SpaceX is all set up to carry out the very first mission of the Dragon Crew capsule to the International Space Station and then back on the 2nd of March. The mission has been termed as ‘Demo-1’ and will not be carrying any astronauts to the ISS but will rather be a test of all of the equipment that the company has designed for the actual mission. The crewed mission might be scheduled early this summer if all goes well with the Demo-1.
The iconic Space Shuttle was retired in 2011, and NASA became reliant on the Russian Soyuz rockets for taking human beings to the ISS. However, that is about to change now that SpaceX is here with its amazing technologies. Russian technology has been on duty since the 1960s and is quite expensive – Roscosmos charges around 80 million dollars per astronaut.
The US is ready to take its lead back as far as Space exploration is concerned with two of its companies working on the mission at the same time. Boeing is carrying out testing of its capsule CST-100 Starliner while SpaceX is all set to send the Dragon Crew capsule into an orbital spaceflight on 2nd March by making use of its Falcon 9 two-stage rocket with a reusable first stage.
The Demo-1 mission will basically be testing all of the features of the Dragon Crew Capsule. The Dragon Crew Capsule is an upgraded version of the company’s Dragon Cargo capable of carrying seven persons. Dragon Cargo has been carrying out supply missions to the ISI and back since 2012 without a glitch, and therefore, it is believed that its upgraded version will be a success on its first flight.
Dragon Crew is a reusable space capsule similar to its predecessor and features attributes that have been designed for the sake of human use including displays, windows, and seats. The mission will be two weeks long and is aimed at testing the crucial components of Dragon Crew including the approaching and docking equipment and will also be testing the re-entry system that is tasked with guiding the capsule back to Earth.
The Dragon Crew has also been incorporated with an escape system that is comprised of eight SpaceX SuperDraco engines that have been built into the capsule and can separate it from the rocket in case of a glitch during liftoff. We are super excited about this yet another feat by SpaceX and can’t wait to see what the future holds for us!
