The next space station astronaut crew may be the last to splash down in the ocean near the east coast of the United States.
of Crew Dragon The Crew 9 mission, carrying astronauts, International Space Station By August 18th, it will probably be the last National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)The ISS mission arrived in the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Crew Dragon.
There have been recurring issues with large pieces of the “trunk” where the Dragon’s fuel and electricity supplies are stored. It crashed many times One way to solve this would be to have the Crew 9 successor, and perhaps the next Crew 10, spacecraft splash down on the Pacific coast of the United States. SpaceX He made the remarks at a press conference today (July 26th).
“What we will do is implement software changes to complete the deorbit burn before jettisoning the trunk, as we did with Dragon 1, and then intentionally land the trunk. […] “In no-man’s-land areas of the ocean,” Sarah Walker, SpaceX’s Dragon mission management director, said in a livestreamed briefing, “so we’re moving our Dragon recovery ship out to the Pacific Ocean sometime next year to allow for this modification.”
Related: SpaceX launches to ISS under independent NASA review after rare Falcon 9 rocket malfunction
In addition to there being less space debris, the Pacific coast tends to experience fewer extreme weather events and hurricanes, which could make end times for manned missions more predictable, Walker said.
The four astronauts aboard Crew 9 are Commander Zena Cardman (NASA), Pilot Nick Hague (NASA), Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson (NASA) and Mission Specialist Alexander Gorbunov (Roscosmos).
Crew 9 will only fly into space if NASA gives the go-ahead for Falcon 9 to launch to the ISS again, but everything is on track for launch on August 18. The Falcon 9’s second stage failed on July 11. Due to oxygen leakageDuring the launch of Starlink satellites, SpaceX Problem solved Working with the Federal Aviation Administration, the company plans to resume other missions as early as Saturday (July 27).
NASA said the FAA-approved fixes will be considered by the Crew 9 Program Management Board, but that the agency has been involved in SpaceX’s investigation from the beginning and is confident in the work they’ve done so far. “We understand exactly what they’ve done,” NASA said. [SpaceX] “We’ve done everything we’ve ever done,” Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, said at a press conference.
It’s been a busy month for the ISS. Boeing StarlinerEngineers at the SpaceX SpaceX are continuing to investigate the problem that occurred during the docking of the first test astronaut mission, which took place on June 5. During ground testing, Thruster insulation and thrust flow issues At a press conference yesterday (July 25th), it was announced that this likely affected the approach to the ISS.
Starliner’s two astronauts, NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are more than 50 days into their planned 10-day mission and still don’t have a landing date set as Boeing and NASA continue to study thruster issues and helium leaks in the propulsion system. These issues need to be addressed before Starliner’s six-month mission to the ISS begins as early as 2025.
Wilmore and Williams were living on board the ISS with a four-month supply of supplies before returning to the ISS before Crew 9 arrived there. They would eventually receive their personal items aboard a Northrop Grumman aircraft. Cygnus cargo spacecraft Their suitcases had to be removed from CFT’s Starliner at the last minute to transport critical components for the ISS’s water system, making their planned arrival at the ISS aboard Falcon 9 after August 3rd impossible.
“There are many challenges that can lead to shortages on board, for example if a cargo flight is cancelled. [delays]”ISS program manager Dana Weigel told Space.com during a press conference, explaining why this spare exists.
The supplies included clothing, food, water, oxygen, nitrogen and other vital supplies. “We had a lot of general-purpose supplies on board,” Weigel said, “so we just had Butch and Suni use those.”
