First Space-Worthy SpaceX Crew Dragon Arrives at Cape Canaveral for Testing

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that will be used on the first uncrewed flight test, known as Demonstration Mission 1 arrived to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in mid-July 2018 after shipment from NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio. Credit: SpaceX/NASA

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   14 July 2018

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – The first of SpaceX’s space-worthy Crew Dragon spacecraft that will be launched on its maiden unpiloted test flight as soon as later this year and eventually launch astronauts to the International Space Station, has at last arrived at Cape Canaveral this week to begin a period of critical testing after years of painstaking research & development & manufacturing – thereby achieving a significant milestone on the path to flight - after multiple lengthy delays.

After NASA and SpaceX deem that all the test objectives have been satisfactorily achieved the SpaceX Crew Dragon will be targeted to launch on a test flight known as ‘Demonstration Mission 1.’  

Officially NASA shows August penciled in as a launch target. 

However, a true target launch date remains ‘to be determined’ – at this time.

“The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that will be used for the company’s uncrewed flight test, known as Demonstration Mission 1, arrived to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida this week,” NASA officials announced in a brief statement released on July 12. 

The SpaceX Crew Dragon as well as the Boeing Starliner capsules are both being developed under multi-year, multi-Billion Dollar contracts with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) that began in 2010 and were awarded back in September 2014 worth 6.8 $Billion.  

Like the Cargo Dragon, the Crew Dragon will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 but in contrast will utilize the most recent Block 5 upgrade variant.

Both vehicles have also suffered repeated postponements to their maiden launch schedules. 

Revised launch target updates will be “forthcoming very soon,” Kirk Shireman, NASA ISS program manager, told Space UpClose in reply to my question at a June 28 media briefing at KSC. 

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon undergoes thermal vacuum and acoustic testing to verify flight worthiness at NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio during June 2018.  Credit: NASA/SpaceX

This inaugural SpaceX Crew Dragon just arrived in Florida after shipment from NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio where the vehicle underwent rigorous thermal vacuum and acoustic testing to verify its flight worthiness.

“Crew Dragon arrived in Florida this week ahead of its first flight after completing thermal vacuum and acoustic testing at @NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio.” Space X tweeted.

This is inline with what Space UpClose was told about the SpaceX Demonstration Mission 1 launch schedule and timing during a recent NASA media briefing held June 28 at the Kennedy Space Center, FL.

"It's been undergoing thermal vacuum testing there to ensure that Dragon can withstand the extreme thermal environments and vacuum environments that it will see in space," Jessica Jensen, director of Dragon mission management for SpaceX, at the SpaceX Cargo Dragon CRS-15 briefing for reporters on June 28 at the Kennedy Space Center, told Space UpClose in reply to my question. 

“Once it leaves Plum Brook, it’s going to come down to Cape Canaveral for final launch processing,” Jensen elaborated, and it has now indeed arrived. 

"We are still targeting August.”

After being manufactured at SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, the Crew Dragon was shipped to NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio for extensive testing in the facilities In-Space Propulsion Facility —"the world’s only facility capable of testing full-scale upper-stage launch vehicles and rocket engines under simulated high-altitude conditions,” says NASA.

The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is to restore America’s capability to launch human spaceflight missions from the U.S. to low Earth orbit (LEO) and the International Space Station (ISS) on American capsules with American rockets from American soil - and thereby end our 100% reliance on the Russian Soyuz capsules.

The US became solely dependent on Russia due to the forced shutdown of NASA’s Space Shuttles back in 2011 when both political parties failed to provide sufficient US Federal budget funding support to NASA’s human spaceflight programs.  

Target timelines for return US human spaceflight capability have been pushed back repeatedly since 2015 due to endless mindless political squabbling as well as technical challenges.

The timing for the launch of Demonstration Mission 1 is uncertain. Officially NASA lists the launch date as August for uncrewed test flights by both SpaceX and Boeing. 

That seems extremely unlikely since August is just two weeks from now and the prelaunch validation testing and launch certification period is expected to last for several months.

The first crewed test flights are currently officially listed as November for Starliner and December for Crew Dragon.  Virtually no one believes these targets are attainable either.

At the most recent launch briefing for the SpaceX CRS-15 Cargo Dragon mission, I asked Kirk Shireman for an update on launch timing for both the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner.

“We’re evaluating exactly when opportunities might be and when they’ll be ready, but we’re not ready to set a date at this point in time,” Shireman said.  They have to be aligned with other launch dates for ongoing station operations, company flow schedules and NASA and partner requirements.

"We have not agreed to those dates just yet."

“In the end, on the space station, we have Progress vehicles, we have Soyuz vehicles, we have spacewalks,” Shireman said.

“It has to fit in amongst all those things. We just have to sit down all together, agree when the vehicles are going to be ready, when the certification is ready, and when it fits in the program plan. And that’s the work that’s still in front of us.”

“There are a lot of moving parts.  Many of the moving parts are not in the purview of any one individual, so it’s really all of us getting togther and agreeing when are all those parts going to fit together and create the opportunity.”

Post launch briefing for SpaceX Falcon 9 Dragon CRS-15 mission at NASA Kennedy Space Center press site on June 28, 2018 with Kirk Shireman, NASA ISS Program manager, Jessica Jensen, SpaceX Dragon mission development director, and NASA PAO Stephanie Schierholz. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

To date SpaceX has launched 15 commercial cargo missions for NASA to the space station.

The most recent launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 using the last Block 4 version booster using a recycled Dragon cargo freighter on the CRS-15 resupply mission successfully lifted off on June 29, 2018.

Long exposure streak shot of spectacularly beautiful and successful launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket before dawn at 5:42 a.m. on June 29, 2018 from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force.  It is carrying the Dragon CRS-15 cargo ship loaded with 3 tons of science for NASA  to the ISS  - captured from roof of NASA’s iconic VAB at the Kennedy Space Center.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com