Up, Up and Away - on SpaceX!
It’s an exciting week for space travel,
technology and research. So far, it would seem that astronauts have been going
up in rockets that were designed decades ago and are, therefore, basically not
fit-for-purpose anymore1. The mission to space this week is the
first up-to-date flight equipped with modern technology, such as touchscreens
and software that enables the astronauts to have more control over the
spacecraft than on previous missions2. Somehow, one assumes that
space missions are at the cutting edge of technology because it’s dangerous,
complex and going beyond our life on earth. I went to see First Man at the
cinema when it came out and it was very realistic and you get a taste of what
it is like to blast off to the unknown, where anything can go wrong at any time
– it’s a white-knuckle ride! The last US mission to the international space station
was in 2011, presumably the technology was back in the dawn of modern computing
– scary!
So this mission 9 years later, SpaceX’s
Demo-2 mission on the Crew Dragon spacecraft, launching with a Falcon 9 rocket,
manned by two men, Behnken and Hurley, is a test flight to check that the new
system and technology works, ahead of the 2024 Artemis programme, which
includes walking on the moon3. This will be a momentous breakthrough
for two reasons. One, the last person to walk on the moon was Eugene Andrew
"Gene" Cernan back in 1972. Two, this programme aims to land the first
woman on the moon4! Indeed, out of 566 people who have been in space,
only 64 have been women5. Hence the success of this test flight,
which failed to take place on Wednesday, 27th May due to bad weather,
is hugely important. Without it, 2024 won’t happen! Now we are all hoping that
Falcon 9 takes off on Saturday 30th May! However, the weather
forecast is not good so there may be further delay to the launch.
Once they have successfully launched
into space and docked at the space station, Hurley and Behnken will join the Expedition
63 crew, working with them on Crew Dragon, as well as undertaking their own
tests and research. How long they will stay at the station has not yet been
decided and there is no hurry to set a return date since Crew Dragon can stay
in orbit for up to 110 days6. The next flight will be able to stay
in orbit for nearly twice as long. The aim is to make sure Crew Dragon is
capable of long missions to enable astronauts to do space research and pave the
way for expeditions to the Moon and Mars. Exciting stuff! And, even more
amazingly, this privately funded SpaceX, the first of its kind, is hoping to
send tourists on commercial flights into space!
The second launch attempt is Saturday
30th May at 3:22pm Florida time (so that's 8:22pm UK time). But coverage starts
11am EST (4pm UK time) on Nasa live stream TV available at:
And we can watch the launch at:
If all goes to plan, it should be
visible over the UK, looking like a very bright star, at approximately 8:35pm
tonight! I’ll be watching out if I see it launched successfully on Nasa TV!
References:
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