SpaceX Officially Delays First Crewed Flight Of Its Dragon Capsule For NASA.
SpaceX Dragon is a spacecraft developed by SpaceX, a private space transportation company based in Hawthorne, California. The SpaceX Dragon is launched into space by SpaceX Falcon 9 two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle, and now SpaceX is advancing a crewed version called the SpaceX Dragon 2.
SpaceX has officially delayed the first crewed flight of its Crew Dragon vehicle, the capsule that SpaceX is developing to take NASA astronaut to and from the International Space Station.
NASA has confirmed that the commercial space rockets being developed by SpaceX and Boeing Company will start carrying the astronauts to the International Space Station no earlier than 2018. In September, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that NASA is not presently looking at any additional seats except those that they have already purchased. Further delays are possible for both SpaceX and The Boeing are testing of emergency crew-abort system and other critical elements accelerate.
In a statement, SpaceX said that they are preparing to fly the crewed demonstration flight in the second quarter of 2018 with two crew member. SpaceX's single largest customer is NASA, which over the past seven years has awarded contracts worth more than $6.5 billion to deliver cargo and eventually, the U.S. astronauts, to the International Space Station. SpaceX is contracted to transport cargo to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program, and SpaceX Dragon began regular cargo flights in October 2012.
Dragon 2 is under development by SpaceX and is created to support crewed missions. It will be able to carry up to seven astronauts or some mix of crew and cargo. The Dragon 2 heat shield is invented to withstand Earth re-entry velocities from Lunar and Martians Spaceflights. The SpaceX has received several U.S. Government contracts to develop the Dragon 2 crewed version. Space x says that it has completed some milestones for its updated Dragon capsule, including parachute tests, qualification test and much more.
