#LaunchAmerica
Following on from my previous post, what a mind-blowing couple of
days last weekend was for science, astronomy and technology! 10 million viewers
watched Crew Dragon make history by launching successfully last Saturday,
powering its way up into space, seemingly effortlessly! The NASA TV coverage of
the launch, press conference and docking was informative and exciting - I was
glued to my screen for hours watching all the events leading up to the rocket
launch! Just the lead up itself was exhausting to watch – it seemed to take
ages for them to complete the walks, preparations, suit-ups, conversations, say
their goodbyes to their families and then drive to the launch pad, climb
stairs, phone their relatives, and shoot up to the rocket in a superfast lift.
I don’t know how they have enough energy left for launch time – if I’d had to
do all those steps pre-tennis match, I’d have been spent before stepping out on
court! I found myself wondering how they fit in their food, drink, rest,
stretching and loo breaks before needing to be focused and alert for the big
launch moment!
This test piloting flight not only checks the rocket and Dragon, but
also many other new technologies. The astronauts wore a spacesuit helmet that
was produced using 3D printing technology and fitted with a microphone. Their
spacesuits and gloves are also custom-made and high-tech so they are both
comfortable to wear and provide safety features. For instance, the spacesuit is
a pressure suit filled with gas, designed to always keep the astronauts cool
and correctly pressured, even in the event of a pressure decrease in the cabin.
Their gloves are touch sensitive so they can use Dragon’s touch screens without
taking their protective gloves off.
Prior to the launch, NASA shared videos about the astronauts on this
test flight. We not only saw the backstory to the astronauts Bob Behnken and
Doug Hurley, but we learnt a little about their wives, who are both amazing
astronauts in their own right: Karen Nyberg (a mechanical engineer who was the
50th woman to fly to space) and Megan McCarthur (an oceanographer
who flew the STS-125 space mission and was the last person to work directly on
the Hubble Space Telescope via the Canadarm).
Unfortunately, a glimpse of Dragon during the window of time the UK
newspapers were claiming (giving the impression of it being visible in the UK
around 15 minutes after the launch time) was nigh on impossible, as I later
learned. It was subsequently reported that British astronaut Tim Peake explained
on Twitter what I was previously thinking – the sky will not be dark enough for
it to be visible when it first flies over the UK. What I didn’t know at the
time was, there was going to be a second flight over the UK when it was dark
enough to attempt to see it, ie 5 minutes after the Space Station is visible,
almost 2 hours after launch. Apparently, you can still spot the International
Space Station (ISS) in the sky over the next few weeks, if you look for
something that seems like a plane with a bright light speeding across the sky.
I’ve often gazed through the window at a bright light shooting across the night
sky and wondered what it was so perhaps I’ve already seen the Space Station
without realizing – I’ll still be looking out for more sightings though!
On Sunday (31st May 2020) Crew Dragon landed on ISS. They
were slightly ahead of schedule but then just shortly before docking there were
problems with the audio. It was reported that audio was both unreadable and
unintelligible. So although soft capture was at 3.16pm UK time, the astronauts
had to remain suited until hard capture. There are 12 hooks which lie along the
ring to ensure an airtight seal. Nevertheless, the tight seal still leaves a
vacuum. This space needs to be filled from ISS so that there is thermal balance
before the hatch is opened. The vestibule between Crew Dragon and ISS has to be
re-pressurized so the air between the two is even and there is no dust.
However, audio has to be at 100% and putting that right took a few hours. It
became loud and clear once Houston returned to apps. While waiting to dock
autonomously, Bob's suit was found to have white teeth on its gloves and leg
zipper. I'm not clear what that means but I'm assuming that it could be that
his suit was not 100% sealed because I think there was talk of a leakage from
his suit.
Before docking autonomously, the astronauts were manual piloting to
see how Crew Dragon felt when put through its paces. This is part of what is
known as test piloting. Bob and Doug found that, although the simulations they practised
earlier were very realistic and helpful, going up to orbit was very different
from what they had anticipated. They went up to orbit on z axis rather than the
usual x axis. The capsule was going round the earth every 90 miles, travelling
at 3/10 m/s but when close to the station ie at 20 metres it went down to 1/10
m/s. You can have fun docking at the ISS with a virtual simulation on the
following website:
On entering ISS the two astronauts were greeted by the astronauts
already there, two Russians and an American, the latter opened the hatch to Crew
Dragon so Bob and Doug could enter the station safely!
It's been an historic occasion in itself but SpaceX wants to go even
further by opening up space travel to the public and are hoping to send four
passengers up next year. The aim is life beyond earth, even bringing plants
from earth up to the planets! The idea is to live there. I have mixed feelings
about this. Learning about space, researching space is exciting and worthwhile.
Attempting to conquer it is, I think, dubious. Surely it raises a number of
questions: Does it become a race to space? Which country will get there first?
Who owns space? Is it the first country that starts living in space?
Politically, that's a problem! Would whoever owns space have greater power over
earth? What about the introduction of diseases and organisms that are
detrimental to space? How will it work sending up passengers when sending up
astronauts is nail biting stuff? I don’t think I shall be beaming myself up to
space anytime soon, but I shall be watching space missions and space tourism with
interest, including seeing the first woman astronaut (scheduled to be an
American woman) to walk on the moon.
Speaking of the moon, a ‘strawberry moon’ was visible this weekend.
What is the strawberry moon? It refers to the full moon in June, taking its
name from the Algonquin Indian tribe when strawberries were ready for picking.
In Europe, it’s more commonly known as the Mead (a honey-based drink) Moon or
Honey Moon. The moon does not actually turn red but has a reddish hue when you
see it in the sky because the sun is lower in the sky at this time of year. It is
a phenomenal eclipse, which means that there is only dark shading on the moon’s
face. When the moon passes through the outer edges of this shadow (termed the
penumbra) a subtle type of eclipse takes place. For more discussion of this,
take a look at Nasa’s website:
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