A Falcon 9 rocket hitting a bridge was responsible for the damage that delayed SpaceX’s next manned launch.
falcon 9 The first stage was damaged during transport, a SpaceX The representative told reporters during a briefing today (August 4). The topic of the briefing was SpaceX’s delayed Crew-5 mission, which is now ready to fly four people. International Space Station In a Crew Dragon spacecraft in late September.
NASA has revealed Crew 5 booster damage The bridge collision appears to have not been officially confirmed outside of mid-July, but media reports, such as This one from NASASpaceflight (opens in new tab)Till date.
In pictures: Amazing launch photos from SpaceX’s Crew 4 mission
“The booster stage came into contact with a bridge on the route,” Benjamin Reid, senior director of SpaceX’s human spaceflight program, said at a NASA briefing.
As is typical of the Falcon 9 booster, the rocket stage was on a tractor-trailer, moving between a SpaceX manufacturing facility in Hawthorne, Calif., and a test facility in McGregor, Texas, when the incident occurred, he said.
“We assessed that damage. It was a fairly minor intrusion, but it still caused some damage,” Reid continued. “We decided to replace the overall interstage and a few other components in that first phase.”
Reid said SpaceX went through a “very robust process of analysis and tests” on that Falcon 9, and it was some time during this period that Crew-5 astronauts were notified of the issue.
Crew-5 includes NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Kasada, Japanese cosmonaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.
“We had some very transparent conversations with them,” Mann told reporters in a separate livestreamed NASA briefing today, which included the four crew members. SpaceX’s leadership spoke frequently to the crew about the “modifications and challenges” associated with the collision, she said.
“Everyone is definitely on the same page that hardware needs to be reliable and it needs to be secure,” Mann continued. “We are very confident that NASA and SpaceX and international partners are not going to put us on a rocket or spacecraft that they think is not ready to go.”
Reed echoed that safety focus in his comments, saying that SpaceX began a process “to make sure that phase would be ready to go, and that the crew would be absolutely safe to fly as we would on every mission.” do it for.”
He added, “We want to make sure it’s the safest. We all have it certified. [that way]And that we are confident in flying the crew members.”
NASA is preparing Crew-5 as an unprecedented opportunity in international space cooperation, citing Kikina’s presence on a US commercial spacecraft as evidence – a first for any Russian Federal Space Agency astronaut. (Kikina’s place was booked through a. seat-swap talks Which will continue to put NASA astronauts on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which they have flown over the years.)
However, preparations for Crew-5 are taking place amid more turmoil in relations between two major ISS partners: NASA roscosmosRussian Space Agency.
Following months of threats By Roscosmos officials, the new chief Yuri Borisov said in July that his agency would leaving the ISS partnership “After 2024,” which is the year the current agreement expires.
Borisov later clarified The statement added that Roscosmos will “begin the exit process” or is ready to be built and operated in 2024. Russian space station at the end of the decade. NASA and international partners stressed at the briefing today that discussions are ongoing to address the separation in the coming years.
NASA’s manned spaceflight chief Cathy Leiders told reporters that the ISS alliance discussed the plans at its general Multilateral Coordination Board (MCB) meeting on Friday (July 29).
“Our end gives us the direction to continue operating the space station until 2030,” Lyders said, referring to the law. Awaiting the signature of US President Joe Biden To extend NASA’s involvement to that date. (Media reports indicate Biden will sign it into law next week.)
The partners, who wish to continue the relationship past 2024, are “also working on their plans and looking to support,” said Leiders.
What’s next with Russia, “we’ll have to wait and see what the government wants each of us to do,” she said. “To be fair, they are still in the process of getting approval. The goal will be to talk about their progress at our next MCB, which will be planned in the next six or seven months.”
Echoing previous Roscosmos comments about Russian ISS components, which are rated for 15 years of service and in some cases approaching 25 years in orbit, the agency’s executive director for human spaceflight programs said it would be a replacement. It’s time to get ready for the station. But it will not be an instant process.
Sergei Krikalev said at the briefing in Russian, “We are looking for projects for the new station, but for now, we are working on moving the operation forward, and we don’t know for how long. ” His comments were interpreted on the site in English.
“When there is a technical reason for termination … we will, of course, coordinate with our partners for our interface procedures to make it as intuitive as possible for all program participants,” he added.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which supplies the Kibo science module and robotic technology to the ISS, “continues to work closely with international partners to ensure the stability of this operation,” said Hiroshi, the agency’s vice president and director general of human spaceflight. Sasaki said. Directorate of Technology in the same briefing.
“We have no issues regarding the expansion, so we want to continue to support the program,” Sasaki continued, but added that technical evaluations are ongoing.
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