Meet the Crew: Hurley, Behnken Primed for Historic U.S. Return to SpaceBy Ben Evans, on May 24th, 2020
Doug Hurley (left), mission commander of Demo-2, piloted the final Space Shuttle flight, whilst Bob Behnken, joint operations commander, is a veteran spacewalker and former chief of NASA’s astronaut corps. Photo Credit: NASAAlan Shepard, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walt Cunningham, Bob Crippen and John Young; just a handful of many heroes in the annals of U.S. human spaceflight over almost six decades. But these seven men occupy a unique niche in that they were first to take a brand-new spacecraft, ride it from the launch pad to low-Earth orbit and check it out for even more complex missions ahead. Shepard became America’s first man in space when he took a 15-minute suborbital “hop” aboard the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule in May 1961; Grissom and Young piloted Gemini 3 in March 1965; Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham flew Apollo 7 in October 1968; and Young and Crippen undertook arguably the most dangerous experimental test flight in history when they buckled into Columbia for the shuttle’s first-ever launch off the planet in April 1981.
And on Wednesday afternoon, those seven names will be joined by two more, as retired Marine Corps colonel Doug Hurley, the man who piloted the final Space Shuttle, and Air Force colonel and former chief of the astronaut office Bob Behnken become the first humans to ride a commercial vehicle into low-Earth orbit. (...)
Doug Hurley, pictured aboard Endeavour’s flight deck during his first shuttle mission, STS-127 in July 2009. Photo Credit: NASABehnken (left) and fellow astronaut Sandy Magnus, pictured during the NEEMO-11 undersea expedition in September 2006. Photo Credit: NASABehnken participates in pre-flight training ahead of STS-130. Photo Credit: NASA(...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2020/05/24/meet-the-crew-hurley-behnken-primed-for-historic-u-s-return-to-space/NASA, SpaceX Ready to Return Human Spaceflight to American Soil (Part 1)By Ben Evans, on May 25th, 2020
Former astronaut Karen Nyberg tweeted this touching image of her son looking down at Demo-2 on Pad 39A during the flight into the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Photo Credit: Karen Nyberg/Twitter(...) Shortly after this Go/No-Go stage is reached for real on Wednesday, the Crew Access Arm will retract and Crew Dragon’s Launch Escape System will be placed onto internal power and armed. Fueling of the booster with a highly refined form of rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) will commence at T-35 minutes, accompanied by the onset of liquid oxygen tanking into the first stage. Liquid oxygen will then be pumped into the Falcon 9’s second stage from T-16 minutes and Crew Dragon will transition to internal power at T-5 minutes. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2020/05/25/nasa-spacex-ready-to-return-human-spaceflight-to-american-soil-part-1/T-1 Day: NASA, SpaceX Ready to Bring Human Spaceflight Back to America (Part 2)By Ben Evans, on May 26th, 2020
Hurley and Behnken participate in ISS systems training. Photo Credit: NASA(...) Surprisingly, a Crew Dragon failure came indirectly to the aid of this plan. When the capsule used for the unpiloted Demo-1 mission in March 2019 was accidentally lost on the test stand a few weeks later, Hurley and Behnken’s original spacecraft for Demo-2 was shuffled forward along the line to execute the dramatic In-Flight Abort Test last January. And the capsule originally earmarked for SpaceX’s first Post-Certification Mission (PCM-1)—informally known as “Crew One”, the first operational long-duration flight—was correspondingly assigned to Hurley and Behnken. This proved to be one of the enabling factors in allowing them to fly a longer mission. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2020/05/26/t-1-day-nasa-spacex-ready-to-bring-human-spaceflight-back-to-america-part-2/Weather Delays Demo-2, Next Attempt NET SaturdayBy Ben Evans, on May 27th, 2020
Bob Behnken (foreground) and Doug Hurley wave to onlookers outside the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building, prior to boarding their Tesla Model X for the ride out to Pad 39A. Photo Credit: NASAMission Commander Doug Hurley makes a last telephone call from outside the Crew Access Arm on Pad 39A. Photo Credit: NASA(...) But Wednesday was not to be SpaceX’s or NASA’s day. Hopes that the weather situation might improve to within allowable limits if T-0 was pushed 10 minutes later was impossible, due to the “instantaneous” nature of the launch. As such, at T-16 minutes and 53 seconds, shortly before the onset of liquid oxygen tanking into the Falcon 9 second stage, Wednesday’s attempt was formally scrubbed. “Standing down from launch today,” noted SpaceX in its post-scrub tweet, “due to unfavorable weather in the flight path.” The next available opportunity to fly is at 3:22 p.m. EDT Saturday, 30 May, followed by another attempt at 3:00 p.m. EDT Sunday, 31 May.
https://www.americaspace.com/2020/05/27/weather-delays-demo-2-next-attempt-net-saturday/Demo-2 Flies, Ends 9-Year U.S. Crew Launch HiatusBy Ben Evans, on May 30th, 2020
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching America’s first crew back to space from US soil on the Crew Dragon May 30, 2020 from Kennedy Space Center pad 39A on the Demo-2 flight test to and from the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo: Mike Killian / AmericaSpace.comThe wait is over. After nine long years, an agonizing 3,236 days, a hiatus in America’s capacity to launch its own astronauts, aboard its own spacecraft, atop its own rockets, and from its own soil, came to a triumphant end at 3:22:45 p.m. EDT Saturday, 30 May, when the Demo-2 Crew Dragon finally took flight from historic Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
Carrying the dreams of a nation, to say nothing of the men and women who vacated KSC before them, NASA veterans Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken became the first humans to ride a Falcon 9 into space. Within nine minutes, Crew Dragon—which Hurley later named “Endeavour”—had achieved a smooth orbit, preparatory to Sunday’s planned docking with the International Space Station (ISS). (...)
SpaceX founder Elon Musk, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence applaud the walkout of the Demo-2 crew for their first launch attempt on Wednesday, 27 May. Photo Credit: NASAA Launch Readiness Review (LRR) concluded Friday with a unanimous “Go” to proceed with Saturday’s launch attempt and NASA noted that SpaceX had requested Tuesday, 2 June, on the Eastern Range as an additional backup day, should this weekend’s attempts come to nought. Tuesday’s forecast is predicted to be markedly better, with a 70-percent chance of acceptable weather conditions.
Despite the poor outlook, early Saturday the decision was made to press ahead with the launch attempt. During the suit-up process, Behnken joked with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine that Hurley’s history of launch delays was to blame for Wednesday’s scrub.
The crew departed the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building around midday EDT to be greeted by well-wishers, including their wives and children. Behnken reminded his son to be good and make life easier for his mom, fellow astronaut Megan McArthur. They then boarded the Tesla Model X—appropriately carrying the license plate ISSBND—for the ride out to Pad 39A. They arrived shortly after 12:20 p.m. EDT and rode the elevator to board their waiting spacecraft. (...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=85&v=vAtCOwgSiEo&feature=emb_titleVideo Credit: AmericaSpaceLiftoff at 3:22:45 p.m. EDT was as perfect as perfect could be, as Hurley and Behnken rose from Earth under 1.7 million pounds (770,000 kg) of propulsive yield from the nine Merlin 1D+ engines of the Falcon 9 first stage. Making its first orbital launch—the first never-before-used Falcon 9 to take flight in 2020—the “B1058” core completed its expected 2.5-minute burn, before separating and executing a perfect bullseye touchdown on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS), “Of Course I Still Love You”, some nine minutes into flight.
A smooth six-minute burn by the Merlin 1D+ Vacuum engine of the second stage then got underway to boost Hurley and Behnken smoothly into orbit. Impressive imagery revealed Crew Dragon separating from the last edifice of the Falcon 9 at just under 12 minutes into flight and a busy few hours lay ahead for the crew. A few seconds after separation from the second stage, the spacecraft’s nose cone opened to reveal the navigational sensors and docking mechanism. Although Crew Dragon was designed with autonomy in mind, right from the outset it was intended that the astronauts would execute a series of manual flight tests: one in free-flight (known as “far field”) and another in closer proximity to the ISS. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2020/05/30/demo-2-flies-ends-nine-year-u-s-human-launch-hiatus/Demo-2 Docks at Space Station, Expedition 63 Expands to Five CrewBy Ben Evans, on May 31st, 2020
Video Credit: AmericaSpace(...) Throughout the rendezvous, the crew worked at least 16-17 minutes ahead of the timeline and it came as little surprise that docking, originally planned for 10:29 a.m. EDT, came a few minutes earlier. Reaching Waypoint Two, a hold was called for a “Go/No-Go” poll for final approach and docking. Contact and capture between Dragon Endeavour and International Docking Adapter (IDA)-2 at the forward end of the station’s Harmony node came at 10:16 a.m. EDT, as the combined vehicles flew 262 miles (421 km) over the border between China and Mongolia.
“Dragon, arriving,” exulted Cassidy, with the traditional bell-ring to observe the arrival of a new crew. “The crew of Expedition 63 in honored to welcome Dragon and the Commercial Crew Program. Bob and Doug, glad to have you as part of the crew.”
Two hours later, following pressurization and leak checks between the two spacecraft, Cassidy opened the hatch into IDA-2 at 12:37 p.m. EDT as they orbited 267 miles (430 km) over the South Pacific. And at 1:02 p.m. EDT, on the Dragon Endeavour side, Hurley opened his ship’s hatch to give American astronauts direct crew access to the ISS from an American spacecraft for the first time in almost nine years. Behnken came floating through the hatch first and was quickly engulfed in hugs from Cassidy and Russian Expedition 63 cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. Interestingly, both Cassidy and Behnken are former chiefs of NASA’s astronaut corps and today marked the first time in history that two ex-chiefs have met in low-Earth orbit. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2020/05/31/demo-2-docks-at-space-station-expedition-63-expands-to-five-crew/