NASA has launched astronauts on a reusable SpaceX rocket to the ISS

Four astronauts exploded It went from Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station early Friday, and NASA made its launch for the first time with a slightly used SpaceX rocket and capsule. After a one-day weather delay, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the Endeavor Crew Dragon module came out at 5:49 a.m. as planned.

“Endeavor has re-launched four astronauts from three countries to a single International Space Station,” said a voice in control of the NASA mission.

After a two-minute, 40-second burn, the first-phase rocket was released from the second stage, its engines turned on, and it slowly returned to Earth to land on Florida’s mobile coastal platform. Meanwhile, the Crew-2 astronauts continued for another six minutes propelled by a second-stage booster, which placed the Dragon Crew capsule in Earth orbit.

At dawn, the rocket’s Merlin engines gave a boost of 1.7 million pounds to leave Earth, reaching a speed of 17,000 kilometers per hour when it reached orbit. The successful launch was received by technicians from the Houston Mission Control Room and SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

Within 13 minutes, the crew was able to lift their helmet visors and watch the dawn over the Atlantic Ocean.

After a few laps on Earth, it will dock at Crew-2 station early Saturday, joining seven astronauts already on board. The ISS will have full capacity until Crew-1, who arrived in November, Returns to Earth on April 28th. Team 2 Commander Shane Kimbrough, NASA pilot Megan McArthur, European Space Agency mission specialist Thomas Pesquet and Akihiko Hoshide Japan Aerospace Agency (JAXA) mission specialist will pass the next six. months doing experiments at the space station human tissue engineering, as well as installing new ones flexible solar panels this will increase the power of the station by 30%.

This is the first time NASA has sent humans into space using a rocket and capsule that was previously used. The rocket launched the Crew-1 flight in November 2020, while the Endeavor Crew Dragon capsule flew Demo-2 mission in May 2020. Reusability is key to SpaceX’s cost-cutting strategy, while keeping pace with both NASA and commercial customer presentations, said Benji Reed, SpaceX’s chief human space flight director. “The Holy Grail of spaceflight is reusable,” Reed told reporters at a teleconference this week. “We’re continuing our work together to assess how many more flights we could reuse.”

The Falcon 9 rocket is designed for ten flights, but NASA must re-certify it before each mission. The Space Shuttle was also a reusable spacecraft, but it landed on a runway like an airplane and was then propelled into space by rockets fired. (NASA she completed the shuttle program in 2011.) The space shuttle had to do a tremendous amount of maintenance between flights, including manually inspecting and replacing hundreds of under-the-roof heat shields. The new SpaceX rocket and capsule combination requires fewer repairs between flights. This involves replacing some wiring and checking whether salt water enters the capsule after the crew When it returns to earth, it splashes into the ocean, Said Reed.

But that wasn’t the initial plan, says Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut who managed commercial crew contracts at SpaceX from 2015 to 2018. have a brand new rocket, and a new spaceship, “he says. This model has changed because Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon capsules have performed well in recent years.” The amazing thing is that we’re not doing it. [reusing rockets], we’re doing it as fast as we’re doing, ”says Reisman, who is currently a professor of astronautical engineering at the University of Southern California and a technical advisor for the space history series for AppleTV. For all human beings.