5 Falcon 9 first stage was damaged during transport from SpaceX’s rocket manufacturing unit close to Los Angeles to its Texas testing services; the booster was apparently not lowered correctly and hit an overpass. The restore work, which pushed the deliberate launch of Crew-5 again a bit, has been totally vetted, Gerstenmaier mentioned.
“I believe it was fortuitous that the occasion occurred on the way in which to Texas,” Gerstenmaier mentioned. “That allowed us to do all this work in Texas earlier than we did the [propellant] loading take a look at and earlier than we did the traditional static hearth. So this rocket went via its regular full-up testing, put up all of the repairs, to ensure that it’s actually able to go.”
Mike Wall is the creator of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a ebook concerning the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
