NASA gives thumbs up to SpaceX Dragon launch

A Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft stand on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 10.
Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA has certified the spacecraft that will be used in the first-ever commercial launch of astronauts for a weekend liftoff.

The agency signed off Tuesday on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, Falcon 9 rocket, and other necessary ground components. It was its first move to approve any vehicle for space operations designed to carry humans on board in 40 years.

“Today’s signing is about the people across NASA, SpaceX and other groups that came together to complete an unbelievable amount of hard work to accomplish this task,” Kathy Lueders, associate administrator for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operation Mission Directorate, said.

The certification follows a long series of tests that began in 2015. During that year the Crew Dragon was subjected to a pad abort test, which demanded that the vehicle’s capacity to escape the launch pad in case of a pre-liftoff emergency be demonstrated.

NASA said they also included “hundreds of tests” on eight SuperDraco abort engines. Those engines would be essential in the event that astronauts must exit the spacecraft during a liftoff emergency.

Testing was also applied to the electromagnetic interference chamber and acoustic chamber on the Crew Dragon.

Crew Dragon flew safely from the International Space Station to Earth’s surface in March 2019. The SpaceX Demo-1 mission marked the first time that an American commercial spacecraft launched, docked at the space station, and returned to our planet.

This year saw a demonstration of Crew Dragon’s and the Falcon 9’s capability to move astronauts out of danger if an emergency during flight occurs.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley completed the SpaceX Demo-2 mission earlier in 2020.

Launch of the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon is anticipated to happen this weekend. U.S. astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, will head to the ISS for a six-month mission.