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Space Exploration Technologies Corp., SpaceX's next launch to space will not only have
NASA astronauts but also astronauts from the
European Space Agency and the
Japan Aerospace Exploration making it the most international crew yet.
At the beginning of 2020, a privately owned company had never launched humans into space before. Now? SpaceX is gearing up to do it for a THIRD TIME. Its next mission to the
International Space Station, known as Crew-2, is with the company’s most seasoned team yet and also its most international.
Crew-2 is made up of four members in total; two NASA astronauts; Mission commander, Shane Kimbrough, and pilot Megan McArthur, and mission specialists Thomas Pesquet from ESA as well as Aki Hoshide from JAXA. Although this will be McArthur’s first duration on the ISS.
Each member of the team has flown multiple times on previous missions including the Space Shuttle, and Soyuz spacecraft. Building on their collective expertise, they’ve been able to approach the SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule and training program with thoroughness and excitement. Even if it’s a lil different.
NASA, SpaceX to Launch Second Commercial Crew Rotation Mission to International Space Station
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-spa... .
The crew is scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, spending several months conducting science and maintenance before the four astronauts return to Earth in fall 2021.
SpaceX Crew2 Launch Date
https://www.inverse.com/entertainment... .
The SpaceX Crew-2 mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than 6:11 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, April 22. The flight to the International Space Station is estimated to take 23 hours and 39 minutes, so the onboard astronauts will not meet their new ISS colleagues until Friday at 5:30 am Eastern. The astronauts have already begun to quarantine, as a precaution during the Covid-19 pandemic
NASA Crew-2 ISS mission: How to watch SpaceX Dragon launch this month
https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-crew-2... .
NASA is looking toward fall for the launch of a Crew-3 mission, which could take off as early as Oct. 23. Crew-2 would look to return to Earth not long after that.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American
aerospace manufacturer and
space transportation services company headquartered in
Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by
Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the
colonization of Mars. SpaceX manufactures the
Falcon 9 and
Falcon Heavy launch vehicles,
several rocket engines,
Dragon cargo and crew spacecraft and
Starlink satellites.
SpaceX's achievements include the first privately funded
liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit (
Falcon 1 in 2008), the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft (
Dragon in 2010), the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station (Dragon in 2012), the first
vertical take-off and vertical propulsive landing for an orbital rocket (
Falcon 9 in 2015), the first reuse of an orbital rocket (Falcon 9 in 2017), and the first private company to send astronauts to orbit and to the
International Space Station (
SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 and
SpaceX Crew-1 missions in 2020). SpaceX has flown and reflown the Falcon 9 series of rockets
over one hundred times.
SpaceX is developing a large internet satellite constellation named Starlink. In January 2020 the Starlink constellation became the
largest satellite constellation in the world. SpaceX is also developing
Starship, a privately funded
super heavy-lift launch system for
interplanetary spaceflight. Starship is intended to become the primary SpaceX orbital vehicle once operational, supplanting the existing Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon fleet. Starship will be fully reusable and will have the highest payload capacity of any orbital rocket ever on its debut, scheduled for the early 2020s.
Starlink is a
satellite internet constellation being constructed by
SpaceX providing
satellite Internet access. The constellation will consist of thousands of mass-produced
small satellites in
low Earth orbit (LEO), working in combination with ground
transceivers. SpaceX plans to sell some of the satellites for military, scientific, or exploratory purposes. The SpaceX satellite development facility in
Redmond, Washington houses the Starlink research, development, manufacturing, and orbit control. The cost of the decade-long project to design, build, and deploy the constellation was estimated by SpaceX in May 2018 to be about US$10 billion.
Product development began in 2015. Two prototype
test-flight satellites were launched in February 2018. Additional test satellites and 60 operational satellites were deployed in May 2019. As of September 2020, SpaceX was launching up to 60 satellites at a time, aiming to deploy 1,440 of the 260 kg (570 lb) spacecraft to provide near-global service by late 2021 or 2022. SpaceX planned a private beta service in the Northern United States and Canada by August 2020 and a public beta in November 2020, service beginning at high latitudes between 44° and 52° North.
Concerns were raised about the long-term danger of
space debris from placing thousands of satellites above 600 km (370 mi), and the negative impact on optical and radio astronomy on Earth. In response, SpaceX lowered the orbits to 550 km (340 mi) and below, and launched prototype satellites with anti-reflective coating and an experimental sunshade.
On 15 October 2019, the United States
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) submitted filings to the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on SpaceX's behalf to arrange spectrum for 30,000 additional Starlink satellites to supplement the 12,000 Starlink satellites already approved by the FCC.
