The new rocket american SpaceX Falcon 9 took off on Saturday afternoon despite a time a little uncertain of Cape Canaveral in Florida. At the edge of the capsule Dragon, the two astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, were the first to be sent into space from u.s. soil. “Light this candle ! “said Hurley at the time of the firing, echoing the words of the first american astronaut Alan Shepard during the mission to Mercury in 1961. The capsule was joined as expected the orbit of the earth. It should put 19 hours to reach the international space station ISS,where the astronauts are around four months.
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The rocket is also the first to have been developed by a private firm, opening a new era in the history of space exploration. Manned space flight had so far been launched by governments.
The rocket Falcon-9, and the capsule of the Dragon are built by the company SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk. The two astronauts have also joined the launching at the edge of a Tesla. Their diving suits black and white were also developed by SpaceX, which has brought a particular care in their design with a retro-futuristic.
The United States can do amazing things even in difficult times.
Jim Bridenstine, the director of NASA
The stormy weather was finally considered acceptable by the officials of the Kennedy center. The launch was originally scheduled for last Wednesday had to be adjourned 17 minutes before take-off because of the danger presented by lightning. “Falcon/Dragon is designed to withstand multiple lightning, but we do not believe that it is necessary to run the risk “, had commented on Elon Musk on his Twitter account. The weather conditions must also allow for the repechage sea astronauts in the event of an accident, and must therefore be relatively mild in the North Atlantic. Hurley and Behnken, two astronauts experienced, have already seen in the past several flights aboard the space shuttle delayed due to weather conditions or technical problems.
“maybe America can take a moment to pause and raise his eyes to heaven and see during a moment of hope, what can the future look like, and remember that the United States can do amazing things even in tough times,” said Jim Bridenstine, the director of NASA.
Donald Trump, who had made the journey all the way to Florida last Wednesday to attend the launch, was again present at Cape Kennedy.
The president Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence, may 30, at the launch of the rocket SpaceX in Florida. MANDEL NGAN / AFP
In the vicinity of the launch site, spectators had also made the trip to attend the launch, despite the measures taken by Nasa to limit the number of spectators, due to the epidemic of Covid-19.
Since the retirement of the space shuttle, Nasa was forced to send its astronauts into space in Russian rockets, at the edge of capsule Soyuz designed there are more than fifty years. The u.s. space agency had launched a call for tenders for the construction of a new launcher to send astronauts in the space station. She had signed 2014 contracts with a total value of $ 7 billion with SpaceX and Boeing, the two companies selected. While the capsule Dragon de SpaceX had successfully completed all the test flights, the Boeing, Starliner, was found on a wrong orbit and was almost destroyed because of a series of errors of the computer program.
We not only want it to be as safe and reliable as you can expect from the spacecraft, the most modern in the world… we also want it to be beautiful and spectacular.
Benji Reed, the head of the project,
Despite its allure, retro-futuristic, the output of the 2001 a space Odyssey, the capsule Falcon is the most modern. Touch screens have replaced buttons and switches of the capsules Apollo or even the space shuttle. SpaceX, whose objective is to develop space-flight business, and to send into low earth orbit for passengers and private, has taken a particular care to the design of the capsule Dragon. “We not only want it to be as safe and reliable as you can expect from the spacecraft, the most modern in the world… we also want it to be beautiful and spectacular “, explained Benji Reed, the head of the project.
Dragon has also been designed to be attached to its launcher, Falcon 9.
The two astronauts, Bob and Doug, have also participated in the design of the capsule, and suggested developments and improvements. Fully automated, the capsule Dragon has four seats, only two of which were occupied for this flight test. Before takeoff, the two astronauts have revealed the name of the capsule, kept secret until the last moment.
Nasa revives this historic flight with the previous manned space missions : the Mercury project, which had seen the first american astronauts into orbit, a few years after the flight of soviet Gagarin, followed by the Twins, before the series of Apollo flights, which had taken a dozen men on the moon between 1969 and 1972.
the director of Nasa, Jim Bridentine has hailed the qualities of vision and inspiration to Elon Musk. Despite the differences of culture between the space agency and u.s. federal and the california firm, he added, the project has been completed successfully. “He is committed to me and held his commitment,” said Bridentine. “And he has done it every time “.
capsule Dragon and the rocket Falcon are considered to be an entry in by the company SpaceX, which is planning the development of a rocket and a spaceship capable of reaching the planet March. But Friday, a prototype of this machine, called Starship, had exploded during a test run of the engines in its plant in Texas. Nasa has also signed a contract with SpaceX to use Starship to return men to the Moon.
SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from the same no launch history than the one used by the shuttle Atlantis in July 2011, the last manned flight, launched from american soil. It is from here that had been launched the latest capsule, Apollo, in the middle of a rocket Saturn V for the Apollo-Soyuz in 1975, the last capsule in the u.s. to take astronauts into orbit.
SujetsElon Muskstation spatial internationaleEtats-UnisespaceISSSpaceXFalcon-910 commentairesfredotle 31/05/2020 10:05
from funding, or is the feat ?
we send rockets up in the air for decades, except that it was funded by the states. Therefore, the only achievement would be that the wealthy profit from it…since it’s not used for anything else !!
ChristianLéonToussaintle 31/05/2020 at 09:48 am
” Hour and a quarter ! The ellipsotherapie was so possible ! “
In its cement, rotary, Trump
attends totally confused !
Oblomovle 31/05/2020 at 09:40 pm
It is not only space suits that are “retro futuristic”, the project itself is. It looks like a dream feeble-minded baby boomer. The space is set to become the caprice of luxury of a few billionaires who feel cramped on earth, and will find it through these trips vertical the opportunity to pollute a little more. I do not understand that behind the headlines of this kind of event.
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