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NASA's first SpaceX astronauts ready for 'messy camping trip' to space

News Service
13:18 - 5/06/2019 Wednesday
Update: 13:19 - 5/06/2019 Wednesday
REUTERS
File photo: NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, (L), and Bob Behnken,, who are assigned to fly on the crewed Demo-2 mission, watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Demo-1 mission from the Launch Control Center at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida
File photo: NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, (L), and Bob Behnken,, who are assigned to fly on the crewed Demo-2 mission, watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Demo-1 mission from the Launch Control Center at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida

INVESTIGATING 'ANOMALY'

The April accident, which SpaceX and NASA referred to as an "anomaly" in the bland parlance of aerospace engineers, is under investigation, although the astronaut team has been given "remarkable" access to the SpaceX-led inquiry, Behnken said.

"In general, the anomaly that happened to us in the past, that's the best kind because we'll figure that one out ... and we'll make sure that that's not going to happen again," Behnken said. "We're the risk-takers, and being informed on that risk is super important as well."

Hopkins said: "This is part of the process. It's not surprising that it's happened. We all wish that we haven't had some of these issues, but ... as long as you've got a good process, a good team put together, you can get through them."

The Crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket that loft it into orbit are both SpaceX creations. The first crewed launch of the two will mark a major milestone, not only for Musk's company, but for NASA in its quest to resume human space flight from U.S. soil after nearly a decade.

NASA is paying SpaceX and aerospace rival Boeing Co nearly $7 billion combined, for each to construct rocket-and-capsule launch systems for ferrying astronauts to the space station. Since NASA ended its space shuttle program in 2011, U.S. astronauts have had to fly aboard Russian-launched Soyuz spacecraft on missions to the orbital research laboratory.

The first unmanned flight of Boeing's Starliner crew capsule is expected to follow on the heels of SpaceX's debut crewed mission, to be followed by a mission carrying actual astronauts into space in 2020.

#SpaceX astronauts
#NASA
5 years ago