NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Launches New Spaceflight Era

By Bob Granath

A new era of human spaceflight launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on May 30, 2020 as American astronauts once again lifted off on an American rocket from American soil.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully docked at the International Space Station the next day. After moving aboard, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken joined the Expedition 63 crew of NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin.

“It’s been a real honor to be just a small part of this nine-year endeavor since the last time a United States spaceship docked with the International Space Station,” Hurley said upon arrival.

Following a weather delay on May 27, Hurley and Behnken began their flight aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon lifting off atop one of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. The flight began from Launch Complex 39A at NASAs’ Kennedy Space Center for Demonstration Mission-2, or Demo-2. This final test will validate SpaceX’s crew transportation system, including their spacecraft, launch vehicle, launch pad and operational capabilities.

After the launch, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine congratulated Hurley and Behnken, along with the SpaceX and NASA teams for the significant achievement for the United States.

“The launch of this commercial space system designed for humans is a phenomenal demonstration of American excellence and is an important step on our path to expand human exploration to the Moon and Mars,” he said.

SpaceX CEO and Chief Engineer Elon Musk stated that the successful launch was “a dream come true for me and everyone at SpaceX.”

“It is the culmination of an incredible amount of work by the SpaceX team, by NASA and by a number of other partners in the process of making this happen,” he said.

“I don’t have to tell you all how exciting it is to have the first flight of humans to space from the Kennedy Space Center in nine years,” Center Director Bob Cabana said in a news conference prior to the liftoff.

Bridenstine explained that he envisions a future when low Earth orbit is entirely commercialized.

“NASA is one customer of many customers,” he said. “We will have numerous providers competing on cost, innovation and safety. We are proving out a public private partnership business model that will untimely enable us to go to the Moon this time sustainably — in other words we are going to go to the Moon to stay.”

While commercial providers transport humans and cargo to low-Earth orbit, NASA now is focusing on its Artemis lunar exploration program. The agency is planning to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in collaboration with commercial and international partners with missions by 2024. From there, NASA will use what was learned on and around the Moon to send astronauts to Mars.

Bridenstine also emphasized that Demo-2 is a high priority mission for the United States, ending reliance on Russia to launch crews aboard their Soyuz spacecraft.

“We as a nation have not had our own access to the International Space Station for nine years,” he said. “At the same time, we’ve had American astronauts on the International Space Station for 20 years in a row. They’ve been doing these absolutely stunning experiments and discoveries and advancing the human condition from the microgravity of space.”

Together with last year’s unpiloted Demo-1 flight to the space station, flying Demo-2 with its two-person crew is providing an end-to-end test of SpaceX’s system. After NASA certifies the Crew Dragon for flights to the orbiting laboratory, the capability will allow the agency to maximize the station’s use as a scientific platform.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) Manager Kathy Lueders has worked in partnership with SpaceX since 2006.

“Gwynne’s team and my team are diligently working on getting the vehicles ready; making sure that all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed in our analysis, test data, assessments; going through all the reviews,” Lueders said. “We’re making sure that we are ready for this important mission to safely fly Bob and Doug up to the International Space Station and return them to their families.”

Hurley and Behnken were selected as astronauts in the 2000 astronaut class. They both are veterans of two Space Shuttle flights, having been Behnken served as a mission specialist on STS-123 and STS-130, while Hurley was the pilot on STS-127 and STS-135 – the final flight of the program.

“It’s probably a dream of every test pilot school student to have the opportunity to fly on a brand-new spaceship, and I’m lucky enough to get that opportunity with my good friend, Doug Hurley,” Behnken said.

Launch and the trip to the space station aboard the SpaceX’s Crew Dragon followed a similar path of the company’s Cargo Resupply Services Dragon trajectories. SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California, verified the vehicle was performing as intended by testing onboard systems once in orbit.

Following a series of phasing maneuvers, the Crew Dragon gradually approached and autonomously docked with the station on May 31, about 19 hour after liftoff. The crews aboard the spacecraft and the space station monitored the performance of the spacecraft as it approached and docked.

After being welcomed aboard the International Space Station, Hurley and Behnken plan to remain aboard for a period that will depend on workload and a number of other factors.

Tests on the docked spacecraft will ensure it can remain docked as designed for up to 210 days. The exact duration of the Demo-2 mission also will depend on performance of the Crew Dragon capsule and progress toward the next Crew Dragon vehicle. That mission is scheduled to launch Crew-1, the first operational mission, tentatively scheduled for late August.

When Hurley and Behnken are ready to return to Earth, the Crew Dragon will autonomously undock from the space station and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. Upon splashdown off Florida’s Atlantic Coast, the crew and spacecraft will be recovered by the SpaceX recovery ship and returned to Cape Canaveral.

Putting the Demo-2 mission in historical perspective, Bridenstine noted that America’s efforts in exploring space always have brought Americans together. He pointed out that the nation’s human spaceflight program begin with a backdrop of the turbulent 1960s.

“The space program we have in this country unites people,” he said. “It always has. Here we are in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic and we have the moment in time where we can unite people again.”

Welcome Aboard!

International Space Station Expedition 63 crew members, from the left, Anatoli Ivanishin, Ivan Vagner and Chris Cassidy welcome Bob Bahnken and Doug Hurley following the docking of the SpaceX Crew Dragon on May 31, 2020. Photo credit: NASA

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A New Spaceflight Era is Launched

Check out this short video of the liftoff of NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon launched by one of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets on May 30, 2020.

Video courtesy of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center