The latest news reports indicate that the Spacex “Dragon”
capsule arrived at the ISS space station in excellent condition, and is being successfully unloaded of about a
half a ton of supplies. It’s due to come
home Thursday with a similar-sized load
shipped home from the space station.
This feat makes the history books as the first successful
demonstration of commercial cargo supply capability for the ISS, or any another space station that might appear
up there soon. If all goes well for the
landing, the test flights are over, and Spacex is in business hauling cargo for
NASA.
Kudos to Spacex on having both the art and science of
spaceflight under their belts. This commercial
cargo capability is going to transform spaceflight forever. “Steely-eyed missile men”, indeed!
Further, this is a
reusable capsule design. Once routine
flights begin, I believe we will see the
same capsules flown again and again to the ISS, carrying cargo. That will be another first for the history
books.
“Dragon” was always intended to carry people, up to seven,
the same size as a shuttle crew.
All it and its Falcon-9 booster rocket need in order to be “man-rated”, is an escape system and a history of
successful unmanned flight.
The cargo flights to the ISS will provide that history. The thrusters big enough for escape purposes
are being tested now. Get set for
another first for the history books, when “Dragon” flies manned.
There will be more history-making feats by Spacex in the
future, I predict. They are “doing it right”.
My heartfelt congratulations, once again.
GW
I think SpaceX is doing great things. Way back in 1966 the US Air Force re-flew the Gemini 2 capsule.
ReplyDeleteThey re-flew it as a Gemini-B on the MOL test for USAF. Had a "hole in the heat shield", too; really a plug hatch through which the crew could enter the MOL right through the heat shield. It worked just fine.
DeleteGW