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After a delay due to weather constraints, SpaceX and NASA’s Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) successfully lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) late at night yesterday Eastern time. The mission is SpaceX’s ninth NASA crewed mission to space and the firm’s third launch to the space station this year. It is also SpaceX’s second crewed flight for 2024, with the first one being a private mission for Axiom Space. The launch took place on time, and before liftoff, engineers had to work on sealing the spaceship and cracks on the top of the Dragon spacecraft.
SpaceX Works With Last Minute Issues With Dragon Spacecraft Before Crew-8 Liftoff
Before it can confidently send astronauts to space inside the Crew Dragon and on top of the Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX runs several checkups to ensure that its vehicles are in good health. Before today’s launch, the firm’s checkout teams benefited from the crew load being ahead of schedule as they had to clear the Dragon’s side hatch from hair before closing it.
After hatch closure, ground controllers also informed the astronauts inside the Dragon that today’s launch might be scrubbed due to cracks found in a side hatch seal. According to the SpaceX representative on the communications channels, as part of their side hatch checkouts, teams discovered “a small crack on the side hatch seal on top of the hatch.” This led teams to analyze whether the extreme pressures and temperatures that the Dragon faces during its return journey would pose a threat to crew safety.
The analysis also delayed the launch escape system arming of the ship, and the approval for the launch was given ten minutes before liftoff. By then, SpaceX’s engineers had confirmed that the anomaly was ‘in bounds,’ meaning that it did not pose a safety risk, especially as the crack was on the side of the Dragon as opposed to on its bottom part, with data also showing that the crack would close due to heating during launch out of the Earth’s atmosphere.
As part of his comment before liftoff, NASA Administrator Senator Bill Nelson shared that not only does SpaceX plan to launch more than 140 rockets this year, but next year, the firm is aiming to launch 200 missions. If achieved, this will mark the first time in human history that a firm has completed a double century of rocket launches, and it will also see SpaceX consistently beating its own records.
The Crew-8’s approach to the space station will start a day from now, and they will join astronauts part of Expedition 70 on the ISS. This crew includes the complement of four sent on the Crew-7 mission to space, and after a handover is complete, the Crew-7 will return to Earth soon after they are joined by their counterparts.
Missions to the ISS revolve around utilizing the benefits of low Earth orbit (LEO) and microgravity to create environments that cannot be simulated on Earth. Some science experiments on the ISS that will take place during Crew-8’s mission include studying the brain, plant growth and the effects of spaceflight on the human body.