ISSUE 523 / JUNe 9th 2020 IN THIS ISSUE The Crew Dragon - A Milestone in American Spaceflight Build your own Falcon 9 with the Crew Dragon Capsule https://www.apogeerockets.com/Falcon-9-Crew-Dragon-Plan The Crew Dragon - A Milestone in American Spaceflight By Bobby Potter ploded on the launch pad. The emergency escape system activated just 6 seconds before the rocket exploded and Historical Significance successfully saved the entire crew. Since retiring the Space Shuttle in 2011, NASA has The Shenzou, a had no way of taking astronauts to the International Space Chinese orbital rocket Station from its own soil. Instead, we have been paying for system, is the only oth- seats aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket system. er currently operational With the development of the Crew Dragon Capsule, manned spacecraft ca- the cost for an American astronaut has dropped from the pable of orbital flights. It $80 million per seat on the Soyuz rocket down to about $25 completed its first million per seat through SpaceX. This also marks the first manned flight in 2003. It private company to ever perform a manned orbital flight. follows a similar design We thought this would be a good time to commemorate structure to the Soyuz, the achievement, take a look at how they got here, and give but is quite a bit larg- you scratch-building scale modelers what you need to start er. This allows for the making your own rocket. potential of more cargo and / or astronauts to The Latest in Manned Spacecraft climb aboard. Since the launch of the first human into space, Yuri Figure 1: SpaceX Testing its Gagarin on the Vostok 1, there has been a drive to create own Emergency Escape System the most capable and efficient manned spacecraft. Several (In-Flight Abort Test) countries and a dozen rockets have competed for the title. The Space Shuttle is no longer in operation but was a highly successful manned spacecraft for its time. The Space Shuttle holds the title of the first reusable orbital spacecraft (though its reusability is relative to the times). This was an incredible feat of engineering, but the US re- tired the Space Shuttle Program in 2011 and chose to use the Russian Soyuz rocket flights to send American astro- nauts to the ISS. There are several orbital rockets currently under development, and we are likely to see some of these launch soon. Boeing, in partnership with NASA, is currently It’s hard to argue with the stats behind the Russian developing the Starliner, which is a capsule designed to Soyuz rocket. This rocket has performed 143 manned take crew and cargo to the International Space Station. The flights to date, more than even the Space Shuttle, and has Starliner is designed to launch atop the Atlas 5 rocket, and lost only 4 cosmonauts. Originally developed in 1967, this has already seen its first orbital test flight. Unfortunately, it rocket is still in operation today. was unable to dock with the ISS during the first test due to The Soyuz rocket also has a unique title, being the only a bug in the navigation system that caused extended burns manned rocket system ever to save the crew in the event of and used up too much fuel to make the rendezvous. Boeing catastrophic engine failure. In 1983 a Soyuz rocket ex- is currently making adjustments to fix for this problem, and are looking to launch the Starliner again soon. Newsletter Staff Continued on page 3 Writer: BobbyPotter, Tim Van Milligan Layout / Cover Artist: Matthew Martinez Proofreader: Michelle Mason Page 2 Issue 523 / June 9th, 2020 Continued from page 2 The Crew Dragon - A Milestone in American Spaceflight Continued from page 2 India has a ca- Space Center. pable space program In 2011, when this occurred and SpaceX was still as well, and was the just getting off the ground, founder Elon Musk said on the first country to make SpaceX Twitter feed, “SpaceX commencing flag capturing orbit on it’s first sequence”. They were on a mission to get Americans back attempt back in 2013 into space again. when they launched a Mars orbiter. 2017 Enter SpaceX and the Falcon 1 saw the introduction of the GSLV (Geo- SpaceX was founded in 2002 by then millionaire Elon synchronous Satel- Musk. He had just sold his software company, Zip2 (which lite Launch Vehicle) later became Paypal) for a grand total of $42 million. With MK-3 and in 2018 half of that he founded Tesla, the electric car company. With this rocket was used the other half, SpaceX was born. to deploy 31 satel- The company’s first rocket, the Falcon 1, failed to reach lites from across the orbit on its first 3 launches. Each attempt suffered varying world. In 2019 India degrees of catastrophic failure, destroying each rocket and attempted to deploy any attempt to salvage components. a rover on the lunar The fourth launch, and what Elon claims would have Figure 2: Boeing Starliner atop the been the last should it have failed, did make orbit in Sep- Atlas V Rocket tember of 2008. Soon after, NASA awarded SpaceX a billion dollar contract for the further development of Space- flight technologies, breathing new life into the company. surface. The rocket functioned well, and the lunar orbiter also met its goals, but the rover died on impact with the The Falcon 9 V1.0 moon’s surface as the lander lost control during descent. That mission is slotted for a second attempt in 2021, and Even before the Falcon 1 made orbit, SpaceX an- India will be continuing to develop the GSLV spacecraft. nounced the development of the Falcon 9 rocket. This was announced in 2005, and the Falcon 9 saw its first flight A Game of Capture the Flag in 2010. The Falcon 9, named for its nine engines (called the Merlin engines), flew a total of 5 orbital flights before On the final launch of the Space Shuttle, an Ameri- SpaceX retired the rocket in favor of the Falcon 9 V1.1. can flag was flown. This is the same flag that was flown V1.1 didn’t just have slight changes, it was massively on the very first Space Shuttle. This time it was left on the overhauled. The Merlin Engines were upgraded and saw ISS, and would remain in place to be claimed by the next major efficiency gains. The rocket itself was 60% heavier, generation of American astronauts flying from the Kennedy carried 60% more fuel and was Continued on page 4 Page 3 Issue 523 / June 9th, 2020 Continued from page 2 The Crew Dragon - A Milestone in American Spaceflight Continued from page 3 The Falcon 9 Block 5 capable of delivering a 30% heavier payload to orbit. It also The Falcon 9 Block 5 is the current iteration of the saw general design and technology improvements, all of Falcon 9, and is the rocket used to propel the Crew Drag- which made the Falcon Heavy possible. on capsule to orbit. Its maiden voyage occurred in May of 2018, and is the most reusable rocket flown to date. The Falcon Heavy The Block 5 iteration featured upgrades in thrust capa- bilities and heat shielding. Specifically, the heat shielding The Falcon Heavy has three Falcon 9 boosters and on the plumbing, engines and the side of the booster were doubled the payload-to-orbit capability of the previous upgraded to materials with more reusability. There were record holding rocket, the Delta Heavy. On top of that, with also some nominal improvements on the landing legs and the technology advancements gained during the develop- some other functionalities. ment of the Falcon 9, all three booster stages are designed To date, the Falcon line of rockets has made orbit to be recovered and reused. over 80 times, nearly half of those launches have been on reused rockets. The Block 5 Falcon 9 (B1046) that was intentionally destroyed during the in-flight abort test was on its fourth flight. It was the very first Block 5 rocket to launch, and the first SpaceX rocket to be reused multiple times. That particular booster was used 4 times in less than 2 years. Figure 3: This is not takeoff, this is a propulsive land- ing sequence. This led to the breathtaking footage of the 2 boosters returning to the ground and landing upright in February 2018. Need A Parachute? Apogee Has The One You’re Looking For! www.ApogeeRockets.com/Building-Supplies/Parachutes Continued on page 5 https://www.apogeerockets.com/Rocket-Kits/Skill-Level-1-Model-Rocket-Kits/Apprentice-Starter-Set https://www.apogeerockets.com/FBAdvert-DBFSR Page 4 Issue 523 / June 9th, 2020 The Crew Dragon - A Milestone in American Spaceflight Continued from page 4 The Crew Dragon Figure 5: SpaceX Dragon 2 space capsule atop a Falcon 9 launch vehicle The Crew Dragon had to undergo extremely rigor- ous testing. A series of 4 tests had to be completed: The pad abort test, hover test, orbital flight test and finally the in-flight abort test. However, the Crew Dragon suffered a failure in July of 2019 during the pad abort test, causing the destruction of that capsule and further delaying the project. Falcon 9 Block 5 and Crew Dragon’s Capabili- Figure 4: Image by Archipepe68 under the creative ties commons Share-Alike International 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en The Crew Dragon is capable of carrying 7 passengers The Dragon Capsule was developed in two different to orbit, and according to SpaceX, is the only spacecraft versions; The Cargo Dragon, designed to ferry supplies to capable of returning “significant” cargo to Earth.