Tag: Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel
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Safety panel concerned about quality control on Boeing crew capsule
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft that flew on the Orbital Flight Test mission is pictured last November outside the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Alex Polimeni/Spaceflight Now Members of NASA’s independent panel of aerospace safety advisors raised concerns last week about quality control problems that “seemingly have plagued”…
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Few details available in early days of SpaceX accident investigation
SuperDraco thrusters on a ground test article of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft fire during a hover test in 2015. Credit: SpaceX NASA and SpaceX officials have said little this week about the apparent explosion of a Crew Dragon capsule Saturday during a ground test at Cape Canaveral, and members of a safety advisory panel said…
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First all-female spacewalk foiled by spacesuit sizing issue
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated March 27 with McClain’s comments. NASA astronauts Christina Koch (left) and Nick Hague (right) during a spacesuit fit check March 18 aboard the International Space Station. Anne McClain assisted the astronauts in the suit-up procedure. Credit: NASA NASA astronaut Nick Hague will take the place of Anne McClain on a spacewalk Friday…
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Safety panel says much work left to do before commercial crew ships fly
A test model of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft descends under four main parachutes over Naval Air Facility El Centro in Southern California during a drop test earlier this year. The Crew Dragon will normally return to splash down at sea, but this test gathered data on the parachutes’ performance during an abort that would force…
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New helium tank for SpaceX crew launches still waiting to fly
Credit: SpaceX SpaceX is still working on a new, safer helium tank design needed for launches with astronauts, and the debut of the company’s upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket earlier this month did not count as one of seven successful missions in “crew configuration” NASA says it requires before putting astronauts aboard the vehicle,…