SpaceX’s Dragon Capsule Can Now Land Like a Rocket in Case of an Emergency
- by Gizmodo
- Oct 13, 2024
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SpaceX’s Starship Looks Like an Alien Spacecraft as It Emerges from the Seafloor
A few months after NASA awarded SpaceX its Commercial Crew Program contract, the company announced that its Dragon spacecraft would use parachutes to perform a splashdown with the astronauts rather than landing on a solid surface. It was later revealed that NASA felt more comfortable relying on the parachute landing system, according to NASA Spaceflight. The space agency also feared that the openings for the extendable legs could lead to the formation of hot spots during the spacecraft’s reentry through Earth’s atmosphere, which could cause the breakup of the crew capsule.
During the launch webcast, Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, noted that Dragons capable of making propulsive landing have flown on non-crewed missions before, but the Crew-9 mission marks the first time it’s being used on a NASA crewed mission.
By now, NASA has plenty of reason to trust SpaceX and its ability to launch and return its crew of astronauts safely to Earth. The Dragon spacecraft that recently launched to the International Space Station is also responsible for bringing back two astronauts who had flown to orbit on board Boeing’s cursed Starliner spacecraft, which was later deemed unfit to return its crew back to Earth. That might have been why the Dragon spacecraft was finally allowed to keep its propulsive landing system handy in case of an emergency.
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