The first crew of SpaceX on the launch pad

The first crew of SpaceX on the launch pad

The crew’s access sleeve is pulled to the first SpaceX-controlled SpaceX Crew Dragon installed on the Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral, Florida). Photo taken on January 3 before a test flight without crew

The private space company SpaceX moved its first crew ship Crew Dragon to the launch pad before a non-crew test flight. Start is expected in the next few weeks.

On January 3, Crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket were positioned on the launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy space center at Cape Canaveral (Florida) for the first test flight. Pre-launch plan to spend January 17th. But the day may be postponed due to the partial suspension of the US government.

Ilon Musk also referred to the situation in America and hinted that the launch could be postponed. That is, the demonstration flight may well be realized only in February. If everything goes well with the test launch, the first start with NASA astronauts (Robert Benken and Douglas Hurley) will be held in June 2019.

The first crew of SpaceX on the launch pad

The first Crew Dragon crew and SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket are on the launch pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral, Florida)

In the new photos you can see the first model of the crew spacecraft Crew Dragon, attached to the rocket. They are in the hangar on the launch pad 39A.

The first crew of SpaceX on the launch pad

The photo from January 2019 shows the first crew ship Crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 missile from SpaceX. They are located on the launch pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral, Florida)

Crew Dragon is a managed version of an automatic cargo model that has been delivering food to the ISS since 2021. SpaceX is one of two companies that NASA has contracted to transport astronauts to the ISS and back. The second company is Boeing, which develops the crew ship CST-100 Starliner. His test flight without a crew was scheduled for March, and with astronauts at the end of 2019.

The first crew of SpaceX on the launch pad

The Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the first Crew Dragon crew, is pulled out of the hangar on the launch pad 39A of the NASA Kennedy space center at Cape Canaveral (Florida). Picture taken on January 3, 2019

The new model of the crew ship Crew Dragon is designed for the flight of 7 astronauts to near-earth orbit and back. For landing using parachutes and landing in the ocean. SpaceX is also developing a larger crew ship capable of delivering humans to Mars.

It will be a reusable spacecraft with a capacity of about 100 people. For the start they plan to use a reusable superheavy rocket. The prototype will be tested on the newest cosmodrome of the company near Brownsville. Musk said test flights for the Starship could begin in the next few months.

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