NASA says Crew-2 Astronauts may ride a previously-flown SpaceX Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 rocket

Featured Image Source: SpaceX

During a July 23^rd teleconference by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, members of NASA’s safety panel discussed the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The program was created to return human spaceflight capabilities to the United States, to not solely rely on Russian spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX and Boeing earned NASA contracts under the Commercial Crew Program. Boeing has not yet conducted a successful flight of its Starliner spacecraft to the space station. During the safety panel, members voiced their concerns over Boeing’s spacecraft having "quality issues."

SpaceX successfully conducted two flights with its Crew Dragon spacecraft. Demo-1 mission took place in 2019, it was an uncrewed flight to ISS in which the craft demonstrated its flawless autonomous capabilities. This year, on May 30^th, SpaceX made history when it launched a pair of NASA astronauts to the orbiting laboratory during the Demo-2 mission. It was the first time in nearly a decade that astronauts launched from American soil. The safety panel congratulated SpaceX for the mission’s success – “NASA and SpaceX are most certainly to be congratulated for the Demo-2 launch.” Dragon lifted off atop of a Falcon 9 rocket from historic Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida – igniting a new era in American spaceflight.  The astronauts are scheduled to return aboard the spacecraft on August 2^nd. When they return, SpaceX will conduct its Crew-1 mission, which will deploy four astronauts to the space station aboard a new Crew Dragon spacecraft in September.

SpaceX Reusability

Something that stood out the most about Thursday’s teleconference is that NASA safety panel member Don McErlean stated the agency supports SpaceX’s reusability system.  He mentioned NASA and SpaceX plans to use previously-flown spacecraft on future crewed missions.

SpaceX is currently the only company in the world capable of routinely landing orbital-class rockets to reuse. Engineers developed a rocket recovery system; the Falcon 9's first-stage booster is capable of launching a payload into orbit and return from space. The booster conducts vertical landings on autonomous drone ships at sea. Reusing rockets significantly reduces the cost of spaceflight. SpaceX’s reusability goal is to re-fly a particular rocket booster 10 times; they are halfway towards reaching the target. A couple of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters have re-flown 5 times. To date, SpaceX has landed orbital-class rockets 57 times and around 36 of those rockets have been reused.

NASA Contract Modification

NASA upgraded its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract with SpaceX to allow the use of previously-flown Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon spacecraft on future crewed missions. A NASA spokesperson Stephanie Schierholz told SpaceNews reporters:

“SpaceX has proposed to reuse future Falcon 9 and/or Crew Dragon systems or components for NASA missions to the International Space Station because they believe it will be beneficial from a safety and/or cost standpoint. NASA performed an in-depth review and determined that the terms of the overall contract modification were in the best interests of the government.”

'Crew-2 will be fully utilizing the SpaceX reuse philosophy'

SpaceX earned approval to reuse the Falcon 9 first-stage booster and Dragon spacecraft starting with the Post-Certification Mission (PCM). PCM will be SpaceX's second operational flight for NASA and third astronaut crew deployment, referred to as Crew-2. This mission is expected to take place early next year after the first operational flight, Crew-1, which is scheduled for mid-to-late September this year.

For the Crew-1 mission, SpaceX will use a new Falcon 9 booster and a new Crew Dragon. McErlean said NASA plans to use a previously-flown Falcon 9 booster and spacecraft for the Crew-2 mission. He shared that the Falcon 9 booster that launches Crew-1 into orbit will be reused for Crew-2, if the all goes smoothly; And the Crew Dragon spacecraft that is currently conducting the Demo-2 mission would fly astronauts again during the Crew-2 mission. McErlean stated on July 23:

“This is the first time that we will have reuse of hardware in a human-carrying capsule. In this case, Crew-2 will be fully utilizing the SpaceX reuse philosophy.”

“Given the SpaceX approach to hardware upgrades, NASA has to decide by what processes it will continue to monitor vehicle and system changes to ensure that those changes still remain in an appropriately certified safety posture for human spaceflight operations,” he added.