International Space Station – Page 84 – Commercial Crew Program

Commercial Crew: Building in Safety from the Ground Up in a Unique Way

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is set to return human spaceflight launches to the International Space Station from U.S. soil. NASA shares accountability with our commercial providers, Boeing and SpaceX, to implement a robust process for the development of safe, reliable and cost effective commercial crew transportation systems. NASA’s critical obligation is to ensure crew safety and success for NASA missions, and the providers are each responsible for safe operations of commercial crew transportation systems.

“Collectively, we say our job is to make sure that when the crew enters the spacecraft prelaunch, that they go home to their family,” said Billy Stover, commercial crew’s Safety and Mission Assurance officer. “When we say it like that, it starts to become very crystal clear, at least to our team. When we talk safety, it’s about what can hurt the crew and how can we prevent it. That makes it very tangible, very realistic and something you can actually grasp.”

Learn more about the dedicated safety professionals at NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at http://go.nasa.gov/1U7Te7H

AstroViews: Suni Williams

Veteran space shuttle, International Space Station and Soyuz astronaut Suni Williams is one of four astronauts training for flights aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Noting the start of Women’s History Month today, Williams set the records for most spacewalks by a woman and most time spacewalking by a woman in 2012 during Expedition 32 on the space station.

“We have the opportunity as the commercial crew cadre to go to both Boeing and SpaceX and check out what they’re doing and how they’re coming along with their spacecraft. These are things that are much different from both space shuttle and Soyuz, because they’re taking advantage of the technology from the last two decades or so. Some of the ideas are brand new, it makes us think out of the box from how we’ve done spacecraft and how we’ve flown spacecraft before,” Williams said. Read more from Suni about Commercial Crew, conducting research in orbit and what new astronauts should expect here.

Starliner Performs Well in Airbag Testing

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner airbag system, which will provide a safe landing for the spacecraft during any phase of flight, was put to the test over the 20-foot-deep Hydro Impact Basin at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on Feb. 9. The Starliner is one of two commercial spacecraft in development to launch astronauts from the U.S. to the International Space Station via NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Six landing airbags, designed and manufactured by ILC Dover in Frederica, Delaware, were inflated before the full-size Starliner test article was hoisted up by a crane and then dropped from a height and angle that mimicked what the spacecraft might encounter as it pushes off an Atlas V rocket during a launch or ascent emergency. The goal for Boeing’s landing and recovery team is to achieve flight qualification status of the Starliner’s airbag and up-righting systems through a series of tests at Langley’s Hydro Impact Basin.

While the Starliner is designed for land-based returns, it is important for engineers to understand how the spacecraft and its systems would perform in all landing scenarios.

Engineer Applies Skydiving Know-how to Spacecraft Evaluations

One of the engineers NASA depends on to assess the landing systems of the next generation of human-rated spacecraft brings 14 years of experience working with parachutes on launch systems, as well as years of skydiving. Learn how Jeff Thon is uniquely helping shape the future of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at http://go.nasa.gov/1Qmbc0v

Astronauts Practice Crew Dragon Egress

Astronaut Anne McClain takes part in egress training for the Crew Dragon at SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California, headquarters recently as part of a larger team of astronauts and engineers evaluating processes for the new generation of American spacecraft in development to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. Working inside a mock-up built by SpaceX to simulate the actual spacecraft, the team practices leaving the spacecraft through the top hatch of the Crew Dragon as well as using the side hatch. The work is common in assessing spacecraft design. For astronauts, such rehearsals are regular exercise in mission preparations even in spacecraft that have been flying regularly.

Administrator Bolden Sees Starliner Before Testing

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden took a close look today at the airbag system for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, before a contingency water landing test with a full-size spacecraft mock-up.

Although it’s designed to land on land, Boeing is testing the Starliner at Langley’s Hydro Impact Basin to evaluate its tendencies in case it has to land in the water in the event of, for example, an unlikely launch or ascent emergency that calls for the spacecraft to separate from its rocket and parachute itself and the astronauts inside to safety. Starliner is being developed in partnership with NASA to carry up to four astronauts at a time to the International Space Station. An additional crew member will allow science time on the orbiting laboratory to double for NASA’s Journey to Mars and research that will benefit everyone on Earth.

Bolden visited Langley to deliver his annual “State of NASA” address during which he detailed aspects of the agency’s budget request.

SpaceX Tests Crew Dragon Parachutes

Four red-and-white parachutes unfurled high above the desert near Coolidge, Arizona, recently during a test of the system that initially will be used to safely land SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying astronauts back from the International Space Station. The test used a mass simulator as the weight of the spacecraft connected to the parachute system. The mass simulator and parachutes were released thousands of feet above the ground from a C-130 cargo aircraft. This test evaluated the four main parachutes, but did not include the drogue chutes that a full landing system would utilize.

As part of its final development and certification work with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX continues to perform tests of flight-like hardware that allows engineers to assess the reliability. Later tests will grow progressively more realistic to simulate as much of the actual conditions and processes the system will see during an operational mission.

Initially, the spacecraft will splash down safely in the ocean under parachutes, but ultimately the company wants to land the vehicle on land propulsively using eight SuperDraco engines. SpaceX tested its propulsive land landing ability in Texas in November.

SpaceX and Boeing are working in separate partnerships with NASA to build a new generation of human-rated spacecraft to take astronauts to the International Space Station. Photo credit: SpaceX.

SpaceX Tests SuperDraco Descent Landing Capability

SpaceX recently tested its ability to fire engines that will be used to land a human-rated spacecraft safely on the ground with the accuracy of a helicopter at the company’s test facility in McGregor, Texas. SpaceX envisions returning people to Earth from space on the power of thrust instead of beneath parachutes. Working with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX is in the early phases of analysis. In November, the company conducted two tethered tests of a full-size Crew Dragon mock-up attached to a crane so engineers could refine the landing software and systems on the spacecraft. The Crew Dragon spacecraft will be equipped with eight SuperDraco thrusters that would be used to slow the vehicle’s return to Earth through the atmosphere and ultimately set the spacecraft and its crew down gently.

Propulsive landing will not be used initially for missions with NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.The Crew Dragon will splash down safely in the ocean under parachutes as its passengers return from the space station.

Eve of Launch: 2016 Goals Vital to Commercial Crew Success

jsc2015e071478 NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and its aerospace industry partners Boeing and SpaceX are on the eve of America’s return to human spaceflight launches. By the time the year closes, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon will be poised for the flight tests that allow our astronauts to travel to the International Space Station lifting off from Florida’s Space Coast.

It won’t be easy. Successful missions will require a comprehensive testing regimen of numerous systems on the ground and in space. That is why the outline of tasks for 2016 is so important. The result of each evaluation will be vital in the design of the systems. From parachute tests, to launch pad certifications, to the completion of spacecraft that will fly into orbit, this year offers both companies opportunities to build on the momentum of 2015 and carry it through to landmark space achievements in 2017. Read the details of what NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and its partners will be working on in 2016 to set us up for 2017 at http://go.nasa.gov/1UbVMjk

From Voyager to Voyagers

30 years ago, after launching from SLC-41, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft captured images of Uranus during an historic flyby of the gas giant. Today, the same launch pad is getting ready to launch human Voyagers – NASA’s Commercial Crew astronauts – on a new generation of spacecraft.