Commercial Crew – Page 31 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX delays next Crew Dragon abort test

July 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

The next test of a critical safety system on SpaceX’s human-rated Dragon spaceship will be delayed, likely until some time next year, as the company adjusts the development schedule for the new commercial crew capsule designed to take astronauts to the International Space Station.

SpaceX failure adds another kink in station supply chain

June 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

Managers in charge of International Space Station say the massive orbiting laboratory and its residents can keep going despite Sunday’s failure of a SpaceX resupply launch, which destroyed a new docking adapter critical to NASA’s commercial crew program, a spacesuit, and a part to repair the lab’s water purification system.

Commercial crew spaceships face likely delays

June 11, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA officials and lawmakers warned Wednesday that U.S. astronauts will continue riding to the International Space Station aboard Russian spacecraft longer than planned if a spending plan under consideration in the Senate becomes law.

Boeing gets first order for commercial crew mission

May 28, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA has placed an order with Boeing for the first operational mission to ferry a crew to the International Space Station in a new era of commercial human spaceflight.

Space station module moved to clear path for cargo ships

May 28, 2015 Stephen Clark

Ground controllers powered up the International Space Station’s robotic arm and repositioned a storage module Wednesday to give visiting cargo delivery vehicles a second parking port at the complex.

SpaceX has ‘aggressive’ schedule leading up to crew flights

May 18, 2015 Stephen Clark

Staying true to a corporate philosophy that favors high-visibility flight tests, SpaceX plans to continue wringing out major parts of the company’s human-rated Dragon spaceship in a sequence of dramatic flights leading up to the capsule’s first crewed mission scheduled for 2017.

Photos: SpaceX’s passenger spaceship flies on first test run

May 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

It didn’t go into space, but SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule fired off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday for a 99-second test flight to demonstrate a crucial safety mechanism that would save astronauts from a catastrophic rocket failure. View photos of the human-rated spacecraft’s first flight.

Video: Dragon test articles flies pad abort profile

May 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

A test article of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon flew on an arcing minute-and-a-half demonstration flight over Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, launching atop eight 3D-printed rocket thrusters and descending to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX crew capsule completes dramatic abort test

May 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

A rocket-powered prototype of SpaceX’s human-rated crew capsule vaulted off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday for a brief mile-high test flight of the spaceship’s emergency crew safety system.

Don’t blink: SpaceX crew escape demo will go by in a flash

May 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX plans to launch an unmanned test model of the company’s Dragon crew capsule Wednesday on a whirlwind 107-second flight through the skies over Cape Canaveral.