SpaceX conducts successful in-flight abort test with Crew Dragon capsule

SpaceX has completed a successful in-flight abort test with its Crew Dragon capsule. It was examined whether the capsule can safely detach from the rocket during a launch in an emergency. SpaceX blew up the Falcon 9 rocket.

The company conducted the test Sunday afternoon from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. The Crew Dragon took off aboard SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 rocket. After 84 seconds, the rescue system had to detach the capsule from the missile. Such tests are done to ensure that the astronauts remain safe in the event of an emergency during a flight. The rocket had a speed of Mach 2.2 at the time of the escape and flew at an altitude of about 19 kilometers. The Crew Dragon has eight engines, the SuperDracos, that fire during the emergency landing to dislodge the capsule from the rocket. After the capsule was released, the cargo space of the capsule first fell off, and the Dragon capsule returned to earth on two parachutes. The capsule landed in the Atlantic Ocean.

There were no astronauts on board the capsule during the test. SpaceX did put two mannequins on board to test the impact of the rescue maneuver on the human body. Interestingly, SpaceX actually detonated the Falcon 9. Although this was planned, it is not always common during an in-flight abort test. It was a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, which has been in space three times before. SpaceX and NASA will further study the results of the test, but the test appears to be successful. “It looked good,” SpaceX engineer John Insprucker said at a press conference afterwards. Elon Musk said the first manned flight with the capsule to the ISS could take place in the spring.

It was a test of the Crew Dragon capsule. That is the version of SpaceX’s existing cargo capsule that will also be used to launch astronauts in the future. NASA gives SpaceX, but also other companies such as Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp, money to design such a capsule. However, the program has been delayed for a long time. At SpaceX, this is partly because a capsule of the company exploded in April during a static fire test on the ground. Boeing’s first flights are also delayed. The Starliner capsule was launched on a test mission for the first time last month. However, that went wrong when the capsule went into a wrong orbit around the earth. It will probably be months before SpaceX and Boeing can carry out the first flights with astronauts. Until then, NASA is dependent on Russia for transport to the International Space Station.