The third time was the charm for
SpaceX launching astronauts to
space, just like the first two missions in the past year by
Elon Musk’s rocket
company.
اضافة اعلان
The string of successes are, as NASA and SpaceX hoped, making
spaceflight seem routine.
At 5:49 am Eastern time Friday, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule
lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A smooth countdown
proceeded through the early morning, and even ran ahead of schedule at times.
The mission, Crew-2, is carrying two American, one Japanese and
one French astronaut to the International Space Station. It is a continuation
of a successful effort by the space agency to turn over to the private sector
the business of taking people to low-Earth orbit.
SpaceX conducted a demonstration mission with two NASA
astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, a year ago. The capsule, named
Endeavour, with the two men then splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean in August.
Months later, SpaceX conducted what NASA called the first
routine operational mission for the Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts
onboard. That mission, Crew-1, launched in November, and the astronauts are
still aboard the station, scheduled to return to Earth next week.
Friday’s launch was the second operational mission. The Crew-2
astronauts are traveling in the same Endeavour capsule used in the
demonstration mission last year.
About four hours ahead of the launch Friday morning, the four
astronauts had put on their spacesuits. Masked SpaceX suit technicians in black
uniforms attended to the four crewmates, who sat in models of the seats aboard
the capsule that will carry them to orbit.
Once the astronauts completed suiting up, they were seen off by
Musk and Steve Jurczyk, the acting administrator of NASA.
John Insprucker, a SpaceX engineer, said “things were looking
good” with the spacecraft and the weather ahead of the launch.
About 3 hours and 15 minutes before liftoff, the four astronauts
and other crew sat down in Tesla Model X SUVs with license plates that read “REDUCE,”
“RECYCLE” and “REUSE.” Before the cars drove toward the launchpad, they said
socially distanced goodbyes to their families.
The four crewmates arrived at the launch site and were soon on
board the Crew Dragon capsule with about 2 hours and 30 minutes to go before
launch. Shane Kimbrough, the mission commander, and Megan McArthur, the pilot,
boarded first, and were followed by Thomas Pesquet, Crew-2’s specialist, and
Akihiko Hoshide, the flight’s engineer.
About 45 minutes ahead of the launch, SpaceX began loading
propellent into the rocket. The countdown proceeded smoothly, and a camera
captured the International Space Station crossing the night sky over the
Kennedy Space Center as it orbited the planet.
In the final minutes of the countdown, Kimbrough said a few
words ahead of launch.
“Off the Earth, for the Earth, Endeavour is ready to go,” he
said, referring to the name of this particular Crew Dragon capsule.
The astronauts then briefly clasped each other’s hands.
After the capsule reached orbit, Kimbrough said, “It’s great to
be back in space.”
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