{"id":18439,"date":"2018-07-12T18:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacexs-crew-dragon-capsule-arrives-in-florida-to-get-set-for-uncrewed-test-flight\/"},"modified":"2018-07-12T18:00:58","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T10:00:58","slug":"spacexs-crew-dragon-capsule-arrives-in-florida-to-get-set-for-uncrewed-test-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacexs-crew-dragon-capsule-arrives-in-florida-to-get-set-for-uncrewed-test-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon capsule arrives in Florida to get set for uncrewed test flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_433650\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-433650\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-433650\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180712-spacex-630x630.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX Crew Dragon\" width=\"630\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180712-spacex-630x630.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180712-spacex-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180712-spacex-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180712-spacex-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180712-spacex.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-433650\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Technicians check out the Crew Dragon capsule in Florida after the completion of thermal vacuum and acoustic testing at NASA\u2019s Plum Brook Station in Ohio. (SpaceX via Instagram)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After months of testing, a SpaceX Dragon capsule that\u2019s designed to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station has arrived in Florida, marking a significant step toward this summer\u2019s scheduled test launch.<\/p>\n<p>Even though the vehicle is called a \u201cCrew Dragon,\u201d this Dragon won\u2019t carry crew on its first flight. Instead, it\u2019s due to make an uncrewed practice run to the space station during what\u2019s known as Demonstration Mission 1, or DM-1.<\/p>\n<p>Before this week\u2019s shipment to Florida, the Dragon underwent thermal vacuum tests as well as acoustic tests at NASA\u2019s Plum Brook Station in Ohio. Today SpaceX showed off a picture of the Crew Dragon, which is a redesigned, beefed-up version of its robotic cargo-carrying Dragon, via Twitter and Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s current schedule calls for SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket to launch the DM-1 mission next month from Kennedy Space Center. However, that schedule is dependent not only on the pace of preparations, but also on the timetable for station arrivals and departures.<\/p>\n<p>After several weeks, the Crew Dragon would unhook from the station and descend back down to Earth, still uncrewed, for a Pacific splashdown and recovery.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX will follow up on DM-1 with an in-flight abort test, and eventually with a crewed demonstration flight to the space station, known as DM-2.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Progress for NASA's Commercial Crew Program\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UVnrb_Z2Wnk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Boeing is moving ahead with work on its own space taxi, the CST-100 Starliner. The first three Starliner spacecraft are undergoing a variety of tests in preparation for this year\u2019s first uncrewed flight to the space station. A crewed flight will follow, and NASA has the option of extending that flight to fit the station\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not yet clear whether the Dragon or the Starliner will fly astronauts to the station first. Those spacefliers will be in a position to claim the U.S. flag that was left behind in 2011 by the shuttle Atlantis\u2019 crew for the next crew to be launched from U.S. soil.<\/p>\n<p>After the crewed demonstration flights, NASA will have to certify the Dragon and the Starliner for regular trips to and from the space station.<\/p>\n<p>This week, the Government Accountability Office issued a report saying that certification may not come until the end of 2019 or perhaps even 2020 \u2014 which is significantly later than NASA had anticipated. The GAO recommended that NASA come up with a contingency plan for ensuring there\u2019d be a U.S. presence on the space station even if the space taxis aren\u2019t certified on time.<\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s Soyuz spacecraft is currently the only means approved for sending spacefliers to the space station. NASA\u2019s access to Soyuz seats is currently due to run out in early 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Technicians check out the Crew Dragon capsule in Florida after the completion of thermal vacuum and acoustic testing at NASA\u2019s Plum Brook Station in Ohio. (SpaceX via Instagram) After months of testing, a SpaceX Dragon capsule that\u2019s designed to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station has arrived in Florida, marking a significant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[670,291,1395,717,190,316,1306],"class_list":["post-18439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boeing","tag-commercial-space","tag-dragon","tag-international-space-station","tag-nasa","tag-spacex","tag-starliner"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}