SpaceX: We'll fly life support on uncrewed Dragon test flight
James DeanIt sounded risky: NASA had given SpaceX a waiver allowing it not to fly life support on the first, uncrewed test of its Dragon 2 astronaut capsule, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks asserted during a recent budget hearing.
As a result, critical systems providing oxygen, carbon dioxide absorbers and heating and cooling would not be shaken out in orbit before astronauts strapped in for the next test flight.
“What is NASA’s reasoning for skipping this stage?” Brooks, an Alabama Republican, asked NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot during the March 7 hearing. “And that’s assuming the information I have is correct. First, is the information I have correct?”
Not exactly.
SpaceX says it does plan to fly life support on the uncrewed test it calls Demo-1, which schedules currently show lifting off from Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket in August.
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The same is true for Boeing’s uncrewed test of the CST-100 Starliner capsule, also targeting launch in August on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
“We think it's incredibly important to ‘test as you would fly,’” Boeing said in a statement. “That's why the Orbital Flight Test of the CST-100 Starliner will demonstrate functionality of every spacecraft system to the maximum extent possible.”
But had either company elected not to fly life support on the crew-less test flights, no waiver would have been necessary, as Brooks suggested.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program did not require the uncrewed test flights to fly Environmental Control and Life Support Systems, or ECLSS, as the systems are formally known.
“NASA assessed the uncrewed test flight vehicle configurations against the test objectives and jointly agreed with the companies that certain hardware was not required to meet the uncrewed test flight objectives,” the agency said in a statement.
The tests will wring out the systems needed to reach orbit, rendezvous and dock with the International Space Station, and re-enter the atmosphere for landing.
The optional life support, when no astronauts are flying, was not a concession for privately designed spacecraft.
NASA’s own Orion crew capsule, being developed by Lockheed Martin, won’t be equipped with full life support until astronauts board for the first time in 2023. Before then, NASA will test some Orion systems on the ISS.
Boeing and SpaceX life support systems will undergo extensive ground testing, including with people inside the capsules, before two-person test crews fly – possibly by the end of this year.
Boeing noted that certain systems, like ones that scrub carbon dioxide from the cabin atmosphere or that pressurize spacesuits, can only be proven out with people on board.
Brooks’ office did not respond to a question about the source of his information concerning a special waiver for SpaceX.
His question, however, was not the first time a member of Alabama’s congressional delegation targeted SpaceX for scrutiny or criticism.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets are seen as threats to ULA, which builds Atlas and Delta rockets in Decatur, and NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, being designed in Huntsville.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SpaceTeamGo.
Next Space Coast launch: Monday, April 2
- Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
- Mission: International Space Station resupply
- Launch Time: 4:30 p.m.
- Launch Window: Instantaneous
- Launch Complex: 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
- Weather: Forecast expected three days before launch