On May 30 local time, NASA's Commercial Manned Aviation Program (CPP) successfully launched its first manned trial flight. The picture shows the manned "Dragon" spacecraft lifted off.
China News Agency, Houston, May 31 (Reporter Zeng Jingning) On May 31, local time, the first commercial manned sea trial of the United States successfully completed the docking of the spacecraft and the International Space Station, and two American astronauts successfully entered the space station.
At 10:16 a.m. EDT, the SpaceX manned "Dragon" spacecraft approached the International Space Station and began a docking mission. After 11 minutes, the 12 hook-shaped claws on the spaceship grabbed the docking station of the space station to complete the docking task. After that, the three astronauts on the space station opened the hatch. At 1: 2 pm that day, American astronauts Douglas Hurley (Doug) and Robert Benken (Bob) entered the space station.
"New York Times" said that this is the first batch of American astronauts in the past 10 years to take the US rocket launched from the United States to the International Space Station. The completion of the docking mission of the spacecraft marks the success of this commercial manned trial mission.
NASA reported that before the American astronauts entered the space station, the manned "Dragon" spacecraft went through five stages.
First, at 3:22 pm EDT on May 30, the manned "Dragon" spacecraft was sent into space from the 39A launch pad of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida by the "Falcon 9" rocket and entered Earth orbit. The spacecraft reached 201 kilometers above ground.
In the second phase, the spacecraft orbited the earth for several hours. Bob said they slept in the cabin for about 7 hours. Afterwards, at 4:45 a.m. EDT on May 31st, they were woken up by a song "Star Caravan" from the "Black Sabbath" band and were ready to perform the docking mission with the International Space Station.
In the third phase, the spacecraft activates boosters to go to the orbit where the International Space Station is located. The International Space Station orbits the earth at an altitude of about 402 kilometers above the earth at a speed of more than 27,000 kilometers per hour.
In the fourth stage, after the spacecraft flew into a straight line with the interface of the space station, it automatically approached the space station at a relative speed of several centimeters per second.
It is worth noting that when the spacecraft was about 219 meters from the space station, the astronauts stopped the automatic flight mode and used manual control to approach the space station. This operation is to verify the astronaut's ability to control the spacecraft. This is one of the most important goals of this sea trial.
When the spacecraft and the space station are about to dock, the astronauts turn on the automatic flight mode again to complete the docking task.
After the docking was completed, the astronauts conducted more than two hours of testing to ensure that the joint between the spacecraft and the space station was completely sealed.
In the fifth stage, Bob and Doug successively entered the space station. Three astronauts in light blue conjoined uniforms on the International Space Station welcomed the first commercial astronauts in casual clothes to enter the space station.
According to the "Space" website reported by the US technology media, Bob and Doug will test the environmental control system, display control system, thruster operating system, etc. on the International Space Station to verify whether the spacecraft performance is as expected. It is expected that the two astronauts will stay on the space station for 30 to 119 days. After that, they will take the manned "Dragon" spacecraft to leave the space station, return to Earth and land on the Atlantic. (Finish)