Now primarily reserved for launches involving the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft, SpaceX has begun touching up its Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) pad with new paint and hardware in anticipation of the first orbital launch of Crew Dragon, set to occur as early as the evening of January 17th. A little over […]
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New photos posted from an official tour of SpaceX’s Pad 39A launch facilities reveal that SpaceX has effectively completed integration and preflight preparations of the company’s first flightworthy Crew Dragon spacecraft, as well as the new Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket that will be tasked with launching it early next year. Currently targeting launch no […]
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After what can only be described as an attempt to sandbag the official launch schedule, NASA administrator James Bridenstine remains alone in his public implication that the date for SpaceX’s first Crew Dragon test flight (DM-1) is so uncertain that “the first half of 2019” was the closest he would get to an estimate. Such an […]
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SpaceX and NASA have completed test runs with the company’s Florida recovery fleet in preparation for Crew Dragon’s first orbital missions with astronauts aboard, ensuring that there is an infrastructure in place to rapidly transport astronauts to shore and deal with any potential medical emergencies that might arise. X marks the spot where @SpaceX will land […]
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Known as Demonstration Mission 1 (DM-1), the inaugural flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is closer than ever before as the company wraps up ground testing of the rocket that will launch it. Meanwhile, astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are continuing to prepare for DM-2 – the first launch of Crew Dragon with crew […]
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According to program manager Kathy Lueders, SpaceX has chosen against reusing its upgraded Crew Dragon spaceships on NASA Commerical Crew Program (CCP) launches, even though NASA itself explicitly provided both CCP providers (Boeing and SpaceX) the option to propose reflights of crew capsules. In fact, Boeing did just that with their CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, proposing […]
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In a Commercial Crew update presented by Program Manager Kathy Lueders to the NASA Advisory Council (NAC), the agency has confirmed that SpaceX is deep into the final stages of hardware preparation and testing ahead of their first uncrewed and crewed demonstrations launches of Crew Dragon. Barring a miracle for Commercial Crew Program partner Boeing’s […]
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SpaceX’s primary Crew Dragon recovery vessel GO Searcher is undergoing a number of modifications in preparation for inaugural demonstrations flights of the company’s first human-rated spacecraft. Most notably, GO Searcher is being fitted with a helipad that will be used to rapidly transfer astronauts from Crew Dragon to Cape Canaveral, where they will go through […]
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Paired with observations and comments from sources familiar with the company, all signs seem to indicate that SpaceX is planning to recover their first Crew Dragon spacecraft with a giant inflatable cushion, to be towed a hundred or so miles off the coast of California by one of the company’s Port of LA-stationed recovery vessels. […]
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SpaceX has publicly revealed the sleek, minimalist design of the access arm that NASA astronauts will soon use to board Crew Dragon spacecraft, bringing to an end more than half a decade of U.S. dependency upon non-native rockets and space agencies to transport crew to the International Space Station. After several months of concerted effort […]
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