CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – SpaceX launched the rocket that will transport the next crew of astronauts to the International Space Station next week.
The private space company conducted a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket at Pad 39A here on Saturday (April 22nd) here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The test is one of the last major milestones before the planned launch on Thursday (April 22).
The routine pre-flight test kicked off the countdown to the company’s long-awaited second flight mission of the Dragon Crew capsule, called Crew-2. The spacecraft is headed for the International Space Station, carrying with it two NASA astronauts and one astronaut from each of the Japanese and European space agencies.
The test took place as expected on Saturday in the hours before. Smoke and fire rose briefly as the nine Merlin 1D rocket engines ignited. Short ignition, known as the static-fire test, is a standard part of pre-launch procedures and one of the last major steps before take-off.
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During the test, the Falcon 9 is held down on the buffer, while the nine engines in the first stage are briefly started. This allows crews to ensure that all systems are working properly and that the rocket is ready to fly. Shortly after the test, SpaceX posted on Twitter that the static-fire test was a success and that the company planned to launch on Thursday at 6:11 a.m. EDT (1011 GMT).
The flight marks SpaceX’s 11th mission of the year and the second long-haul mission launched from Florida. The first stage of the rocket is expected to land on one of SpaceX’s drone ships, “Of course, I still love you.” After a successful takeoff, the crew capsule will spend just under 24 hours tracking the space station before reaching the orbital outpost early Friday (April 23rd).
In a change from the previous two crew missions, both the Dragon capsule and its launcher flew. Following the success of the Demo-2 mission, which launched two NASA astronauts to the space station in May 2020, NASA gave SpaceX permission to reuse both the crew capsule and the rocket in future missions.
For this mission, the first stage is the same one that delivered the Crew-1 astronauts into space in November, and the Dragon capsule is the same one that Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley flew last year. His name is Endeavor.
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With the Dragon capsule perched on top of the rocket, the duo rolled out of the hangar and onto the launch pad at the 39A complex on Friday morning (April 16). With a height of 78.3 meters (256.3 feet), the pair was lifted vertically later that afternoon.
Fixed to the launch pad, the teams got up early Saturday morning, loading the rocket with super-cooled engines – kerosene and liquid oxygen – and then briefly turned on the nine Merlin 1D engines from the first stage.
The engines briefly started at 6:11 a.m. EDT (1011 GMT), generating 1.7 million pounds, while the amplifier remained firmly on the ground. Engineers examined the data before confirming that they would continue with the planned launch of Falcon 9 on Thursday morning.
“Completed the static fire test of Falcon 9 – targeting Thursday, April 22 at 6:11 am EDT for the launch of the second operational mission of the Dragon @space station, “SpaceX wrote about the test on Twitter.
The static fire test follows a review of flight readiness. On Thursday night (April 15), NASA gave the green light to SpaceX to continue preparations for the launch, with one exception.
During previous inspections, engineers noticed that Falcon 9 was charging more liquid oxygen than expected – a discrepancy that occurred without incident throughout the vehicle’s flight history.
“There’s an element that we still need to do a little more work on,” Bill Gerstenmaier, former head of NASA’s Human Spaceflight and current SpaceX vice president for construction and flight reliability, said Thursday. media briefing. “In Texas, we found that there was a potential loading error, in which we might add a little more oxygen to our tank than normal. We’ve done this throughout our flight history.”
With a successful static fire test now under the SpaceX belt, the teams probably eliminated the problem and the rocket is ready to fly. A final review of preparation for the launch is scheduled for Tuesday (April 20th) to discuss any unresolved issues remaining before the launch.
After a successful takeoff on Thursday morning, SpaceX intends to land the first stage of rappelling on a floating platform at sea. If successful, it would mark the company’s 80th recovery.
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