March 4, 2019 at 06:58How did the manned "Dragon" grow
In the first unmanned test flight, Crew Dragon 2 over the weekend successfully completed two of the three main tasks: it started and docked with the ISS. Only the landing on March 8 (16:45 Moscow time) remains. A great moment to remember the history of the ship.
Crew Dragon dock with ISS, frame from NASA broadcast
Start of Crew Dragon, photo SpaceX
Crew Dragon started on the first attempt at 10:49 Moscow time on March 2. The first stage worked for 2 minutes 36 seconds, separated and landed on the barge “Of course I still love you”. The second stage turned on at 02:48 and worked until 09:00. After another 2 minutes, at an altitude of slightly less than 200 km, the ship separated from the upper stage and set off for the ISS.
Soon after the separation, the ship performed two important operations - it opened the nose fairing, closing the docking unit and turned on its engines for the first time. Over the course of a day, the Dragon launched a few maneuvers from 200 to 400 km and took aim at the point of meeting with the International Space Station.
Crew Dragon flight path, frame from NASA broadcast.
Then the ship entered the near ISS zone and made an autonomous docking with the Harmony module of the American ISS segment. The previous generation vehicles, freight Dragon, were caught and docked by the station manipulator.
Approach path, frame from NASA broadcast
Docking moments
Recording of the broadcast
It's funny that SpaceX in this flight combined their traditions with the Russian ones. In addition to the mannequin in a spacesuit named Ripley (in honor of the heroine of the movie “Alien”), a soft toy in the shape of a globe - a “gravity indicator” similar to the toys flying on the “Unions” was placed on the ship. Also, 181 kg of payload were brought to the station.
Astronaut E. McClain with an “indicator”, Ripley in the background
Crew Dragon remains another important operation - landing. At a press conference after the launch, Musk said that the new form of the ship with protrusions under the emergency rescue engines makes braking in dense layers of the atmosphere less stable, so not all the risks are behind. According to the plan, the ship will undock from the station on March 8 at 10:30 Moscow time and will land in the Atlantic Ocean (also an innovation, Dragon is brought down in the Pacific Ocean) at 16:45 Moscow time.
Despite the fact that according to Mask, Crew Dragon is unlikely to have at least one detail left from the cargo Dragon, it was this ship that gave SpaceX the experience to create the next, manned version. In 2006, SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler won the first phase of a NASA tender to create a cargo ship to supply the ISS. And since it was planned to be made returnable, the manned version was obvious, and the first picture of the manned Dragon dates back to 2006.
Image NASA
Rocketplane Kistler dropped out of the competition a year later, but SpaceX made the Dragon ship, named after the song "Puff, the magic dragon" and made its first flight in December 2010.
Dragon, NASA photo
And by the beginning of the 10s, the main drama of the ship was the choice of the landing system. In the initial representations of SpaceX, the ship was supposed to land on engines, a video showing the rocket landing of both stages and the ship appeared in 2011. In addition to the convenience of an accurate landing on the earth, simplifying the search and evacuation of astronauts, this solution was positioned as universal for the Earth and Mars.
The first round of the program for creating commercial manned ships took place in 2010 and the first model of the manned "Dragon", then DragonRider, was presented to the public in 2012. Outwardly, he differed from the cargo ship only in protrusions with engines of the rescue system.
On the left is a flying Dragon cargo, on the right is a DragonRider layout, photo by Gene Blevins / LA Daily News
The second phase of the program began in 2014, and it was won by Boeing with SpaceX. In the same year, SpaceX showed a noticeably different layout - the body became more elongated, and supports appeared in the bottom, as in the 2011 video. The first test unmanned flight was expected in 2016.
SpaceX Photos
In 2014, alarm bells began to ring for the idea of a missile landing - in an interview, Musk said that the ship would have a set of parachutes, and the ship would check the engines at a height of several kilometers, switching to a parachute landing in case of failure. For several years, various news and rumors appeared, but in the end, in 2017 it was finally announced that the Crew Dragon would land in the same way as the cargo version - parachuting into the water. According to Mask, he is sure that a rocket landing is possible, but did not consider it necessary to spend resources on convincing NASA, and the concept of landing on Mars has changed.
In 2015, the emergency rescue system was successfully tested in the emergency scenario at the launch pad (Pad Abort Test). The test apparatus was not yet the final version, but was already close to it. And no traces of landing supports on it were no longer traced.
Assembling the test apparatus, photo SpaceX
Tests
In 2018, they changed the parachute system, instead of three parachutes, four became. And finally, a flight copy of the device was delivered to the assembly and testing complex.
SpaceX Photos
Despite the novelty of the design, the origin of the device is quite recognizable. The general layout coincides with the first "Dragon" - the ship consists of two compartments, a descent vehicle (SA) and a service module, orientation engines are located on the SA. But, of course, there are differences. On the service module appeared stabilizers. Judging by the fact that the CAC in the tests took the CA along with the service module, they are needed mainly in case of an accident. The solar panels moved to the surface of the service module, now there is no risk that they will not open (in one of the first flights of the Dragon cargo there was a problem with this). CAC Super Draco engines and additional portholes appeared on the descent vehicle. A resettable fairing, closing the docking unit, became openable.
A shot from the broadcast
The cabin inside looks empty, but this is not surprising - when people fly, the laying of emergency equipment and additional loads will be added. Well, let's not forget that Dragon does not have a household compartment - 9.3 m 3 of Crew Dragon is more than 8.5 m 3 of the total volume of the Union, but less than 14 m 3 of Shenzhou.
We wish SpaceX successful completion of the mission, if everything goes according to plan, the first manned flight may take place in July this year.
Crew Dragon dock with ISS, frame from NASA broadcast
Flight timeline
Start of Crew Dragon, photo SpaceX
Crew Dragon started on the first attempt at 10:49 Moscow time on March 2. The first stage worked for 2 minutes 36 seconds, separated and landed on the barge “Of course I still love you”. The second stage turned on at 02:48 and worked until 09:00. After another 2 minutes, at an altitude of slightly less than 200 km, the ship separated from the upper stage and set off for the ISS.
Soon after the separation, the ship performed two important operations - it opened the nose fairing, closing the docking unit and turned on its engines for the first time. Over the course of a day, the Dragon launched a few maneuvers from 200 to 400 km and took aim at the point of meeting with the International Space Station.
Crew Dragon flight path, frame from NASA broadcast.
Then the ship entered the near ISS zone and made an autonomous docking with the Harmony module of the American ISS segment. The previous generation vehicles, freight Dragon, were caught and docked by the station manipulator.
Approach path, frame from NASA broadcast
Docking moments
Recording of the broadcast
It's funny that SpaceX in this flight combined their traditions with the Russian ones. In addition to the mannequin in a spacesuit named Ripley (in honor of the heroine of the movie “Alien”), a soft toy in the shape of a globe - a “gravity indicator” similar to the toys flying on the “Unions” was placed on the ship. Also, 181 kg of payload were brought to the station.
Astronaut E. McClain with an “indicator”, Ripley in the background
Crew Dragon remains another important operation - landing. At a press conference after the launch, Musk said that the new form of the ship with protrusions under the emergency rescue engines makes braking in dense layers of the atmosphere less stable, so not all the risks are behind. According to the plan, the ship will undock from the station on March 8 at 10:30 Moscow time and will land in the Atlantic Ocean (also an innovation, Dragon is brought down in the Pacific Ocean) at 16:45 Moscow time.
How the Dragons grew
Despite the fact that according to Mask, Crew Dragon is unlikely to have at least one detail left from the cargo Dragon, it was this ship that gave SpaceX the experience to create the next, manned version. In 2006, SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler won the first phase of a NASA tender to create a cargo ship to supply the ISS. And since it was planned to be made returnable, the manned version was obvious, and the first picture of the manned Dragon dates back to 2006.
Image NASA
Rocketplane Kistler dropped out of the competition a year later, but SpaceX made the Dragon ship, named after the song "Puff, the magic dragon" and made its first flight in December 2010.
Dragon, NASA photo
And by the beginning of the 10s, the main drama of the ship was the choice of the landing system. In the initial representations of SpaceX, the ship was supposed to land on engines, a video showing the rocket landing of both stages and the ship appeared in 2011. In addition to the convenience of an accurate landing on the earth, simplifying the search and evacuation of astronauts, this solution was positioned as universal for the Earth and Mars.
The first round of the program for creating commercial manned ships took place in 2010 and the first model of the manned "Dragon", then DragonRider, was presented to the public in 2012. Outwardly, he differed from the cargo ship only in protrusions with engines of the rescue system.
On the left is a flying Dragon cargo, on the right is a DragonRider layout, photo by Gene Blevins / LA Daily News
The second phase of the program began in 2014, and it was won by Boeing with SpaceX. In the same year, SpaceX showed a noticeably different layout - the body became more elongated, and supports appeared in the bottom, as in the 2011 video. The first test unmanned flight was expected in 2016.
SpaceX Photos
In 2014, alarm bells began to ring for the idea of a missile landing - in an interview, Musk said that the ship would have a set of parachutes, and the ship would check the engines at a height of several kilometers, switching to a parachute landing in case of failure. For several years, various news and rumors appeared, but in the end, in 2017 it was finally announced that the Crew Dragon would land in the same way as the cargo version - parachuting into the water. According to Mask, he is sure that a rocket landing is possible, but did not consider it necessary to spend resources on convincing NASA, and the concept of landing on Mars has changed.
In 2015, the emergency rescue system was successfully tested in the emergency scenario at the launch pad (Pad Abort Test). The test apparatus was not yet the final version, but was already close to it. And no traces of landing supports on it were no longer traced.
Assembling the test apparatus, photo SpaceX
Tests
In 2018, they changed the parachute system, instead of three parachutes, four became. And finally, a flight copy of the device was delivered to the assembly and testing complex.
SpaceX Photos
Despite the novelty of the design, the origin of the device is quite recognizable. The general layout coincides with the first "Dragon" - the ship consists of two compartments, a descent vehicle (SA) and a service module, orientation engines are located on the SA. But, of course, there are differences. On the service module appeared stabilizers. Judging by the fact that the CAC in the tests took the CA along with the service module, they are needed mainly in case of an accident. The solar panels moved to the surface of the service module, now there is no risk that they will not open (in one of the first flights of the Dragon cargo there was a problem with this). CAC Super Draco engines and additional portholes appeared on the descent vehicle. A resettable fairing, closing the docking unit, became openable.
A shot from the broadcast
The cabin inside looks empty, but this is not surprising - when people fly, the laying of emergency equipment and additional loads will be added. Well, let's not forget that Dragon does not have a household compartment - 9.3 m 3 of Crew Dragon is more than 8.5 m 3 of the total volume of the Union, but less than 14 m 3 of Shenzhou.
We wish SpaceX successful completion of the mission, if everything goes according to plan, the first manned flight may take place in July this year.