SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft currently sits perched atop a Falcon 9 booster rocket at Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A. There, it awaits the arrival of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who will board and strap in on Wednesday afternoon for the Demo-2 flight mission, which will carry the pair into orbit to rendezvous with the International Space Station.
This Demo-2 mission will be history-making in two ways. First, this will be the first-ever commercial launch to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, and second, it will be the first crewed launch from American soil since the Space Shuttle program ended nearly a decade ago.
“We are so proud and happy for Doug and Bob,” astronaut Nicole Mann, who is slated to fly on a future commercial launch on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, said in a NASA statement. “It feels kind of like one of your close family members having a great lifetime achievement — and really, that’s what it is.”
The instantaneous launch window for this important mission is scheduled to reach ‘T-minus zero’ at 4:33 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The public can tune in to watch this event live online via NASA TV, starting at 12:15 p.m. EDT.
If all goes as planned, the Falcon 9 booster will complete the journey to orbit, carrying Behnken and Hurley on board the Crew Dragon, in just under 9 minutes. They will then be on-route for a rendezvous with the International Space Station at 11:39 a.m. EDT on Thursday, May 28.
By the time the pair of astronauts gets to experience the weightlessness of being in orbit, the 1st stage of the Falcon 9 rocket will already be moments away from setting down on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You”, out on the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX’s flight profile for the Demo-2 mission. The Crew Dragon is expected to reach orbit in just 8 minutes and 47 seconds after liftoff, while the Falcon 8 1st stage is scheduled to touch down at 9 minutes, 22 seconds after launch. Credit: NASA TV
A mission’s ‘launch window’ is the time set by ground controllers where a rocket can lift off and be in the best position to deploy a satellite properly, or for a spacecraft to rendezvous with the International Space Station. Once a launch window opens, often there is a certain amount of time where a rocket can delay and still accomplish its mission. Other missions, such as Demo-2, have an ‘instantaneous launch window’. This means that the rocket must lift off at the exact moment the timer reaches T-zero. Otherwise, the launch must be aborted for that day and delayed until the next launch window opens.
If Demo-2 cannot lift off on Wednesday at 4:33 p.m. EDT, either due to some technical issue or due to unsafe weather conditions, NASA and SpaceX have set alternative launch windows for 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, and 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 31.
SpaceX Demo-1 performed flawlessly on launch and arrival to the International Space Station back on March 2, 2019. Credit: NASA TV
NASA says the latest weather forecast from the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron gives a 60 per cent chance of favourable conditions for the Demo-2 launch. The primary weather concerns forecasters noted for the launch are the potential for spacecraft to fly through precipitation, cumulonimbus storm clouds, or cumulus clouds- Any of which could be troublesome for a space launch.
Past spacecraft that have carried astronauts into orbit were marvels of technology. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, on the other hand, looks to be something straight out of science fiction that has been made real.
NASA astronauts Doug Hurley (foreground) and Bob Behnken sit in the Crew Dragon capsule, which is equipped with touch-screen controls. Credit: NASA
Although the two astronauts appear to be cramped in the above photograph, the Crew Dragon is surprisingly roomy when compared to older spacecraft. Even the current Soyuz capsules are very cramped, with little room for the astronauts and cosmonauts to move around during a launch.
SpaceX’s “anthropomorphic test device” or ATD, named “Ripley”, made the trip to the ISS during the uncrewed Demo-1 mission. It was certainly not crowded on this flight. Credit: NASA TV
According to NASA: * “As the final flight test for SpaceX, this mission will validate the company’s crew transportation system, including the launch pad, rocket, spacecraft, and operational capabilities. This also will be the first time NASA astronauts will test the spacecraft systems in orbit.”*
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
