Billionaire Elon Musk's company SpaceX sent its Falcon 9 rocket into space from the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida on Saturday afternoon. The rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft into space has two crew members, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov.
Indian-origin astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) from June 5, will be brought back to Earth by the Dragon spacecraft. Two seats are left empty in this four seater rocket.
New launch pad used for Falcon 9. This was the first use of this pad for a crew member mission. NASA Chief Bill Nelson said in his post – Congratulations to @NASA and @SpaceX for a successful launch. We live in an exciting period of exploration and innovation in the stars.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were sent to the ISS on June 5 this year in Boeing's new Starliner capsule. Both were scheduled to return on June 13, but their return was delayed due to a technical glitch with the spacecraft.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams with the crew after arriving at the space station on June 6.
Sunita and Butch Wilmore stayed in space for 116 days Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were sent to the ISS on June 5 this year in Boeing's new Starliner capsule. Both have been there for 116 days till 29 September.
The NASA chief said on August 24 that Sunita Williams and Bach will return to Earth after six months by February 2025. NASA acknowledged that bringing astronauts into Boeing's new Starliner capsule could be dangerous.
NASA said Sunita and Butch Wilmore will return in February aboard Elon Musk's company SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.
Space flights are dangerous: Bill Nelson Nelson talked about the dangers of space travel, saying that space flight is dangerous, even though it is the safest and most precise. Test flights cannot be considered completely safe.
The decision to place Butch and Sunita on the International Space Station and return the Boeing Starliner without a crew is a result of our commitment to their safety.
Nelson said that we wanted to improve the design of the Starliner and understand the root causes of its defects. With this, the Boeing Starliner will be an important part of our crew to the International Space Station (ISS).
Sunita Williams and Bush Wilmore on the International Space Station. The picture is dated 9 July 2024.
Why were Sunita and Wilmore sent to the space station? Sunita and Bush went on a joint 'Crew Flight Test Mission' of Wilmore Boeing and NASA. In this, Sunita was the pilot of the spacecraft. Bush Wilmore, who accompanied him, was the commander of this mission. Both of them were to return to Earth after an 8-day stay in the International Space Station (ISS).
At the time of the launch, Ted Colbert, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, called it a great start to a new era of space exploration. The main objective of this mission was to prove the spacecraft's ability to carry astronauts to and from the space station.
The astronauts also had to conduct research and several experiments on the space station in 8 days. Sunita and Wilmore are the first astronauts to be sent to space using an Atlas-V rocket. He also had to fly the spacecraft himself during this mission. A number of flight test related objectives were also to be met.
Musk's space mission successful, 4 astronauts reach earth: Dragon spacecraft lands in sea, speed 27000 kmph, temperature 1900 degree SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew returned to Earth on September 15. The Dragon spacecraft landed on Florida's Dry Tortugas Coast at 1:06 p.m. The speed of the spacecraft when entering the Earth's atmosphere was 27,000 km per hour. Collisions with air created friction and temperatures reached 1,900 degrees Celsius.
The Polaris Dawn mission was launched on September 10 aboard Elon Musk's company's Falcon-9 rocket. In this 5-day mission, 4 astronauts went into orbit (1,408.1 km), which no astronaut had done in more than 50 years. Read full news…
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
