Fwd: SpaceX’s passenger spaceship flies on first test run

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: May 8, 2015 at 10:36:49 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: SpaceX's passenger spaceship flies on first test run

 

 

Photos: SpaceX's passenger spaceship flies on first test run

May 7, 2015 by Stephen Clark

It didn't go into space, but SpaceX's Dragon crew capsule fired off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday for a 99-second test flight of a crucial safety mechanism that would save astronauts from a catastrophic rocket failure.

The 8-ton spaceship blasted off at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad, the same facility SpaceX uses for operational Falcon 9 flights.

Eight SuperDraco rocket engines boosted the capsule from 0 to 100 mph in 1.2 seconds and to a top speed of 346 mph. The spacecraft reached the apex of its trajectory at an altitude of nearly 3,900 feet, jettisoned its rear-mounted trunk, then deployed parachutes before splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean just offshore.

The capsule traveled a lateral distance of nearly three-quarters of a mile on the flight, according to SpaceX, which plans further tests before the Dragon is ready for astronauts in 2017.

Photo credit: SpaceX

Photo credit: SpaceX

Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Photo credit: SpaceX

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Photo credit: SpaceX

Photo credit: SpaceX

Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Photo credit: SpaceX

Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Photo credit: SpaceX

 

© 2015 Spaceflight Now Inc.

 

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