[ad_1]
The Inspiration4 crew took off from Kennedy Space Center on time at 20:02 ET on Wednesday. It was a flawless flight into orbit.
transcript
transcript
Inspiration4 Successfully Launched into Orbit
The four crew members of the Inspiration4 mission, all civilian, have reached orbit. The capsule they are in, called Resilience, will stay in Earth orbit for three days at 360 miles.
-
“It was a great honor for me to prepare you for this historic flight. You truly inspire the world today.” “Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.” “Ignition. And takeoff. Here’s Inspiration4.” “Seems to be a smooth journey for the team.” [crowd cheering and clapping] “… [unclear] ready in the second stage engine for ignition. We’re going through 3G acceleration, everything continues to look nominal.” “They’re in Earth orbit now. [unclear]” [crowd cheering and clapping]
When the Falcon 9 rocket’s nine engines fired, lifting the rocket and its passengers into space, the evening sky was almost cloudless.
Once the flight was launched, the crew’s enthusiasm was not subdued by the forces pressing on them, in a video inside the capsule showing flight’s pilot Sian Proctor and mission specialist Christopher Sembroski slamming their fists.
The capsule was then headed into orbit at an altitude of about 360 miles from the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope. Indeed, the Inspiration4 team will be further from Earth than anyone else since the space shuttles operated aboard Hubble in the 1990s.
As some spacecraft land, the SpaceX capsule Crew Dragon, which carries the Inspiration4 crew into orbit, lands on the water. It is very similar to the method NASA astronauts used to return to Earth during the Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury periods. Jumps occur off the coast of Florida, either in the Gulf of Mexico or in the Atlantic Ocean – SpaceX He chose the Atlantic for this mission. Two NASA missions returning crews from the International Space Station landed safely, one at night last year.
As the Inspiration4 mission was considerably higher than previous Crew Dragon missions, altitude began to drop from 360 miles to about 225 miles on Friday night to better position itself for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Dragon will perform two burns tonight and align the ground path with the landing site to lower the spacecraft’s altitude to ~365km.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 17, 2021
Later on Saturday, shortly before preparing for landing, the vehicle will launch the part of the spacecraft that SpaceX calls the “fuselage” – the cylindrical chamber beneath the gumdrop-shaped capsule. The trunk will burn in the atmosphere.
The capsule will then begin firing its thrusters to exit orbit. When it’s low enough in Earth’s atmosphere, the parachutes will open to slowly launch the capsule.
After three days in orbit, the crew of the Inspiration4 mission, the first orbital voyage with no one on board a professional astronaut, head home to Earth.
The Crew Dragon capsule carrying the astronauts is scheduled to land in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida at 19:06 Eastern time. SpaceX will release video of capsule landing and recovery on YouTube pages.
If weather conditions prevent the astronauts from returning, the crew can circumnavigate the planet for an extended period of time. In response to a CNBC reporter’s question about the potential for a delayed return to Earth due to weather conditions or other factors, billionaire Jared Isaacman, who led and financed the mission, said Tuesday. they could stay in space for “about a week”.
[ad_2]
Source link