Cape Canaveral, Florida – SpaceX The rocket, which will transport the next crew of astronauts to the International Space Station, is launched next week.
A private aerospace company conducted a fire test on Saturday (April 22). Falcon 9 rocket On Pad 39A here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Testing is one of the last major milestones ahead of the launch planned for Thursday (April 22).
Routine preflight tests have begun the countdown to the highly anticipated flight of the two companies’ operational mission for Dragon Crew Pod, This is called Crew-2. The spaceship is on its way to International space stationHe brought along two NASA astronauts and one astronaut from each of the Japanese and European space agencies.
The test took place as expected during the dawn hours on Saturday. Smoke and flames rose briefly as the nine Merlin 1D rocket engines ignited. The short ignition, known as the static fire test, is a standard part of the pre-launch procedure and one of the final milestones before take-off.
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During testing, the Falcon 9 was mounted onto the platform while the nine first-stage engines were briefly started. This allows the crew to ensure that all systems are operating properly and missiles are ready to fly. Shortly after the exam, SpaceX chirp Static fire test successful And the company plans to launch it on Thursday at 6:11 AM EST (1011 GMT).
The flight marks the eleventh SpaceX mission this year and the second long-term mission to launch from Florida. The missile’s first stage is expected to land on one of SpaceX’s unmanned ships, “Of course I still love you.” Upon successful take-off, the crew capsule will spend less than 24 hours tracking the space station before reaching orbit on Friday morning (April 23).
In a shift from the previous two corporate duties, both Dragon capsule The launcher had flown before. After the success of the Demo-2 mission that launched two NASA astronauts to the space station in May 2020, NASA granted SpaceX permission. For the reuse of crew capsules and rockets About future tasks.
For this mission, the first stage is similar to the one Crew-1 astronauts undertook into space in November, and the Dragon capsule is similar to the one flown by Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley last year. His name is Endeavor.
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With the Dragon capsule aboard the rocket, the two exited the hangar onto the launch pad at Complex 39A on Friday morning (April 16). It is 256.3 feet (78.1 meters) high, and the pair is raised in the afternoon.
Secured on the launch pad, the team woke up Saturday morning, loaded with rockets with supercooled propellants – kerosene and liquid oxygen – and then briefly started the Merlin 1D’s first nine-stage engine.
The engine was launched briefly at 6:11 AM EST (1011 GMT), producing 1.7 million pounds of power while the boosters remained steady on the ground. Engineers reviewed the data before confirming they would continue to try the Falcon 9 launch planned for Thursday morning.
Falcon 9 static fire test completed – Target Thursday, April 22 6:11 a.m. EST for the launch of Dragon’s second operational mission to @ Space stationSpaceX He wrote about the test on Twitter.
The static fire test was carried out after the flight readiness review. On Thursday evening (April 15), NASA gave SpaceX the green light to proceed with launch preparations, except for one.
During initial inspections, engineers noted that more liquid oxygen was loaded into the Falcon 9 than expected – a difference that occurred without incident throughout the vehicle’s aviation history.
“There’s one element we still need to work on more about,” said Bill Gerstenmayr, former president of NASA human spaceflight and current vice president of SpaceX for building and aviation reliability. He said Thursday for prof Information briefing. “In Texas, we detected a potential loading bug, wherein we might actually add more oxygen to our tanks than usual. We’ve been doing this throughout our travel history. “
With the success of the static firing test now under the SpaceX belt, it is possible that the team has resolved the problem and the missile is ready to fly. The final launch readiness review is scheduled for Tuesday (April 20) to address remaining issues that were not resolved prior to launch.
After a successful take-off on Thursday morning, SpaceX plans to land the first stage of its boosters on a floating platform in the sea. If this is successful, it will be the company’s 80th recovery.
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