Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) recently conducted its first Dragon spacecraft operations training for a group of NASA astronauts and personnel at its corporate headquarters in Hawthorne, CA. The October training focused on how the crew will interface with the Dragon spacecraft while it is approaching and berthed to the International Space Station (ISS). Three of the participating astronauts — Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock — will be on board the ISS for Expedition 24 when Dragon makes its first visit under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.SpaceX plans expects to launch its cargo-carrying Dragon capsule on its first flight to the ISS sometime between May and November 2010.
The astronauts were briefed on vehicle ingress and egress, habitability of the spacecraft, payload handling and commanding through SpaceX's COTS Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Communication Unit. The training was a key step in SpaceX's progress towards providing NASA an alternative for cargo transport to and from the ISS when the Space Shuttle retires. More from BusinessWire.
SpaceX is under contract to NASA to conduct three COTS demo flights, to be followed by 12 cargo flights between 2010 and 2015 from Cape Canaveral. Meanwhile, Orbital Sciences Corporation will conduct cargo flights in a similar time period using the Taurus 2 booster.
No comments:
Post a Comment