Tag: CCP
-
Boeing/Starliner in successful Pad Abort Test; some issues observed
At the White Sands Missile Range proving grounds in New Mexico, Boeing has conducted a critical test of their Starliner vehicle on a Pad Abort Test. The test occurred 15 minutes into the window 09:15 EST (14:15 UTC), with Boeing testing the Launch Abort Engines and Orbital Maneuvering and Attitude Control thrusters aboard Starliner that…
-
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon set for important test campaign
SpaceX continues to make progress towards launching crews into orbit, but several critical tests remain before those plans can come to fruition. The company is developing the Crew Dragon spacecraft to transport crews to and from the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The United States has not launched humans into…
-
Boeing’s Starliner set for two pivotal test flights before the year’s end
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is preparing for two major flight tests before the end of the year, which will pave the way for the spacecraft’s first crewed flight in 2020. The capsule is being developed under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to provide transportation services to and from the International Space Station. NASA provided an official update…
-
EVA-55 installs second IDA to allow for additional commercial crew vehicle options
The latest spacewalk on the International Space Station (ISS) has completed the huge milestone of adding a second docking port for Commercial Crew vehicles. Expedition 60 Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan worked a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to install International Docking Adapter-3 (IDA-3) to Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 on the space-facing side of the station’s Harmony…
-
SpaceX present to future: From retesting boosters to planning a Starship pad
SpaceX is busy on all fronts, from its bread and butter commercial satellite launches to planning its ultimate future of deep space transportation and multi-planetary colonization. A second static fire test was ordered – and completed for Falcon 9 B1047.3 ahead of next week’s AMOS-17 launch, while a key environmental report shed new details on…
-
Station mission planning reveals new target Commercial Crew launch dates
As part of standard planning among the international partners, NASA has revised its Visiting Vehicle plan for all upcoming and long-range missions to the International Space Station. The update includes new planning dates for the first Commercial Crew launches on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner vehicles, when U.S. crew rotation flights are slated to…
-
DoD practices Starliner at sea recovery for first time
In a critical first for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule, the crew transportation vehicle is putting DoD and Air Force rescue teams through their paces as they seek to understand and refine what will be needed to rescue a Starliner crew from the capsule should an off-nominal landing in the water occur. Starliner at sea rescue…
-
Crew Dragon’s inaugural flight to Station concludes with splashdown
Five days after docking to the International Space Station, the first crew-capable spacecraft from the United States in 8 years has ended its inaugural mission, undocking from the ISS Friday morning ahead of a successful reentry and splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean off the northeast coast of Florida. Undocking occurred at 02:31 EST (0731 UTC)…
-
SpaceX launches historic DM-1 mission, Dragon 2 on first flight to the ISS
SpaceX took a major step towards ending the United States’ human spaceflight gap Saturday, with the launch of their Crew Dragon spacecraft on its first demonstration flight. Flying without astronauts aboard for its Demo-1 test flight, Crew Dragon lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 02:49:03 Eastern Time (07:49 UTC) atop a Falcon 9…
-
NASA set to purchase more Soyuz seats to ensure uninterrupted access to the ISS
Despite the scheduled return of US domestic crew launch capability this year, NASA is set to purchase more rides on the Russian Soyuz through 2020. The agency is adhering to a recommendation from its Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) after concerns were raised about the lack of a back-up option covering the potential delays that…