EPTWASHINGTON — A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico late May 30, concluding Axiom Space’s second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom safely splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, Florida, at 11:05 p.m. Eastern. Recovery crews quickly got the spacecraft on a SpaceX vessel and helped the four-person crew out.
The spacecraft undocked from the ISS 12 hours earlier, concluding an eight-day stay at the station on the Ax-2 mission. The spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 May 21 and docked with the station less than 16 hours later.
“That was a phenomenal ride. We really enjoyed all of it,” said Peggy Whitson, the former NASA astronaut and current director of human space flight at Axiom Space who commanded Ax-2, shortly after splashdown. With Ax-2, Whitson extended her record for most time in space by an American astronaut to approximately 675 days.
Joining Whitson on Ax-2 were John Shoffner, a private astronaut who served as pilot for the mission, and two mission specialist astronauts from Saudi Arabia, Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. Those two were selected by the Saudi Space Commission in February for the mission under an agreement the commission signed with Axiom Space in September 2022.
The Ax-2 crew had a compressed schedule of activities on the station. The mission was originally scheduled to spend 10 days at the ISS but was shortened to eight to keep a cargo Dragon mission on schedule to launch June 3. The Ax-2 launch had slipped from early May because of delays in a Falcon Heavy launch that used the same Kennedy Space Center launch pad as Ax-2.
The mission, which incorporated lessons learned from the Ax-1 private astronaut mission to the ISS in April 2022, appeared to go smoothly. The crew conducted a set of science and technology demonstration experiments while performing educational outreach activities, particularly for Saudi students.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom safely splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, Florida, at 11:05 p.m. Eastern. Recovery crews quickly got the spacecraft on a SpaceX vessel and helped the four-person crew out.
The spacecraft undocked from the ISS 12 hours earlier, concluding an eight-day stay at the station on the Ax-2 mission. The spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 May 21 and docked with the station less than 16 hours later.
“That was a phenomenal ride. We really enjoyed all of it,” said Peggy Whitson, the former NASA astronaut and current director of human space flight at Axiom Space who commanded Ax-2, shortly after splashdown. With Ax-2, Whitson extended her record for most time in space by an American astronaut to approximately 675 days.
Joining Whitson on Ax-2 were John Shoffner, a private astronaut who served as pilot for the mission, and two mission specialist astronauts from Saudi Arabia, Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. Those two were selected by the Saudi Space Commission in February for the mission under an agreement the commission signed with Axiom Space in September 2022.
The Ax-2 crew had a compressed schedule of activities on the station. The mission was originally scheduled to spend 10 days at the ISS but was shortened to eight to keep a cargo Dragon mission on schedule to launch June 3. The Ax-2 launch had slipped from early May because of delays in a Falcon Heavy launch that used the same Kennedy Space Center launch pad as Ax-2.
The mission, which incorporated lessons learned from the Ax-1 private astronaut mission to the ISS in April 2022, appeared to go smoothly. The crew conducted a set of science and technology demonstration experiments while performing educational outreach activities, particularly for Saudi students.
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Also Sierra Space is one step closer to going into space.
WASHINGTON — Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser took a step closer to its long-awaited first flight by powering up its systems in a key test.
The company announced May 31 that it had powered up the spaceplane in its assembly facility for the first time, feeding electrical power into the vehicle that, in space, would be generated by its solar panels and turning on flight computers and other components.
“This is a milestone that points to the future and is a key moment in a long journey for Dream Chaser,” said Tom Vice, chief executive of Sierra Space, in a statement about the test.
The test comes as the company prepares to ship the first Dream Chaser, called Tenacity, to NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio, the former Plum Brook Station. There, the spacecraft will go through thermal vacuum tests before shipping to Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations.
Sierra Space did not disclose a schedule for those milestones in the announcement of the powering up test. Speaking during a panel at the 38th Space Symposium in April, Janet Kavandi, president of Sierra Space, said Dream Chaser would ship to the test facility “in the July timeframe.”
She said the vehicle would be tested there for a few months before shipping to Florida. “We should be ready to go by the end of this year,” she said of launch plans for Dream Chaser.
That schedule will depend not just on the readiness of Dream Chaser but also the manifest of missions going to the International Space Station as well as the status of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. Dream Chaser is slated to launch on the second Vulcan mission, after a launch of an Astrobotic lunar lander that has slipped to later this summer because of launch vehicle testing issues.
The company announced May 31 that it had powered up the spaceplane in its assembly facility for the first time, feeding electrical power into the vehicle that, in space, would be generated by its solar panels and turning on flight computers and other components.
“This is a milestone that points to the future and is a key moment in a long journey for Dream Chaser,” said Tom Vice, chief executive of Sierra Space, in a statement about the test.
The test comes as the company prepares to ship the first Dream Chaser, called Tenacity, to NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio, the former Plum Brook Station. There, the spacecraft will go through thermal vacuum tests before shipping to Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations.
Sierra Space did not disclose a schedule for those milestones in the announcement of the powering up test. Speaking during a panel at the 38th Space Symposium in April, Janet Kavandi, president of Sierra Space, said Dream Chaser would ship to the test facility “in the July timeframe.”
She said the vehicle would be tested there for a few months before shipping to Florida. “We should be ready to go by the end of this year,” she said of launch plans for Dream Chaser.
That schedule will depend not just on the readiness of Dream Chaser but also the manifest of missions going to the International Space Station as well as the status of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. Dream Chaser is slated to launch on the second Vulcan mission, after a launch of an Astrobotic lunar lander that has slipped to later this summer because of launch vehicle testing issues.
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