The SpaceX Crew Dragon, which is slated to be the first spacecraft to carry humans to orbit from American soil since 2011, has arrived at its Cape Canaveral launch site. NASA and SpaceX are already preparing the vehicle for its first flight manned test and will put it through final testing and prelaunch processing over the next months. If all goes well, the first manned flight test will happen as soon as this spring -- Elon Musk previously revealed that the launch's working date is May 7th -- and will take off with veteran astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken onboard.
Crew Dragon in Florida ahead of its flight to and from the @space_station with @NASA astronauts @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug onboard! pic.twitter.com/nerz0Qujso
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 14, 2020
The Crew Dragon successfully completed a test flight to the ISS without astronauts onboard in early 2019, spending a few days docked to an adapter before coming back home. However, another test conducted shortly after that went very, very wrong: the capsule being tested was destroyed due to leaking oxidizer. Despite the setback, the next tests were successful, including a crucial parachute test, an abort test, and just a few days before the spacecraft's delivery, an electromagnetic interference test that you can watch below.
Via: Spaceflight Now
Source: NASA
by: via https://www.AiUpNow.com/
