SpaceX's Rocket Launches Successfully, Approaches Orbit
May 30 2020 - 3:53PM
Dow Jones News
By Andy Pasztor
Elon Musk's SpaceX safely launched two NASA astronauts from a
Florida pad, kicking off a new era of corporate-driven space
missions and propelling the capsule on what is scheduled to be a
12-minute ride to initial orbit.
No company has ever flown commercially developed hardware
carrying humans and linked up with the international space station,
which is the aim of Saturday's long-anticipated mission. If Space
Exploration Technologies Corp. reaches that goal Sunday as planned,
it will demonstrate a major shift in the country's space endeavors
and mark the first human launch from U.S. soil since 2011. It also
would be a long-awaited milestone for NASA and a resounding
achievement for SpaceX and its billionaire founder, Elon Musk.
Considered the riskiest portion of the ascent, a Space
Exploration Technologies Corp. Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from
Kennedy Space Center precisely as planned at 3:22 p.m. ET. The
230-foot booster roared to life after a smooth countdown, carrying
a gumdrop-shaped capsule and representing America's evolving space
ambitions.
Before heading to the pad, the astronauts had a final chance to
wave at family members as the two of them left a crew facility.
They rode to the pad in a white, electric-powered sedan festooned
with NASA logos and built by Tesla Inc., another of Mr. Musk's
companies.
Roughly three hours before liftoff, Messrs. Behnken and Hurley
entered the capsule, settled into their places, donned their seat
restraints and eventually the hatch was sealed behind them.
Less than an hour before scheduled liftoff, SpaceX flight
controllers declared the mission was "go for launch," and fuel
started loaded about 35 minutes before launch. Roughly 10 minutes
before launch, a SpaceX controller wished the crew good luck and
added, "enjoy those views of our beautiful planet."
The technically smooth countdown had its share of suspense
nonetheless, as weather forecasts hours before predicted only a
50-50 chance of acceptable weather conditions. Rain and high-level
winds pose hazards for rockets, and SpaceX staff also monitored
weather conditions at dozens of sites around the world in case the
astronauts had to separate from the rocket en route for an
emergency descent.
President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence watched the
liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center. "I think I have an
obligation to be there," Mr. Trump said, upon leaving the White
House shortly after noon to head to Florida.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has spent
years trying to shift away from the lumbering process of building
and designing government-owned spacecraft and toward using
public-private partnerships to develop vehicles and then pay
private contractors for specific services.
A successful launch Saturday would mean NASA astronauts won't
have to piggyback on Russian rockets and spacecraft, as they have
since the aging U.S. space-shuttle fleet was retired nine years
ago. Looking ahead, NASA and White House officials envision
emphasizing deep-space exploration as part of a commitment to
relying on similar corporate-government teams. Those would include
company-led endeavors, with relatively limited federal oversight,
taking astronauts to the moon as soon as 2024 and later to Mars or
beyond.
Some longtime NASA watchers see the current mission as a crucial
steppingstone, perhaps as significant in some ways as the Gemini
missions of the mid-1960s that paved the way for the Apollo moon
landings. But this time, making the government "a customer rather
than operator is as astonishing as it is bold for NASA," said Mark
Albrecht, a former White House space adviser and retired senior
industry executive. "NASA will take the blame for failure and allow
SpaceX to receive most of the glory of success."
Beyond the policy changes and revamped contracting arrangements,
the sheer promise of accelerating human space exploration excites
many government and industry officials. Nothing generates as much
pride as adding humans to the equation.
"When you put an astronaut on top of a rocket, that changes
everything," Air Force Gen. John Hyten, a longtime space expert and
vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a White House
space-policy council.
The Crew Dragon capsule, featuring automation supplemented by
touch-screen controls similar to those found on the dashboards of
electric cars, has suffered a series of setbacks, including balky
oxygen generators, malfunctioning thrusters and problematic
parachutes. After its planned launch Saturday, the capsule is
slated to stay at the international space station for around two
months. If all goes well, including the return trip that ends with
a splashdown in the Atlantic, NASA hopes for swift approval of
SpaceX's systems as space taxis that would ferry crews to and from
orbit.
"Human space flight is really, really tough," said Benji Reed,
director of crew mission management at SpaceX. As company and NASA
engineers work together to identify and alleviate risks, he said,
"we are all holding each other accountable."
Boeing Co. has developed a rival capsule, the Starliner, which
has struggled with its own technical challenges and might make a
test flight later in the year without astronauts.
NASA has invested more than $7 billion of taxpayer money so far
in SpaceX and Boeing efforts to resume astronaut liftoffs from U.S.
soil. The agency's Mr. Bridenstine sees a successful launch as
recasting the path for America, other nations and industry to reach
space.
U.S. astronauts "need to have the capability of accessing space,
not just for NASA but for all of humanity," he has said.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 30, 2020 15:38 ET (19:38 GMT)
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