{"id":85702,"date":"2010-12-08T21:05:34","date_gmt":"2010-12-08T13:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-taking-no-risks-with-engine-cracks-in-dragon-test-flight\/"},"modified":"2010-12-08T21:05:34","modified_gmt":"2010-12-08T13:05:34","slug":"spacex-taking-no-risks-with-engine-cracks-in-dragon-test-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-taking-no-risks-with-engine-cracks-in-dragon-test-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX Taking No Risks with Engine Cracks in Dragon Test Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[12-08-10] <strong>SpaceX<\/strong> will attempt to launch its Dragon space capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket by Dec. 9 after two small cracks detected on the rocket\u2019s second stage engine nozzle extension delayed the unmanned commercial test launch, the company announced Dec. 7.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SpaceX said its engineers are investigating the cracks, which are located near the end of the nozzle extension. While the company reports that the location of the cracks would prevent them from causing a flight failure, SpaceX is not taking any chances on the mission and is conducting further investigation to ensure that it is not a more serious problem. <br \/>\n\u201cIt looks like the first attempt for this flight is no earlier than Thursday. On Monday, indications in the weld joint were such that we wanted to take additional steps to look at it. If the nozzle needs to be replaced, the launch could be postponed until Friday,\u201d SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The operation involves risky maneuvers, SpaceX CEO and CTO Elon Musk said in a statement posted on the company\u2019s Web site. The Dragon spacecraft, designed with seats for a seven-member crew and a cargo hold, will reach orbit and then re-enter the atmosphere and parachute into the Pacific Ocean in the span of five hours. \u201cThe Dragon will control its re-entry with onboard Draco thrusters, which enable the spacecraft to touchdown at a very precise location \u2014 ultimately within a few hundred yards of its target,\u201d Musk said.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If successful, the capsule could be selected to be the first private commercial vehicle to transport supplies and personnel to the International Space Station (ISS). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a license in November to SpaceX to re-enter Earth\u2019s orbit in November. <br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dragon\u2019s next scheduled mission is a fly-by of the ISS, where the Dragon will come within six miles of the orbiting station. The first manned Dragon mission to the ISS is scheduled to take place in 2011.<\/p>\n<h2>\nRelated Stories-<\/h2>\n<p>\n<b class=\"titlelink\">GAO: NASA Fails to Budget for Delays, Cost Overruns in Delta 2 Replacement Strategy<\/b>&nbsp;<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"14\" height=\"14\" align=\"top\" src=\"..\/..\/..\/..\/images\/ico_goldkey.gif\" alt=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tSatellite News&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tNovember 30, 2010<br \/>\n[11-30-10] The U.S. Government  Accountability Office (GAO) urged NASA to retool its medium-launch  transition strategy after it found that the agency s plans lack an  affordable and reliable replacement for the retiring Delta 2 launch\u2026<\/p>\n<p><b class=\"titlelink\">SpaceX Receives FAA License to Re-Enter Spacecraft from Orbit<\/b>&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tSatellite Today&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tNovember 24, 2010<br \/>\n[11-24-10] The U.S. Federal  Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation  has issued SpaceX a license to re-enter a spacecraft from orbit, making  SpaceX the first commercial company to be authorized to do\u2026<\/p>\n<p><b class=\"titlelink\">NASA, Commercial Partnerships Accelerate Quickly After Authorization Act<\/b>&nbsp;<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"14\" height=\"14\" align=\"top\" src=\"..\/..\/..\/..\/images\/ico_bluekey.gif\" alt=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tSatellite Today&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tNovember 12, 2010<br \/>\n[11-12-10] NASA has  wasted no time in seeking commercial launch partners since the NASA  Authorization Act of 2010 was signed into law in October. Over the  past week, NASA has entered into Modular Space Vehicle (MSV)\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[12-08-10] SpaceX will attempt to launch its Dragon space capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket by Dec. 9 after two small cracks detected on the rocket\u2019s second stage engine nozzle extension delayed the unmanned commercial test launch, the company announced Dec. 7. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SpaceX said its engineers are investigating the cracks, which are located near [&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":[],"class_list":["post-85702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85702"}],"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=85702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}