SpaceX is approaching its aim to fly astronauts to space on board of its Crew Dragon capsule at an incredibly rapid pace. Following a successful in-flight abort (IFA) test carries out last month, SpaceX has essentially scratch all the significant markers required before transporting people.
The first flight will be a demonstration project known as ‘Demo-2’ made by SpaceX and its commercial crew collaborator NASA. The space company has set a date for the event: May 7th, which is a working date, but the actual expedition could slide either later or even earlier, Eric Berger from Ars Technica said, who first reported the date.
It was obvious that SpaceX was getting incredibly close to being prepared for the mission when it comes to its spacecraft. The Government Accountability Office unveiled a report last week revealing the progress made on the commercial crew program and wrote that the Crew Dragon capsule, which will be utilized to transport astronauts for Demo-2, was underway to be ready for expedition three months earlier than was anticipated, considering most recent timeframes.
The Mission Might be Prolonged
Demo-2 will be the second demonstration project of Crew Dragon, after the Demo-1 unmanned mission took place in March 2019. That expedition had the SpaceX spacecraft fly to the International Space Station (ISS), anchor at the space lab, undock and return safely on Earth. It also managed a smooth and controlled landing, utilizing automated processes without having anyone on board.
The Demo-2 mission will transport two people, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, both NASA astronauts who will have their third spaceflight during the expedition. Hurley and Behnken will fly onboard of Crew Dragon to the ISS, mirroring the Demo-1 mission, but this time manned. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said not long ago that the mission duration might be extended – which had been planned for two full weeks – to enable it to circle the residents of the ISS, similar to what currently happens with Soyuz astronaut flights.
