SpaceX’s Halloween mission to the International Space Station looks set to launch as scheduled — providing NASA approves the Crew Dragon capsule’s upgraded toilet.
After a small leak was discovered in the wake last month’s three day Inspiration4 mission, which placed private citizens in orbit, the in-flight “facilities” needed to be redesigned.
The Crew-3 flight will transport four astronauts to the orbiting lab for a six-month stay — including NASA’s Raja Chari (the mission commander) and Tom Mashburn.
Making up the final two members of the crew are Kayla Barron, also of NASA, and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency.
Weather permitting, lift-off atop a Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for 2:21 AM EDT (07:21 GMT) on Sunday October 31 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The team will arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) early in the morning on November 1, where they will handover with their predecessors on the Crew-2 flight.
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SpaceX’s Halloween mission to the International Space Station (ISS) looks set to launch as scheduled — providing NASA approves the Crew Dragon capsule’s upgraded toilet. Pictured: the crew capsule arriving at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday
The Crew-3 flight will transport four astronauts to the orbiting lab for a six-month stay — including NASA’s Raja Chari (the mission commander) and Tom Mashburn. Kayla Barron of NASA and Matthias Maurer from the European Space Agency are the final two crew members. Pictured: Artist’s impression of a Crew Dragon Spacecraft docking at ISS
NASA announced that Crew-3 was approved for Sunday’s launch. This announcement came after yesterday’s successful flight readiness assessment.
‘We had a good review today,’ NASA’s International Space Station program manager Joel Montalbano said during last night’s press conference.
Although there were no unexpected issues that would force SpaceX to delay the launch, NASA and SpaceX engineers continue to work on a possible problem in the capsule’s toilet waste system. This was discovered last month.
The issue was noted after the Inspiration4 mission returned to Earth, having taken billionaire CEO Jared Isaacman, geologist Sian Proctor, data engineer Christopher Sembroski and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s Hayley Arceneaux into orbit.
Engineers inspecting that mission’s ‘Resilience” capsule discovered that a tube that feeds into the tank holding the toilet waste had become loose during flight.
This, SpaceX vice president of build and flight reliability Bill Gerstenmaier said, ‘allowed urine to not go into the storage tank but, essentially, to go into the fan system’ — albeit not in any way that significantly affected the Inspiration4 mission.
“We didn’t really notice it; the crew didn’t notice until we got back,” he said.
While the Crew-3 mission will be using a different capsule — recently named ‘Endurance’ — its toilet system shares a design with that of the Resilience capsule.
NASA announced that the Crew-3 mission was cleared for launch on Sunday morning after a successful flight readiness assessment yesterday. Pictured: The capsule arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Sunday morning.
Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, tweeted that upgraded toilets were needed following the flight of Inspiration 4. He said, “We had some challenges with this flight.”
Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, tweeted that it was urgent to install new toilets after the Inspiration4 flight. He said, “We had some challenges with this flight.”
To address the issue, Endurance will be upgraded with a fully welded toilet system — one that, it is hoped, will prevent tubes from coming loose.
NASA engineers are expected give the redesign the pre-flight approval in the coming days.
The flaw in the original toilet plumbing may also affect the Endeavour capsule which flew SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission to the ISS back in late April this year — and is presently docked with the orbiting laboratory and scheduled to depart on November 4.
However, astronauts have reported that an examination of the capsule has shown no signs of leaks — which would be visible in the form of corrosion brought about by a chemical SpaceX’s waste system uses to remove ammonia from urine.
However, it is possible that the capsule may need to be upgraded upon its return.
As Dr Gerstenmaier noted, Endeavour’s toilet facilities were only used during its 24-hour trip to the ISS — and the design might only be susceptible to issues on the kind of longer flight experienced by Resilience on its three-day Inspiration4 flight.
Weather permitting, liftoff atop a Falcon 9 Rocket is scheduled for 2:21 AM Eastern Time (07:21 GMT), Sunday October 31, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida
SPACEX CREW-DRAGON CAPSULE MEASURES 20FT and CAN CARRY 7 ATRONAUTS AT A TIMES
The system design and operation will be informed by the March 2 test, which marks the first launch of U.S. spacecraft from U.S. soil for eight years (Artist’s impression).
The capsule is approximately 20 feet high by 12 feet wide and can hold up to 7 astronauts.
Crew Dragon has an advanced emergency escape system that was tested earlier this season to quickly transport astronauts to safety in the event of an accident. It experiences about the same G-forces than a Disneyland ride.
It also has an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) that provides a comfortable and safe environment for crew members.
Crew Dragon’s displays will show real-time information about the spacecraft’s capabilities. They will include everything from Dragon’s position within space to possible destinations to the environment onboard.
CRS-2 Dragon missions will use a ‘propulsive landing’ where the capsule lands on a landing platform using its SuperDraco thrusters, rather than splashing in the ocean.
NASA will be able to access the cargo faster from these spacecraft, and NASA will also have more experience in propulsive landings of Dragon spacecraft.