After several postponements, it is Saturday 18 January that the In-Flight Abort Test will take place for the Crew Dragon crew capsule of SpaceX designed for the future transport of astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
This flight test will obviously be uninhabited and will be carried out with the capsule having already passed a previous test, but carried out on the ground with the ignition of its Draco and SuperDraco propellants used for the emergency ejection system.
From the NASA launch complex 39A in Florida, USA, the shooting window is four hours. It opens at 8 a.m. local time, i.e. 1 p.m. UTC and 2 p.m. Paris time. According to NASA, the weather forecast is currently favorable.
Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon went vertical and the crew access arm was extended last night ahead of tomorrow’s in-flight demonstration of the spacecraft’s launch escape system. The four-hour launch window opens at 8:00 a.m. EST, 13:00 UTC → https://t.co/gtC39uBC7z pic.twitter.com/dS6R3hCgZi
– SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 17, 2020
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For Crew Dragon’s In-Flight Abort Test, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will be used. Almost 90 seconds after takeoff and in full ascent (with a trajectory similar to that of a mission to the ISS), the Merlin engines of the first stage of the rocket will stop and the SuperDraco thrusters of Crew Dragon will start their sequence firing.
This interruption will take place while the mechanical stresses on the rocket will be extreme. The launcher and the space capsule will separate. After the shutdown of the SuperDraco thrusters which have burned all their fuel and near the peak, there will be separation of the lower part of Crew Dragon and the smaller Draco thrusters will come into action for the atmospheric re-entry trajectory of the capsule.
The deployment of parachutes Mark 3 will slow down Crew Dragon’s return flight and land in the Atlantic Ocean, almost 10 minutes after takeoff. An Air Force detachment can then perform a recovery operation.
Crew Dragon Flight Interruption Test Course Announced by SpaceX today (PDF). SpaceX had already posted an animation (above) of this crucial test to consider a first manned flight test with its space capsule.
Regarding the Falcon 9 rocket used… it should break over the Atlantic Ocean.
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