Some notes from Sept 29 NASA Crew-1 press briefings:
Demo-2 Human flight certification wrapping up. A few items to complete.
Chance of good reentry conditions for capsule and recovery teams was 1 in 7 for Demo-2 (a test spacecraft). The tougher Crew-1 will be more like 1 in 4. All equipment including solar panels will be good for 210 days. Chance of Loss of vehicle calculated at 1 in 276.
Fixes for Crew-1 capsule:
- New heat shield tiles in the areas around the trunk attachment bolts that saw a bit more erosion than expected. New tiles were installed and heat-tested at NASA Ames test center and approved.
- Improved barometric and navigational determination for more precise drogue chute release.
- SpaceX and NASA have worked with the Coast Guard to assure a 10-mile ‘Keep Out’ safe area around the landing zone, clear of extraneous boats, in the future.
- New: Crew-1 Dragon has software to autonomously move from the forward docking port of Node 2 to the zenith port on that node, to permit other spacecraft to use the forward dock when needed.
Expect four crewmembers in the US side of the ISS going forward; three on the Russian side. More crew means more science done! Still working on the agreement with Russia that would put a Russian flyer in each launch from the U.S. Testing how Dragon’s life-support system handles four people (the maximum NASA plans, along with extra cargo), then will consider flying a full complement of seven for private flights. During Demo-2, they successfully tested evacuating four people in 90 seconds while docked to the ISS.
All three U.S. Dragon astronauts will vote from space this November. Victor is looking forward to the “food physiology” experiment he is taking part in, which will entail him eating more fruits and vegetables than the usual astronaut diet.
NASA’s Jim Bridenstine: There has been “robust enthusiasm” around Demo-2 and the commercial crew program.. Next we need to work toward space habitation outside of the ISS. The ISS won’t last forever, and we don’t want a gap in LEO habituation.
The ISS has been tracking a slow atmospheric leak, which has increased a bit recently. They believe they have narrowed it down to the Russian service module. Scheduled ‘consumables’ resupply should be sufficient until at least next spring, so the investigation and discussions continue, as do planned launches.
SpaceX will do a static fire of the new booster, then a final launch day full dress rehearsal with astronauts and the SpaceX team. The Crew-1 booster will also launch Crew-2.
In order to dock Crew-1 to the ISS at the desired time, a 25-hour flight time is required and the early-morning launch. (2:40am ET Saturday, Oct. 31) That launch time also fits in best with ISS sleep periods. Besides, “Night launches are beautiful.”
SpaceX’s Hans Koenigsmann: After Crew-1, with the next Cargo Dragon, this will be the first time two Dragons are docked to the Station. Going forward from 2021, we should always have at least one Dragon on the ISS at all times. “It is our great pleasure and we are humbled to be the nation’s premiere provider to the ISS.”
Breaking news: Crew-1 has named their spacecraft (Crew Dragon #207): Resilience.
The astronauts purposely did not include their names on the mission patch, because, rather than just their own mission, they wanted it to symbolize more: the beginning of a new era in spaceflight. The symbols at the bottom of the patch are for previous U.S. space capsules: Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.