“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great — and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”                             

— Elon Musk

Making history in its purest form

Even if SpaceX‘s first attempt to make history delayed, the weather finally cooperated. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are safely in orbit. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the astronauts in their Crew Dragon spacecraft, lifted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT), May 30. This marks the first human spaceflight from U.S. soil with NASA astronauts on an American rocket and spacecraft since 2011.

The Falcon 9’s two stages performed flawlessly on the 9-minute ascent to orbit and on a trajectory to the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon then separated successfully from the Falcon 9’s second stage, and the nose cone opened to reveal the docking mechanism. The Falcon 9’s first stage later reentered the atmosphere and successfully touched down on the “Of Course I Still Love You’ drone ship.” The astronauts conducted some phasing and boosting burns to better align the spacecraft’s arc to the International Space Station, and after removing their spacesuits, fired the Crew Dragon’s Draco boosters several times to adjust the spacecraft’s velocity and better align with the orbit of the ISS. “It’s been a spectacular spaceship so far”, Hurley said in a message to the SpaceX mission team.

May 31 will be docking day for the two NASA astronauts on SpaceX’s first Crew Dragon to carry humans — which they soon renamed “Endeavour” in honor of the historic Space Shuttle.

In preparation for Demo-2, SpaceX completed a number of major milestones for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Back in March 2019, SpaceX aced its uncrewed ISS flight called Demo-1 — Crew Dragon’s first demonstration mission to and from the International Space Station without NASA astronauts onboard—making Dragon the first American spacecraft to autonomously dock with the ISS and safely return to Earth.

Over the last several months, key members of flight control teams working from NASA’s Johnson and Kennedy Space Center and SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, simulated different phases of the  mission while the Demo-2 astronaut crew practiced procedures — from hatch closure to undocking with the space station as well as a free flight in preparation for re-entry and splashdown. “The simulations were a great opportunity to practice procedures and to coordinate decision-making for the mission management team, especially with respect to weather”, said Michael Hess, manager of Operations Integration for CCP. “Simulation supervisors do a great job at picking cases that really make the team think and discuss.”

In January 2020, the company performed an in-flight test of Crew Dragon’s launch escape capabilities. This test, which did not have NASA astronauts onboard the spacecraft, demonstrated Crew Dragon’s ability to reliably carry crew to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency on ascent. SpaceX intentionally blew up one of its Falcon 9 rockets mid-flight and Dragon safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. Teams successfully recovered the spacecraft onto SpaceX’s recovery vessel.

Upon conclusion of the mission, Crew Dragon will autonomously undock with the two astronauts onboard the spacecraft and depart the Space Station. After jettisoning the trunk and conducting its deorbit burn, which lasts approximately 12 minutes, Dragon will reenter Earth’s atmosphere. Upon splashdown just off Florida’s Atlantic Coast, Dragon and the astronauts will be quickly recovered by SpaceX’s Go Navigator recovery vessel and returned to Cape Canaveral.

Dragon’s specifications

• Total launch payload mass: 6,000 kg

• Total launch payload volume: 25 m³

•Pressurized Section: Also referred to as the capsule, it is designed to carry both cargo and humans into space. Towards the base of the capsule but outside the pressurized structure are the Draco thrusters, Dragon’s GNC (Guidance Navigation and Control) bay and Dragon’s advanced heat shield.

• Spacecraft payload volume: 11 m³.

•Trunk: It supports the spacecraft during ascent to space, carries unpressurized cargo and houses Dragon’s solar arrays. The trunk and solar arrays remain attached to Dragon until shortly before reentry to Earth’s atmosphere, when they are jettisoned.

•Trunk Payload Volume: 14 m³.

•Total Return Payload Mass: 3,000 kg; Total return payload volume: 11m³.

•Technical Overview: Height with trunk: 7.2 m; Diameter: 3.7 m; Sidewall angle: 15º; Orbit duration: up to 2 years.

The 8.1-metre-long, 4-metre-wide bullet-shaped capsule can fit up to 7 passengers but because this is the craft’s first crewed test flight, only 2 astronauts will fly aboard this mission (only 4 seats are used for NASA missions). It launches on one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, which have slashed the cost of getting satellites to space, in part because they reuse expensive components such as rocket boosters.

The Dragon spacecraft is equipped with 16 Draco thrusters used to orient the spacecraft during the mission, including apogee/perigee maneuvers, orbit adjustment and attitude control. Each Draco thruster is capable of generating 400 N (90 lbf) of force in the vacuum of space. “The capsule design is generally safer than a winged vehicle,” said Hurley. For instance, if something goes wrong aboard Crew Dragon, the astronauts have more chances to abort the mission than they would on the shuttle. An array of 8 SuperDraco engines provides fault-tolerant propulsion for Dragon’s launch escape system. In the unlikely event of an emergency, the eight engines can power Dragon half a mile from the launch vehicle in less than 8 seconds. The escape thrust generated is 73 kN (16,400 lbf). With engines 160 times more powerful than the original, Dragon V2 is multiply redundant for enhanced crew safety. Beyond that, advances in heat shield and engine design allows the new ship to be quickly reusable dramatically lowering the cost of putting people and supplies in space.

Once on orbit, Dragon 2 is able to autonomously dock with the ISS using berthing, a non-autonomous means that was completed by use of the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Pilots of Crew Dragon retain the ability to dock the spacecraft using manual controls interfaced with a static tablet-like computer. The spacecraft can be operated in full vacuum, and the crew will wear SpaceX-designed space suits to protect them from a rapid cabin depressurization emergency event. Also, the spacecraft will be able to return safely if a leak occurs of up to an equivalent orifice of 6.35 mm (0.25 in) in diameter.

Space exploration and sustainability

SpaceX is not alone. All the three capsules are reusable. They go to space, return to Earth, and are launched again. Reusability has been a vital development in space exploration as it makes an incredibly expensive endeavor slightly more sustainable.

Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. It is the world’s first orbital class reusable rocket. Reusability allows the company to refly the most expensive parts of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access.

However, only Crew Dragon and Orion aim to venture beyond the ISS. Dragon sets its sights on Mars while Orion — the project is both non-commercial and commercial with contractors like Airbus constructing its service modules in collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) — is still tied to the Artemis Moon Program and aims for the Moon.

As for CST-100 Starliner, it is a competitor capsule being developed between NASA and Boeing. The capsule is still testing uncrewed missions.

The importance of setting our sights high

SpaceX Crew Dragon mission is set for its most important milestone. The spacecraft opens a new era in commercial spaceflight. It also marks the first time in nearly a decade that the U.S. launched astronauts into orbit from American soil since July 8^th, 2011 when NASA retired its Space Shuttle Program. Ever since then, the world’s astronauts have depended on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to reach the ISS — the orbiting laboratory in the sky built and maintained by more than a dozen countries. To end its reliance on another country, NASA worked with SpaceX and Boeing awarding them contracts ($3.14 billion and $4.8 billion respectively) to develop their own vehicles that could ferry NASA’s astronauts to the space station and back. Both experienced numerous technical delays and setbacks along the way, but ultimately, SpaceX pulled ahead becoming the first private company ever to fly humans to orbit.

Inspire the next generation of space explorers is another step forward for SpaceX founder. “We want to inspire kids to say that one day, they want to wear that uniform”, Musk said, referencing the SpaceX spacesuit. With this mission, “everybody can look up and say, ’Look, the future is so much brighter than the present. And I really hope that this is an inspiration to the world”, Bridenstine said. “What today is about is reigniting the dream of space and getting people fired up about the future”, Musk said in a NASA interview before the postponement on Wednesday, May 27.

“This is a whole new way of sending people to space”, said Robert Cabana, a former NASA astronaut who is now director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will fly the spaceship to the ISS. They will dock with the space station, then float inside to join three spacefarers who have been living and working there since April. If they reach the space station safely, the astronauts will live and work there for one to four months. Among other tasks, they will help with the various research projects being conducted on the station, including experiments on how flames burn and plants drink water in space. This will herald a new era for human spaceflight, enabling greater access to low-Earth orbit and destinations beyond with the help of commercial partners.

NASA and SpaceX made tremendous improvements that everything so far should pave the way for greater things giving us hope for the future. After this launch, NASA’s attention will turn back to its lunar-landing dream by the end of 2024. And then travel on to Mars in the 2030s.