The first mission of SpaceX’s latest Dragon capsule couldn’t have gone more smoothly.
Starship his name is freedomSpaceX’s Crew-4 astronaut mission flew to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA, which concluded Friday afternoon (October 14) with Splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean Off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida.
NASA and SpaceX representatives said the return of freedom to Earth was like clockwork, as it pretty much did the entire mission.
Related: Stunning images of SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission
“In my view, watching the vehicle’s data during those five and a half months was delightfully boring, while the crew had to do all the stunts aboard the International Space Station,” Sarah Walker, SpaceX Administrator. the Dragon Mission management, he said during a news conference after Splashdown Friday night.
“This is exactly what we love,” Walker added. “The Freedom car has performed beautifully all the time, and especially today on the day it comes back.”
Crew-4 took off on top of SpaceX Falcon 9 A rocket on April 27 carries NASA astronauts Jill Lindgren, Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency toward the orbiting laboratory.
Freedom arrived at the International Space Station on the same day, and soon its crew members were up and running. Crew-4 astronauts have completed more than 250 investigations into areas of human research technology offerings that we will need to explore, as well as complete some of the LEO Marketing ActivitiesJoel Montalbano, NASA’s International Space Station program manager, said during a news conference Friday evening.
The astronauts’ return to Earth Friday was noteworthy, too, and not just for the smoothness of that flight: Freedom fell less than five hours after ejecting from the International Space Station.
“This was actually the fastest comeback we’ve made on a crew mission – of any mission – to date,” Walker said.
SpaceX still has a mission on the International Space Station, and it will continue for a while; four people Crew-5 arrived on October 6th On board the Dragon Endurance, which also flew the company’s Crew-3 mission.
Like Crew-5, Crew-6 will use the seasoned Dragon capsule. The upcoming mission, scheduled for launch next spring, will fly aboard the Endeavor spacecraft, Steve Stitch, director of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said during Friday’s briefing.
Endeavor flew SpaceX’s first-ever astronaut mission, the demo 2 A trip to the International Space Station in 2020, as well as a flight for Crew-2 and SpaceX’s Ax-1. 17 days ax 1which took place in April of this year, was the first fully manned mission to the space station.
Mike Wall is the author of “Abroad (Opens in a new tab)Book (Great Grand Publishing House, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrials. Follow him on Twitter Tweet embed (Opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter Tweet embed (Opens in a new tab) or on Facebook (Opens in a new tab).
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