For the first time, NASA relies on a recycled SpaceX rocket and capsule for a crew.
Astronaut Megan McArthur especially enjoys the repurposed spacecraft that will fly Thursday morning. In “a fun twist,” she sits in the same seat in the same capsule as her husband, Bob Behnken, did a test flight to the International Space Station last spring.
“It’s nice that we can share. I can see him and say, ‘Hey, can you give the keys? I’m ready now, ” she said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
While their 7-year-old son, Theo, is becoming a pro at parental launch, McArthur said “he’s not super excited” about her being away for six months. That’s how long she and her three crew members will spend on the space station.
This will be SpaceX’s third crew flight for NASA from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in less than a year. The commercial flights ended the US’s reliance on Russian rockets launched from Kazakhstan to get astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttles were retired.
SpaceX’s Benji Reed noted Tuesday that the private company has already placed six people in space – as many as NASA’s Project Mercury in the early 1960s when it launched the first Americans. The upcoming flight will boost that number to 10.
Some highlights of the SpaceX flight:
Use, recycle, repeat
Both the Dragon capsule and the Falcon missile for this mission have risen once before.
The capsule launched the first SpaceX crew last May, while the rocket lifted the second set of astronauts, who are still in the space station. For SpaceX, recycling is key to space exploration, Reed said, reducing costs, increasing the number of flights and destinations, and allowing more types of people to jump on board.
Each capsule is designed to launch at least five times with a crew. SpaceX and NASA are assessing how often a Falcon can safely launch astronauts. For satellites, Falcons can be used for 10 flights.
The company uses the same type of missile and similar capsules to deliver stations and recycles them.
An international crew
T.
This is the most internationally diverse crew to date for SpaceX
. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, a retired army colonel, is the commander of the spacecraft, with McArthur, an oceanographer, as its pilot
. Thomas Pesquet, a former Air France pilot, represents the European Space Agency
. Engineer Akihiko Hoshide has worked for the Japanese space agency for nearly 30 years and helped build the space station
. All but McArthur have already visited the 260-mile-high (420-kilometer) outpost. But she ventured 100 miles higher on the space shuttle and participated in NASA’s last Hubble Space Telescope mission in 2009
. The four have started a new tradition of recycled rockets for SpaceX crews, writing their initials in the soot of their boogers.
.ON Appetit
WETIT
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With French and Japanese astronauts flying together, dining promises to reach new heights. Hoshide eats curry and rice, as well as canned fish and yakitori – grilled and skewers chicken – but no
Sushi. Pesquet had a Michelin-starred chef prepare French delicacies: beef with red wine and mushroom sauce, truffle potato and onion pie, and almond pie with caramelized pears. There are also Crepes Suzette. Pesquet said last weekend that he had “some national pressure” to fly French c
uisin. His crew members also had high expectations: “OK, we fly with a Frenchman, better b
Come and go
Come and go
& TO GO
Five days after this crew’s arrival at the space station, the one Japanese and three American astronauts who have been there since November will strap themselves in at their spa
ceX capsule to get home. NASA wants some time in orbit between the two crews so the newcomers can take advantage of the experience of their colleagues up there. SpaceX is aiming for the coast in the Gulf of Mexico on April 28
from Tallahassee, Florida. The company is already consulting with the Coast Guard to prevent pleasure craft from swarming the area, as they did with the SpaceX crew’s first landing in August. More coastguard ships enthusiastic about space travel.