SpaceX completes last test of its crew capsule

CABO CAÑAVERAL, Florida, USA – SpaceX completed the last major test of its crew capsule on Sunday before the launch of astronauts in the coming months, simulating an emergency escape situation shortly after takeoff.

No person was on board the capsule during the test in the skies over Cape Canaveral, only two dummies.

The nine-minute flight ended when the Dragon crew capsule descended with a safe parachute into the Atlantic Ocean, after dismounting and speeding away from the rocket, which exploded.

“I feel super on,” Elon Musk, founder and CEO of the company, told reporters. “It will be wonderful to take astronauts to orbit from US territory after almost a decade of being unable to do so. That is simply super exciting. ”

NASA astronauts have not left the United States since the space shuttle program came to an end in 2011. Musk and NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said the next Dragon Capsule could be launched with a couple of astronauts. in the second quarter of this year, starting in April.

The Falcon 9 rocket exploded as usual, but just after a minute on its supersonic flight, the Dragon Capsule catapulted at a height of 20 kilometers (12 miles) over the Atlantic. The powerful propellants of the capsule drove her away from the risk zone, while the rocket engines deliberately shut down and the rocket got out of control and turned into a gigantic ball of fire.

The capsule reached a height of approximately 44 kilometers (27 miles) before parachute into the ocean to end the test flight.

NASA’s commercial crew program manager Kathy Lueders said the launch abortion test was “our last milestone” before allowing SpaceX to depart with Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station. The date of its launch will depend, in part, on whether NASA decides to keep them for months in the laboratory in orbit, instead of a week or two. A longer mission would require more training before the flight.

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