First private us space shuttle still has to wait
More time is needed for testing the docking systems, wrote the head of the US company spacex, elon musk, on monday evening (local time) in the short message service twitter. A new date is still being coordinated with the US space agency nasa. If the problems cannot be solved, there is a risk of a further delay until the end of may.
"After looking at our latest progress, it was clear that we needed more time," spacex spokeswoman kirstin grantham confirmed in an e-mail, adding, "although a launch on 3. May still be possible, it would be wise to add a few more days as a buffer."
The journey of the unmanned "dragon" capsule is expected to last three days. The launch with a falcon9 carrier rocket is planned from the nasa spaceport cape canaveral in florida. The first test flight was originally planned for last november, but had to be postponed several times due to technical problems.
According to information from the local newspaper "florida today", which is usually well-informed because of its close ties to nasa, the schedule for the rocket launch from cape canaveral will probably now have to be reconsidered. After the 7. The spacex flight to the iss is no longer possible, however, because it could otherwise coincide with the arrival of a russian capsule carrying three new crew members to the humanity's outpost in space.
In the first phase, the spacex capsule will transport material to the space station; later, manned flights are also planned. During its test flight, the capsule is expected to carry more than 500 kilograms of cargo to the space station, mainly food for the astronauts. On the jolt flight, "dragon" is said to have over 600 kilograms of mull on board.
The andockmanover is said to be highly complicated. In the final phase – according to the plan – the capsule will be grabbed by the robotic arm of the ISS and brought into the correct "parking position". "There's a lot of intelligence on board the spaceship, and it all needs to be thoroughly tested," musk had said in an interview last week.
The use of commercial vans was decided by the U.S. Government as a way to save money, based on the assumption that vehicles developed by private companies would be cheaper. Nasa signed a billion-dollar contract with spacex for twelve flights to carry cargo to the ISS.
Since the end of nasa's shuttle program last year, the u.S. No longer has its own space shuttle. They are dependent on "rides" in russian "Soyuz" capsules.