Artykuły o Crew-2

[Orionid]

Next SpaceX commercial crew mission to launch in April
by Jeff Foust — January 30, 2021


The next Crew Dragon spacecraft, carrying astronauts from NASA, JAXA and ESA, is scheduled for launch no earlier than April 20. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

WASHINGTON — The second operational SpaceX commercial crew mission to the International Space Station will now launch in mid-April, carrying astronauts from Europe, Japan and the United States.

NASA said Jan. 29 that it set a launch date of April 20 for the Crew-2 mission to the station. NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur will be the commander and pilor, respectively, with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency Thomas Pesquet on board as mission specialists.

The four will replace the Crew-1 astronauts who flew to the station in November on the first operational Crew Dragon mission. NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, will return in that spacecraft in late April or early May, assuming Crew-2 launches on its current schedule.

NASA earlier announced a no-earlier-than launch date for Crew-2 of March 30. However, it delayed the mission to allow the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2 mission by Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle to launch no earlier than March 25 for an approximately one-week mission. Both Starliner and Crew Dragon dock to one of two ports on the station, one of which is occupied by the Crew-1 Crew Dragon spacecraft.

The delay to April 20 also accommodates a Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz MS-18, scheduled to launch around April 10. It will bring three Russian cosmonauts to the station, with Soyuz MS-17 returning to Earth a week later with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, on board.

“Around the mid-March timeframe we’ll really start to ramp up our preparations for doing some visiting vehicle operations,” Kenny Todd, deputy manager of the ISS program at NASA, said during a Jan. 22 briefing about an upcoming series of spacewalks at the station.

At the briefing he didn’t give a schedule for those missions. “We are still working with our Russian colleagues as well as the Commercial Crew Program to firm up the schedules for the Soyuz 64S and Crew-2 flights,” he said in a Jan. 27 statement to SpaceNews, using the NASA designation for Soyuz MS-18. “Both flights are currently targeting spring 2021, but specific launch dates have yet to be finalized.”

Two of the Crew-1 astronauts, Hopkins and Glover, performed the first in a series of spacewalks Jan. 27, working on the exterior of the Columbus module to support the Bartolomeo external payload platform and to install a new communications antenna there. A second spacewalk on Feb. 1 will complete the installation of a new battery for the station’s power system.

Another pair of spacewalks is tentatively planned for late February or early March, Todd said at the briefing. Those would take place after the arrival of a Cygnus cargo spacecraft currently scheduled for launch Feb. 20.

Source: https://spacenews.com/next-spacex-commercial-crew-mission-to-launch-in-april/

[Orionid]

NASA approves plans for Crew-2 launch
by Jeff Foust — April 16, 2021 [SN]


The Crew Dragon spacecraft that will fly the Crew-2 mission is prepared for its April 22 launch. Credit: SpaceX

WASHINGTON — NASA managers approved plans to launch a SpaceX commercial crew mission to the International Space Station next week, pending the resolution of one minor issue with the Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA officials said April 15 that, after the completion of a flight readiness review, they approved plans for the launch April 22 of the Crew-2 mission, which will transport American, European and Japanese astronauts to the station on a Crew Dragon spacecraft.

“The flight readiness review was very successful. We only had one exception, which needs to be cleared up in the next few days,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, during a press conference after the review.

That exception involves an issue with loading liquid oxygen into the first stage of the Falcon 9 that results in more liquid oxygen being in the tank than expected. The error is relatively small: Bill Gerstenmaier, the longtime NASA official who is now a vice president for SpaceX, said the level of liquid oxygen in the tank was no more than about 10 centimeters higher than expected.

He said SpaceX discovered it during testing of a Falcon 9 first stage at the company’s McGregor, Texas, facility, when weather interrupted the usual loading process. “That gave us some insight that we don’t typically get, and we got to see that the amount of oxidizer that we had loaded into the tank was a little bit different than what we had analyzed it to be,” he said.

SpaceX will take the time to analyze the loading error, which Gerstenmaier said was common to all Falcon 9 rockets, to ensure the safety of the upcoming crewed launch. “I think in a normal program, this amount of difference wouldn’t matter to anyone, but in our world, we’re going to take the extra step and go review it, look at the consequences and what happens worst-case,” he said.

If that issue is resolved, SpaceX will go ahead with a static-fire test of the Falcon 9 first stage early April 17 at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. The launch is scheduled for 6:11 a.m. Eastern April 22, with a backup launch date a day later. If the mission is delayed beyond April 23, the next opportunity to launch would be April 26.

Other preparations for the launch are proceeding normally. The astronauts that will fly the Crew-2 mission — NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, ESA’s Thomas Pesquet and JAXA’s Akihiko Hoshide — will arrive at KSC April 16 and go through a “dry dress rehearsal” of launch preparations two days later.

They will fly both a spacecraft and rocket that have been used before. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, called Endeavour, launched on the Demo-2 mission in May 2020, the first crewed Crew Dragon mission, while the Falcon 9 first stage previously launched the Crew-1 mission in November 2020.

“We had to do an extensive amount of work” to confirm both the Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 booster were safe for reuse on a crewed mission, said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program. That also evaluated a number of upgrades to the vehicle, such as an improved battery system and changes to the abort thrusters that allow them to use more propellant and thus improve their performance.

“It was a series of upgrades to improve safety,” he said, “and having to make sure the structures, the component lifetimes were all within the certification and the qualification of those components.”

If Crew-2 does launch April 22, it will dock with the ISS at about 5:30 a.m. Eastern April 23. The Crew-1 spacecraft currently at the station would depart the station on the morning of April 28, splashing down at 12:40 p.m. Eastern that day in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast from Tallahassee, Florida.

Stich said NASA was working with the U.S. Coast Guard to prevent a repeat of the Crew-1 splashdown in August 2020, when dozens of private boaters swarmed the capsule after splashdown. More Coast Guard vessels will patrol the splashdown zone to keep other ships at a safe distance. “We don’t anticipate having that problem again.”

Source: https://spacenews.com/nasa-approves-plans-for-crew-2-launch/

[Orionid]

Crew Dragon astronauts arrive at Kennedy Space Center for launch preps
April 16, 2021 Stephen Clark [SFN]


European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, Crew-2 pilot Megan McArthur, Crew-2 commander Shane Kimbrough, and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Friday for final launch preparations. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

An all-veteran crew of four astronauts jetted into NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Friday for the final few days of rehearsals, briefings, and relaxation before blasting off Thursday bound for a six-month stint on the International Space Station.

Led by Shane Kimbrough, a veteran of space shuttle and Soyuz flights, the astronauts arrived at the Florida spaceport shortly before 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) Friday aboard a Gulfstream jet from their home base in Houston.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/04/16/crew-dragon-astronauts-arrive-at-kennedy-space-center-for-launch-preps/

[Orionid]

Photos: Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon roll out to pad 39A
April 18, 2021 Stephen Clark [SFN]


A Falcon 9 rocket with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft rolls up the ramp to pad 39A Friday. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft rolled out to pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Friday. Hydraulics raised the 215-foot-tall (65-meter) rocket vertical on the historic launch pad in preparation for liftoff with four astronauts heading for the International Space Station.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/04/18/photos-falcon-9-and-crew-dragon-roll-out-to-pad-39a-2/

[Orionid]

Dragon crew rehearses for launch day, first-look weather forecast looks good
April 19, 2021 Stephen Clark [SFN]


NASA commander Shane Kimbrough, pilot Megan McArthur, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide stand inside the crew access arm leading to the Crew Dragon hatch at pad 39A during Sunday’s dress rehearsal. Credit: SpaceX

After completing a dress rehearsal for launch day over the weekend, the four astronauts gearing up for liftoff Thursday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket are in good spirits and spending time with their families in Florida before leaving the planet for six months.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/04/19/dragon-crew-rehearses-for-launch-day-first-look-weather-forecast-looks-good/

[Orionid]

NASA, SpaceX watching weather in downrange abort zones for crew launch
April 20, 2021 Stephen Clark [SFN]


A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft stand on pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Preparations for the planned liftoff Thursday of a SpaceX Dragon capsule with a four-person crew to the International Space Station cleared another readiness review Tuesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but officials are tracking marginal wind and sea conditions in downrange abort zones in the Atlantic Ocean that could force a launch delay.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/04/20/nasa-spacex-watching-weather-in-downrange-abort-zones-for-crew-launch/

[Orionid]

SpaceX launches NASA Crew-2 mission
by Jeff Foust — April 23, 2021 Updated 10 a.m. Eastern with comments from post-launch press conference. [SN]


A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off on the Crew-2 mission April 23. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying four astronauts from three nations April 23 as the commercial crew program moves firmly into operations.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A here at 5:49 a.m. Eastern on the Crew-2 mission. The Crew Dragon spacecraft separated from the Falcon 9 upper stage 12 minutes after liftoff, while the Falcon 9 first stage landed on a droneship in the Atlantic.

On board the Crew Dragon are NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. Their spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station at about 5:10 a.m. Eastern April 24.

The mission is the third crewed flight of the Crew Dragon in less than a year, after the Demo-2 mission in May 2020 and Crew-1 mission in November. The Crew-1 spacecraft is still at the ISS, and it will return with NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi April 28.

Leading up to the launch, NASA officials said that, after a decade of development, the commercial crew program — or, at least, SpaceX’s vehicle in that program — had clearly moved into operations. “It’s very, very exciting to be in this operational cadence,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, during an April 15 press conference after the flight readiness review for the Crew-2 mission, which also reviewed plans to return Crew-1 to Earth.

Kimbrough, the commander of Crew-2, said this mission was the first to follow the streamlined training flow that future missions will use. “We’re the first ones to have gone through what we hope to be the templated flows for future crews,” he said at an April 17 press conference.

That revised training program, he said, combines training on the Crew Dragon spacecraft with that for the ISS. “It’s a little less than a year of training, where the crews in front of us had several years of training. Instead of being more developmental, it’s more operational now.”

“This marks many important milestones, but it is really important for getting a regular cadence of crew to the station and back, and it’s going to really accelerate the research and the technology development we’re going to be to do on station,” Steve Jurczyk, NASA acting administrator, said at a post-launch briefing. “It took 10 years to get here, to achieve this bold vision we had for commercial crew.”

“This has been a pretty amazing time with DM-2 and then the Crew-1 launch, and now we’re getting ready for Crew-2,” Bill Gerstenmaier, a former NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations who is now a SpaceX vice president, said at the April 15 briefing.

He cautioned, though, that just because the commercial crew program is moving into a regular cadence of missions, it doesn’t mean crewed missions are routine. “We’re still beginning in this process. We need to not get lulled into thinking that this is fully operational and we’re ready to just continue this in an easy manner,” he said. “This is still very much a learning experience for us.”

That learning experience extends to this flight, which marks the first use of both a previously flown Falcon 9 first stage and Crew Dragon spacecraft on a crewed mission. “We had to do an extensive amount of work to look at both the Dragon for use and also the F9,” Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, said at that April 15 press conference.

That review both examined the vehicles to ensure they met requirements as well as make a number of upgrades to the Crew Dragon spacecraft based on the experience from the Demo-2 mission. Those changes included upgrades to the SuperDraco thrusters and other aspects of the propulsion system used for aborts and improving the spacecraft’s batteries.

“It was a series of upgrades to improve safety,” he said, “and having to make sure the structures, the component lifetimes were all within the certification and the qualification of those components.”

While the missions are becoming more operational, it is still early enough in the program for astronauts to develop new traditions. “Even though there’s some heritage from previous vehicles on the U.S. side, we still get to create some new traditions, which is really cool,” said Pesquet.

One thing the Crew-2 astronauts did that could become such a tradition, he said, is writing their initial in the soot on the Falcon 9 booster that will launch them. That soot is from the booster’s first launch, of the Crew-1 mission last November. “I don’t know if this is going to stick, but I found it really cool.”

The best tradition, though, may be a safe and successful flight. “My takeaway from where I sit right now is that we’ve just got to be really careful,” Gerstenmaier said. “We’re still learning. This is still just the beginning of how we move forward into this new commercial area.”

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, at the post-launch briefing, said he’s still nervous after what’s now three crewed flights. “It does get a little bit easier, but it’s still extremely intense,” he said. “I usually can’t sleep the night before a launch, and that’s true for the night before this one. I haven’t had much sleep.”

Source: https://spacenews.com/spacex-launches-nasa-crew-2-mission/

[Orionid]

SpaceX launches astronauts on recycled capsule and ‘flight-proven’ rocket
April 23, 2021 Stephen Clark [SFN]


A Falcon 9 rocket takes off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with four astronauts heading for the International Space Station. Credit: SpaceX

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/04/23/spacex-launches-astronauts-on-refurbished-capsule-and-flight-proven-rocket/

[Orionid]

Crew-2 arrives at ISS
by Jeff Foust — April 24, 2021


The four astronauts on the Crew-2 mission, in black shirts, join their colleagues on the International Space Station in ceremony just after the Crew Dragon Endeavour's arrival at the station April 24. Credit: NASA TV

WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station April 24, less than 24 hours after its launch from Florida, giving the station its largest crew in a decade.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center April 23, docked with the station’s Harmony module at 5:08 a.m. Eastern. The four Crew-2 astronauts joined their seven colleagues on the station about two and a half hours later.

Endeavour, which also flew the Demo-2 mission to the station last summer, had a largely trouble-free flight to the ISS. The only issue was external to the spacecraft: controllers asked the crew to get back into their suits and close their visors several hours after launch as a precaution when a piece of space debris was projected to pass close to the spacecraft. The debris passed the spacecraft around 1:45 p.m. Eastern April 23 without incident, and the Crew Dragon did not maneuver to avoid the object, which NASA did not identify.

“It is awesome to see the 11 of you on station,” Steve Jurczyk, NASA acting administrator, said in a brief ceremony shortly after the hatches opened. “I’m really excited this for this new era for ISS.”

With the arrival of Crew-2, the station has 11 people on board for the first time since the STS-134 shuttle mission in May 2011, when the five people on that mission joined the six people on the station who arrived on two Soyuz spacecraft. Here, two Crew Dragon spacecraft transported eight astronauts to the station while a Soyuz transported the other three.

“There’s a number of things you have to do” to support that additional crew, said Joel Montalbano, NASA ISS program manager, at an April 20 briefing about the Crew-2 mission. That includes additional consumables and increasing the capability of the station’s life support systems, as well as temporary sleeping arrangements for the additional astronauts.

That expanded crew size is temporary, as the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft will return the four Crew-1 astronauts to Earth on April 28. The spacecraft will undock at 7:05 a.m. Eastern and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico south of Tallahassee, Florida, at 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

Source: https://spacenews.com/crew-2-arrives-at-iss/

[Orionid]

Astronauts describe thrilling ride to orbit on Falcon 9 rocket
April 30, 2021 William Harwood

When the countdown hit zero last Friday and the engines powering a previously flown Falcon 9 first stage roared to life for takeoff, the four astronauts strapped into a SpaceX Crew Dragon some 21 stories up started laughing.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/04/30/astronauts-describe-thrilling-ride-to-orbit-on-falcon-9-rocket/

[Orionid]

SpaceX crew capsule relocated outside space station before Boeing mission
July 21, 2021 Stephen Clark [SFN]


SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft moves in for docking at the zenith port on the space station’s Harmony module Wednesday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

Four astronauts rode a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for a flight from one International Space Station docking port to another Wednesday, clearing the way for arrival of a Boeing Starliner crew ferry ship on an unpiloted test flight later this month.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/07/21/spacex-crew-capsule-relocated-outside-space-station-before-boeing-mission/

[Orionid]

Crew-2 astronauts to return before Crew-3 launch
by Jeff Foust — November 6, 2021 [SN]


The four Crew-2 astronauts will depart the space station Nov. 7, four days before their replacements on the Crew-3 mission arrive. Credit: NASA

WASHINGTON — The four Crew-2 astronauts currently on the International Space Station will return to Earth ahead of the delayed launch of their replacements, NASA announced late Nov. 5.

Source: https://spacenews.com/crew-2-astronauts-to-return-before-crew-3-launch/

[Orionid]

NASA aims to bring station crew home Monday, before replacements launch
November 6, 2021 William Harwood STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION [SFN]


File photo of a Crew Dragon spacecraft near the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

NASA and SpaceX decided Friday to bring four space station astronauts back to Earth Monday to close out a 199-day mission, pressing ahead with re-entry and splashdown two days before the planned launch of their replacements Wednesday aboard another Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/11/06/nasa-aims-to-bring-station-crew-home-monday-before-replacements-launch/

[Orionid]

Crew-2 undocking delayed a day
by Jeff Foust — November 7, 2021


NASA said early Nov. 7 it was delaying the undocking of a Crew Dragon spacecraft with the four Crew-2 astronauts on board by a day because of high winds at splashdown locations in the Gulf of Mexico. Credit: NASA

WASHINGTON — NASA has delayed the undocking of a Crew Dragon spacecraft from the International Space Station by a day because of high winds at splashdown locations in the Gulf of Mexico, a move that won’t affect the launch of the next crew to the station.

Source: https://spacenews.com/crew-2-undocking-delayed-a-day/

[Orionid]

High winds delay Crew 2 return to Earth until later Monday
November 7, 2021 William Harwood STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION [SFN]


The Crew-2 astronauts pose with the SpaceX pressure suits they will wear for re-entry and splashdown Monday to close out a 199-day mission. Left to right: Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, commander Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet. Credit: NASA.

Faced with high winds in the Gulf of Mexico, NASA managers decided to pass up a Sunday undocking and Monday morning splashdown for four returning space station astronauts, opting instead to aim for a landing Monday night when better weather is expected.

Crew-2 commander Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japanese flier Akihiko Hoshide had planned to depart the International Space Station at 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) Sunday for a splashdown at 7:14 a.m. (1214 GMT) Monday.
Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/11/07/high-winds-delay-crew-2-return-to-earth-until-later-monday/