A tour to the outer space is the biggest achievement by us to explore our mysterious universe. We have launched satellites, humans, and even dogs to the outer space to unleash these mysteries. These projects are carried by space organizations like NASA, ISRO, and SpaceX. Several projects like Mars Mission, EcAMSat, PowerCell have been accomplished by these organizations.
Adding to the list, on 30 May SpaceX launched astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley of NASA into the orbit successfully, beginning SpaceX's first crewed mission. Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft by them took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:22 p.m. (ET). The capsule became the first privately designed and built spacecraft to carry astronauts to space.
Falcon 9
Technical overview
Height: 70 meters
Mass: 549,054 kilograms
Payload to Low Earth Orbit: 22,800 kilograms
Diameter: 3.7 meters
How SpaceX sent two Astronauts into space?
Sending astronauts to space requires a lot of pre-requisites. From the idea of launching the rocket to its landing, the preparation required needs a lot of trial and testing. So, “how SpaceX sent these astronauts into space?” that everyone is curious about.
The orbital velocity of the space station is 7.7 km/s. The Earth’s rotation carries launch sites under a straight flight path of the International Space Station, with each instance providing a “launch window”.
The capsule launched had to match the station’s speed, height, and inclination, and it had to do it at the correct time to get the closest proximity to each other. The difference in velocity between the ISS and the Dragon capsule was near to zero at the intersecting point of the orbits of two spacecraft.
Once these conditions are achieved, the Dragon capsule maneuvered to the ISS docking port, using a series of small control thrusters. Usually, it is an automatic process but astronauts have control over it.
By Newton’s first law of motion — that any object at rest or in motion will continue to be so unless acted upon by an external force. That means any maneuver, such as a roll to the right, will continue indefinitely in the absence of air resistance to provide an external force until it is counteracted by firing thrusters in the opposite direction.
So now that you have a grasp of orbital maneuvering, why not have a go yourself? This simulator by Space X, allows you to try and pilot the Dragon capsule to the ISS port.
The astronauts will return to Earth when a new set is ready to take their place, or at NASA’s discretion. NASA is planning the first fully operational flight of crew Dragon, with four astronauts, although a launch date has not yet been announced and will undoubtedly depend on the outcome of this demonstration flight.
NASA is planning to send its astronauts to the space station regularly. It is expected that will pay SpaceX about $55 million per astronaut. After these missions, SpaceX plans to use Crew Dragon spacecraft for other missions. Those include space tourism, as the company has so far unveiled two deals to fly privately paying people to space on Crew Dragon as early as next year.
Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken define SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket a “very pure flying machine” as it sped their spaceship(Crew Dragon) into orbit. But, they were surprised by the rougher ride on the Falcon 9’s powerful upper stage than expected. Nevertheless, the mission was successful and have unleashed several mysteries.
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