NASA Evaluating Impact of Rocket Malfunction on SpaceX Manned Mission
TapTechNews July 16th news, after a rocket malfunction occurred last week, NASA is evaluating whether the launch schedule of its next SpaceX Crew Dragon manned spaceflight mission will be affected.
The accident happened during a SpaceX Starlink satellite launch mission on July 11th, and a rare anomaly occurred in the second-stage engine of the Falcon 9 rocket, resulting in the satellite not entering the intended orbit. NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are investigating the cause of the accident. Meanwhile, the planned International Space Station (ISS) astronaut transport mission is also being closely watched.
The Falcon 9 rocket is also used to send the SpaceX Crew Dragon with NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. The Crew-9 mission originally scheduled for mid-August will carry 4 astronauts to the space station to replace the Crew-8 team that has been stationed at the space station since March this year and has been performing a six-month expedition mission.
Astronaut safety and mission reliability are NASA's top priorities, a NASA official said in a statement released via email later on July 12th, and they will promptly communicate mission status updates as more information becomes available, including potential schedule impacts (if any). The statement also mentioned that SpaceX has been providing information to NASA during the accident investigation process.
According to TapTechNews, space station missions usually last for six months, and the stay time can be flexibly extended during the mission. However, the SpaceX Crew Dragon is currently the only manned spacecraft certified by NASA to send astronauts into space from the US mainland.
In addition, SpaceX also uses its Cargo Dragon to deliver important supply materials to the space station. The Cargo Dragon also uses the Falcon 9 rocket to perform launch missions. The last such docking occurred on March 4th, which was SpaceX's 30th cargo mission, providing food, supplies, and experimental supplies for the Expedition 70/71 team.
However, other spacecraft can also transport goods to the space station, such as Northrop Grumman's Cygnus and Russia's Progress. The Russian Federal Space Agency announced last week through the state news agency TASS that the next Progress launch is scheduled for August 15th.
In addition to the space station mission, SpaceX originally also planned to use the Crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket to perform a commercial spaceflight mission this month, namely the Polaris Dawn mission funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman. This mission plans to perform a high-earth orbit flight and will perform the first commercial spacewalk. Isaacman had previously flown on the same vehicle in 2021 for the Inspiration4 mission he funded.