Launch of the Crew Dragon capsule by the Falcon 9 launcher on January 19, 2020. – Kennedy Space Center
- On Sunday, SpaceX successfully simulated the astronauts’ emergency ejection of a rocket, moments after its launch in Florida.
- Consequence of this success: the next flight of the SpaceX capsule, Crew Dragon, will be made this year with astronauts on board.
- A turning point for the American space industry, which has not flown its own astronauts since 2011.
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It was the ultimate safety test before a first manned flight. Sunday,
SpaceX successfully ejected an empty capsule a few seconds after the rocket took off, under the cheers of the ground engineering teams. The Crew Dragon capsule landed on the ground eight minutes later, as expected. “As far as we can tell, this is a perfect mission. It went as well as expected, “said
Elon Musk, eccentric billionaire and boss of SpaceX, after the test. By fulfilling this instruction imposed by
The NASA, will the company enter the big leagues?
“We witnessed a crucial test for the safety of astronauts, one of the last before launching a Commercial Crew team in a manned flight,” comments Olivier Sanguy, scientific mediator at the Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse. It reassures the whole world by showing that the program is progressing, ”he continues. A few years ago, NASA decided to abandon its shuttle program to entrust the transport of astronauts to the private sector to the International Space Station (ISS). “Private sector” means first of all Russia and its Soyuz capsule. But she is also a “client” of two companies she has selected: SpaceX and
Boeing, who must make proposals to him. So much so that the two companies have embarked on the space race.
“The great era of space travel”
For SpaceX, created in 2002, the stakes are high. The company, relatively young compared to the behemoths of the sector, will pass to “the age of maturity if it succeeds in the first manned flight”, planned for the second quarter of 2020 by NASA, confirms Arthur Sauzay, space expert at the Montaigne Institute and lawyer in the Parisian office of Allen & Overy. The flight will be attended by American astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, who have been training for years, while since 2012, SpaceX has been supplying the ISS with only supplies and equipment.
“Even if we have to keep a cool head, we are at a turning point towards a new great era of space travel,” continues the specialist. SpaceX has put a touch of madness back into the space adventure: the company says “let’s dream big, take all the risks”. Elon Musk is a dream, he leaves no one indifferent. It stimulates, it irritates, but it moves the lines. “
Objective: to give the United States the freedom to send its own astronauts to the ISS. “Since 2011, no American has gone into space in an American craft,” confirms Olivier Sanguy. A challenge in terms of image, but also economic: NASA spends about 85 million dollars for each astronaut seat it sends via Russia. A heavy price … paid by taxpayers. “SpaceX is $ 50-60 million when they launch a rocket,” says Arthur Sauzay.
One million humans on Mars
Facing Boeing or to developing Chinese companies, SpaceX knows it has to keep cost reduction in mind. Its great innovation is its automatic launcher, the only one in the world to be reusable. “The main contribution of SpaceX is the return of the first stage of its Falcon 9 launcher. It is still a 50-meter-tall craft. During the Sunday test, the one who served flew for the 4th time. SpaceX wants to fly them up to 10 times, “says Olivier Sanguy. SpaceX, Boeing and others “want to be cheaper and more systematic, to open up space to as many people as possible,” said Arthur Sauzay. Especially since the company has not signed an exclusivity contract with NASA and can offer commercial flights, such as
that of Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, planned for 2023 around the Moon.
How does Elon Musk plan to colonize Mars? #ElonMusk #SpaceX https://t.co/PfJacd0YU7
– Lemon squeezer (@pressecitron) January 18, 2020
And why not aim even further? “The company’s official slogan is” making humans a multiplanetary species ” [“faire de l’humanité une espèce interplanétaire”] “Recalls Arthur Sauzay. Elon Musk explained again, last Friday on Twitter, how he counted send a million humans to Mars by 2050. And the space expert concludes: “SpaceX,
it’s March from the start “.
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