There is a lot of attention on the upcoming SpaceX launch for NASA. The hype? NASA is getting the ability to launch astronauts into space from American soil.
Preparations for the first crewed flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon are underway. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard the spacecraft. The spacecraft will lift off from the historic but recently renovated Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting no earlier than mid-to-late May for launch for what promises to be a really long test drive.
The Demo-2 mission will likely be one of the biggest events in 2020 for the space industry as America prepares for the first launch from US soil of Astronauts into space since the final space shuttle mission on July 8, 2011. But, did this company already send astronauts into space from American soil?
Is the claim correct?
Is this really the first time an astronaut has launched from American soil in almost nine years into space? NASA has been utilizing commercially purchased space launches since the retirement of the space shuttle program. Those launches have been from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site where All crewed Russian spaceflights are launched, and NASA has been hitching a ride since the retirement of the Space Shuttle.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 flight is still technically considered a test flight and it will be the first time SpaceX flies astronauts to space. To help reduce the risk of crew staffing on the ISS, the duration length of Demo-2 will be longer than originally planned. NASA is looking at extending Demo-2 beyond the original plan of just a few days to the space station and back.
To answer these questions, we first need to understand where space begins. And the answer to “where does space begin?” depends on who you ask.
Okay, so where does Space Begin?
Back in the day when the US and USSR were locked into a heated race across the world to prove dominancy in Space, there was a question, where does Space Begin? To take credit for the first person into space, you need to know where the line is drawn.
U.S. military and NASA adopted a starting point, which defines space differently than the rest of the world. For the US, Space starts at roughly the end of the Mesosphere or at 50 miles above Earth’s surface. Under the U.S. Military and NASA cutoff, pilots, mission specialists, and civilians who cross this boundary are officially deemed astronauts and can earn their astronaut wings. Several people under the US system have been awarded astronaut wings that never made it into orbit.
The US definition is 12 miles lower than what is generally accepted by the rest of the world including FÉDÉRATION AÉRONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONALE (FAI). In case you don’t know, the FAI is an international standard-setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. The FAI defines the start point of space at the Kármán Line.
FAI subscribes to the view that if an aircraft can only stay aloft by constantly traveling forward relative to the air (rather than the ground) so that the wings can generate lift. The thinner the air, the faster the plane must go to generate enough lift to stay up. At 62 miles, calculations can be done indicating that an aircraft no longer can travel fast enough to generate lift. Above 62 miles, objects need to travel at orbital velocity to avoid falling back to Earth. So, the general rule is if a plane or jet can’t fly there and generate lift to keep it in air, then you have reached space.
Some have argued that the Start of Space is actually even higher. At 62 miles and orbital velocity, there is enough air resistance to prevent a stable orbit. The higher you go, the less pressure and less air resistance. Drag from the air resistance would slow the craft down and therefore the orbit would degrade without completing a full orbit unless the rocket engines continued to provide thrust to counterbalance. The actual altitude that is required to complete at least one orbit partially depends on the geometry of the spacecraft, space weather, etc.
For Example, the International Space Station (ISS), which, which is Low Earth Orbit, is certainly in space. The ISS orbits at an altitude of approximately 248.5 miles (400 kilometers). The orbit of the ISS is well above the Kármán Line. Even there, astronauts still experience microgravity here. At 248.5 miles, the ISS is still inside part of the Earth’s Atmosphere, the thermosphere. Even though there is very little resistance due to the atmosphere at this altitude, the ISS is being slowed down ever so slightly. the constant free-fall toward Earth and is still impacted by our planet’s gravity and atmosphere. The ISS does slow down as it brushes through the (very thin) air and requires regular boosts to maintain its altitude.
NOAA produced a great graphic that depicts the approximate location of various boundaries.
Okay – So did anyone make it to Space since NASA stopped flying the Space Shuttle.
Both Russia, launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site and China launching from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center have passed the US definition of space, the FAI definition of space, and achieved orbit. China and Russia both have launched people into space to rendezvous with space stations. NASA along with commercial partners like SpaceX, ULA, Boeing and a few others, have launched rockets into orbit as well, however they lacked having people on board. NASA, since 2011 has been relying on Russia for launching astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA has been developing the capability to launch people into space through the CCP
So, did anyone go into space?
In 2011, an American decided to do a space dive… Space Dives are similar to skydiving. It involves jumping from an aircraft or spacecraft in Near Space and falling to Earth. Robert Alan Eustace was a Senior Vice President of Engineering at Google and decided to do a stratosphere jump. Two years later, on October 24, 2014, he broke the world record for the highest-altitude free-fall jump. The launch-point for his jump was from an abandoned runway in the iconic Roswell, New Mexico. Instead of using a rocket, he used a gas balloon-powered to ascend to a reported maximum altitude of 135,908 feet which translates into 41.425 km; 25.7402 mi. So, in this case, Eustace did launch from the United States but failed to reach even the height reported as the line delimitating the start of space. He was only halfway there. Also, the balloon was manufactured in India, so not an American made craft, technically. None the less, very impressive jumping from 25 miles up.
Okay? So, no? Not quite…
Several companies are looking to use rocket-propelled craft to get people into space, beyond those that are commercial crew partners for NASA. The privately funded Blue Origin has been developing a rocket and capsule to vertically lift off and land and pass the Kármán Line.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard is a fully reusable vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) rocket. The New Shepard is a human-rated suborbital rocket that was being developed by Blue Origin as a rocket commercial system for suborbital space tourism. The name “New Shepard” refers to the first American astronaut in space, Alan Shepard who on Freedom 7 reached space on a suborbital trajectory. The New Shepard also plans to fly only to sub-orbital altitudes.
On 29 April 2015, the New Shepard launched into space, by American standards. The flight recorded an altitude of 93.5 km (307,000 ft; 58.1 mi). Although the New Shepard 1 crash-landed, it was a major milestone. The follow-up flight of the New Shepard 2 on 23 November 2015 successfully achieved an altitude of 329,839 ft (100.535 km; 62.4695 mi). Blue Origin has repeated this success multiple times thereafter. However, no people have been passengers aboard up to this point.
Okay – so nobody Beat NASA, right? Well…
Enter the recently publicly traded Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic, a publicly-traded new space company led by Richard Branson which intends to conduct space tourism flights. Virgin Galactic is already selling tickets for the future launch of the spacecraft.
Virgin Galactic opted for a design where the spacecraft is carried by a large airplane. After reaching the drop point, the Spacecraft will be dropped and then engage the engines and start the ascent to space. The VSS Unity VP-03 On 13 December 2018 was a suborbital test of the spacecraft piloted by Mark P. Stucky and co-piloted by Frederick W. “CJ” Sturckow.
During the flight, the VSS Unity VP-03 flight reached an altitude of 82.7 km (51.4 mi) which is past the US definition of where space begins, but lower than the Kármán Line. Following the first flight, the VSS Unity VF-01 was another sub-orbital spaceflight on 22 February 2019, piloted by David Mackay and co-piloted by Mike Masucci which reached an apogee of 89.99 km (55.92 mi).
So, by following the definition of the United States for where space begins, both flights satisfied the definition of spaceflight (50 mi/80.47 km). Since the flight did not reach the Kármán line (62.14 mi/100 km ), the internationally accepted standard observed by the FAI Virgin Galactic did not reach space. The spacecraft was built and launched from the USA, so…
Sort of?
So, NASA (sort of) can make the claim that the upcoming launch by SpaceX will be the first American’s launched into Space by an American made spacecraft since the retirement of the Space Shuttle. Since the Virgin Galactic flight was Sub-orbital, NASA and SpaceX can definitely claim that this will be the first time since the Space Shuttle that Americans will launch from US soil, on a US spacecraft into ORBIT. All of the accomplishments of Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Boeing, and SpaceX are notable and have a special spot in spaceflight history.
In the end, it looks like Elon Musk is going to help NASA reach Orbit with Humans before anyone esle.
About The Author
Bill D’Zio
Co-Founder at WestEastSpace.com
Bill founded WestEastSpace.com after returning to China in 2019 to be supportive of his wife’s career. Moving to China meant leaving the US rocket/launch industry behind, as the USA and China don’t see eye to eye on cooperation in space. Bill has an engineering degree and is an experienced leader of international cross-functional teams with experience in evaluating, optimizing and awarding sub-contracts for complex systems. Bill has worked with ASME Components, Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) for use in launch vehicles, satellites, aerospace nuclear, and industrial applications.
Bill provides consulting services for engineering, supply chain, and project management.
