SpaceX, NASA Gear up for In-Flight Abort Demonstration
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — NASA and SpaceX are preparing to launch the final, major test before astronauts fly aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
The test, known as in-flight abort, will demonstrate the spacecraft’s escape capabilities — showing that the crew system can protect astronauts even in the unlikely event of an emergency during launch. The uncrewed flight test is targeted for 8 a.m. EST Saturday, Jan. 18, at the start of a four-hour test window, from Launch Complex 39A in Florida.
SpaceX performed a full-duration static test Saturday, Jan. 11, of the Falcon 9 and completed a static fire of the Crew Dragon on Nov. 13, setting the stage for the critical flight test.
Prior to launch, SpaceX and NASA teams will practice launch day end-to-end operations with NASA astronauts, including final spacecraft inspections and side hatch closeout. Additionally, SpaceX and NASA flight controllers along with support teams will be staged as they will for future Crew Dragon missions, helping the integrated launch team gain additional experience beyond existing simulations and training events.
After liftoff, Falcon 9’s ascent will follow a trajectory that will mimic a Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station matching the physical environments the rocket and spacecraft will encounter during a normal ascent.
For this test, SpaceX will configure Crew Dragon to intentionally trigger a launch escape prior to 1 min, 30 seconds into flight to demonstrate Crew Dragon’s capability to safely separate from the Falcon 9 rocket in the unlikely event of an in-flight emergency. Once the launch escape sequence begins, Falcon 9’s first stage Merlin engines will shut down and Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco thrusters will begin their firing sequence. The launch vehicle and spacecraft will separate, and Crew Dragon’s SuperDracos will burn to completion.
After Crew Dragon’s SuperDracos shutdown, the spacecraft will passively coast to apogee, the highest point in its arc. Near apogee, Crew Dragon’s trunk will separate and the smaller Draco thrusters will re-orient the spacecraft for reentry and parachute deploy. At the appropriate conditions, Dragon’s drogue and main parachutes will sequence to provide for a soft landing in the Atlantic Ocean near SpaceX Dragon recovery teams.
Following Crew Dragon’s separation, Falcon 9 is expected to aerodynamically break up offshore over the Atlantic Ocean. Expected breakup time will vary based upon a number of factors, including day of launch winds and expected minor variations in vehicle attitudes and positions, but could occur shortly after separation or later upon reentry from the upper atmosphere. In either scenario, a dedicated team of SpaceX Falcon 9 recovery personnel will be staged and ready to begin recovering debris immediately after breakup.
As part of the Dragon recovery operation, Air Force Detachment-3 personnel will work with the SpaceX recovery team to observe Crew Dragon and practice their initial approach to the spacecraft in the open ocean, mimicking an actual rescue operation before the SpaceX team recovers Crew Dragon for return to Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX’s uncrewed in-flight abort demonstration test of Crew Dragon’s launch escape capabilities is designed to provide valuable data toward NASA certifying SpaceX’s crew transportation system for carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
26 responses to “SpaceX, NASA Gear up for In-Flight Abort Demonstration”
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Oh BOY this is going to be so much fun!
Paraphrasing Flounder in Animal House?
YES!
Well done, sir.
My favorite line from Animal House : “You screwed up, You trusted us.” I get that same feeling with some of these vendors.
My prediction back in November was that the two flight tests in December would both have minor anomalies enough for us to argue over. This flight not happening in December proved me wrong on timing. And whether the Boeing anomaly was major or minor is in dispute.
I still predict that something will happen to cause arguments here on whether or not this flight is a success.
I predict the booster will fail.??
When only four of the parachutes successfully deploy, Bridenstine will demand that Elon immediately provide a urine sample.
Absolutely. Blue Origin got theirs back from the in flight abort. When they lose the booster it will prove that this is just a hobby rocket by a software company. 🙂
Blue Origin? What?
Years ago they expected to lose the booster and got it back anyway. On the suborbital.
Huge difference between New Shepard and Falcon 9 Block 5 in terms of size, velocity, energy, and etc.
Falcon 9 will surely break apart spectacularly on this test flight due to aerodynamic forces.
Edit: corrected the name of Blue Origin’s suborbital launch vehicle.
New Shepard you mean.
You’re right. I’ve edited my post accordingly.
Not to mention they rigged the booster to fail at that point to see if the abort software would detect the failure and respond faster than the human hitting the button. You know SpaceX goes all out in its testing, just like bursting the Starship test tank last week.
By contrast the New Shepard booster wasn’t designed to fail, they just programmed the capsule to abort at that point in the flight.
“Not to mention they rigged the booster to fail at that point to see if the abort software would detect the failure and respond faster than the human hitting the button.”
What’s your source for that? Everything I’ve read, including this official release, says that:
“For this test, SpaceX will configure Crew Dragon to intentionally trigger a launch escape prior to 1 min, 30 seconds into flight to demonstrate Crew Dragon’s capability to safely separate from the Falcon 9 rocket in the unlikely event of an in-flight emergency. Once the launch escape sequence begins, Falcon 9’s first stage Merlin engines will shut down and Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco thrusters will begin their firing sequence.”
Or are you equating “shutting down the Merlins” with “being rigged to fail”? Somewhere someone was claiming it was being rigged to explode, which is hard to believe…
It was an article on Teslarati a while back on how they were stripping off the legs and fins of the booster since they wouldn’t be needed. Then it would be programmed to shut down at Max Q and so would only have a partial fuel load. As a result the stress from the Abort should tear it and the empty second stage apart.
Both stages will have full propellant loads.
Why would thay put fuel in a second stage that will never light when they could put water to simulate the weight?
I know, but if we’re snarking on SpaceX, all bets are off. Upstarts must be hammered into submission.
Hopefully, if this is successful, NASA will then require Boeing to complete a unmanned mission to ISS on their own dime.
The idea is that the companies were getting paid to SUCCESSFULLY complete steps. Boeing was not successful on the parachute nor the unmanned test.
If SX is successful with this test, then SX should be ready to go quickly to the ISS with a crew.
Then there is NO reason to have Boeing skip tests.
But the simulations show that the Starliner would have reached the ISS except for that one minor anomaly. So just as with the Pad Abort it was successful! ?
yes. simulations.
Boeing won’t have to refly the uncrewed ISS demo mission. They’re the established provider. SpaceX is clearly an upstart that doesn’t know what it’s doing. /s
I suspect that even if Boeing crashed it, that Bridenstine (sp) would still pass it.
The power and reach of Senator Shelby is very very strong…