NASA & SpaceX - Dragon Crew-1 Mission patch.
Nov. 16, 2020
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts are en route to the International Space Station following a successful launch on the first NASA-certified commercial human spacecraft system in history. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission lifted off at 7:27 p.m. EST Sunday from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Animation above: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with four Commercial Crew astronauts inside the Crew Dragon vehicle from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Animation Credit: SpaceX.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Crew Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), into orbit to begin a six-month science mission aboard the space station.
After reaching orbit, mission teams and the crew prepared for their continued journey to the space station. Teams on the ground moved the spacecraft, named Resilience, into the proper configuration for the trip, and the crew removed their SpaceX spacesuits and prepared the cabin as they wind down their first day in space.
Crew-1 aboard Dragon begins his journey to ISS
SpaceX engineers completed troubleshooting on heater controls associated with Crew Dragon’s propellant system, and updated the crew. Flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, determined the control limits were set too tightly and resolved the issue by resetting the limits and rebooting the heaters. They have verified that the heaters are working properly.
Resilience will dock autonomously to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module about 11 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16. NASA Television and the agency’s website are providing ongoing live coverage through docking, hatch opening, and the ceremony to welcome the crew aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Related article:
Crew Dragon Reaches Orbit!
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/11/crew-dragon-reaches-orbit.html
Related links:
NASA Television: https://www.nasa.gov/live
Commercial Crew: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html
SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Animation (mentioned), Image, Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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