Tag: Commercial Crew
-
Video: Dragon test articles flies pad abort profile
A test article of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon flew on an arcing minute-and-a-half demonstration flight over Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, launching atop eight 3D-printed rocket thrusters and descending to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The 20-foot-tall spaceship took off at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) to test the Dragon’s abort system, which would help…
-
Don’t blink: SpaceX crew escape demo will go by in a flash
SpaceX plans to launch an unmanned test model of the company’s Dragon crew capsule Wednesday on a whirlwind 107-second flight through the skies over Cape Canaveral. The 8-ton prototype spaceship will only reach a mile an altitude, but the trial aims to verify the Dragon capsule can safely escape from a launch failure and save…
-
Photos: Dragon prototype poised for abort test
SpaceX’s new Dragon crew ferry craft is in position for a key test Wednesday of the capsule’s safety system designed to whisk astronauts away from a dangerous rocket mishap during launch. Standing roughly 20 feet tall with a takeoff weight of approximately 10.5 tons, the Dragon capsule is a prototype of the spaceship SpaceX is…
-
SpaceX preps for test of Dragon capsule’s life-saving abort system
SpaceX ground crews transfer the Dragon pad abort vehicle to the launch pad. Credit: SpaceX A commercial spaceship designed to ferry U.S. astronauts into orbit by 2017 is set for a major test Wednesday, when SpaceX plans to blast the capsule away from a launch mount at Cape Canaveral on a mile-high demo flight to…
-
Dragon pad abort test set for early May
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon pad abort vehicle during a ground test. Credit: SpaceX A major test of the system that would shoot SpaceX astronaut crews away from a failing rocket is scheduled for no earlier than May 5 from a specially-built mount at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad, NASA announced Tuesday. The four-hour window for…
-
ULA sees clean handover of Boeing crew launches to Vulcan rocket
CAPE CANAVERAL — United Launch Alliance vows a “seamless” switch from the Atlas 5 to the new Vulcan rocket in launches of Boeing’s astronaut taxis. ULA is the launch provider of Boeing’s CST-100 capsule under NASA’s commercial crew program that will start ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil in 2017. On…
-
SpaceX, Sierra Nevada get more time to finish flight tests
The Dragon capsule for SpaceX’s pad abort test seen inside a test chamber. Credit: SpaceX NASA has extended development agreements with SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. past a March 31 deadline, giving the companies more time to complete delayed tests on commercial spacecraft intended to one day ferry astronauts into space. The extensions do not…
-
EVA-30 concludes latest ISS commercial crew preparations
NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Terry Virts have completed another EVA on Wednesday, the second of three spacewalks to begin the arduous process of reconfiguring the exterior of the International Space Station for the arrival of future commercial crew vehicles. The spacewalk also paid a visit to the end of the Station’s Canadarm2 for…
-
Falcon Heavy rocket hangar rises at launch pad 39A
SpaceX’s new hangar goes up at launch pad 39A. Credit: Justin Ray/Spaceflight Now SpaceX began erecting a new hangar at a former space shuttle launch pad in Florida last week, moving the historic facility closer to launching astronauts again. Positioned at the south perimeter of launch pad 39A, the hangar sits on the gravel crawlerway…
-
Photos from this weekend’s spacewalk
Two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station on Saturday, running more than 300 feet of wiring that will eventually be connected to new docking ports to receive commercial spaceships built by Boeing and SpaceX. Expedition 42 crew commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and flight engineer Terry Virts, both veteran space shuttle pilots, spent nearly seven…