NASA, SpaceX assess potential starship threat to Crew Dragon Pad

SpaceX is a new towering Kennedy Space Center complex 39A to launch a 394-foot-high super heavy starship. I'm building a gantry. Although it's a rocket, NASA said Thursday that it wouldn't give permission to fly until it assessed a potential threat to nearby pads used to send astronauts to the space station.

The new gantry and launch pad were built within about 1,000 feet of NASA's original 39A launch pad and are currently leased by SpaceX, with the Falcon 9 rocket carrying cargo and astronauts in international space. Explode to carry to the station.

Reuters last week saw NASA managers seriously damaging the Falcon 9 launch infrastructure on or just above the new Starship Pad, and SpaceX astronauts to the space station on board the crew. He reported that he was concerned about the possibility of a catastrophic obstacle that could interfere with his flight. Dragon capsule.

"If an initial failure occurs, as we did on one of the early SpaceX flights, it will hit 39A quite devastatingly. Everyone knows that, "NASA's Chief of Space Operations Kathy Lueders told Reuters.

She probably destroyed the Falcon 9 and its communications satellite payload in 2016, causing serious damage to Cape Canaveral's Launch Pad 40. He mentioned the on-pad explosion. Space force station in process.

Super Heavy Starship takes that threat to another level. Tilt the

scale by about £ 11m, making the fully reusable next-generation rocket the largest and most powerful launcher ever manufactured, with a thrust of £ 16m during lift-off. Generate. This is twice the month of NASA's Space Launch System. Rocket — Uses 33 methane-burning Raptor engines.

The upper 160-foot Starship, which carries astronauts, cargo, or both, carries six Raptors. The upper variant, developed under a $ 2.9 billion NASA contract, will serve as the first lunar lander of the agency's Artemis program.

SpaceX repairs and upgrades Launch Complex 40 following the 2016 accident And we are doing the third operation. Falcon 9 Pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. However, neither of these facilities is equipped to launch the Crew Dragon Astronaut's ferry ship.

Boeing's Starliner capsules launched from the crew pads of the Cape Canaveral space station have not yet been certified for operational use, and NASA is critical to the ongoing space station operation of the complex 39A. I think it is.

In response to a question from CBS News, NASA confirmed Reuters' story, stating that Thursday's SpaceX does not yet have permission to launch from the 39A complex.

"In the coming weeks, NASA and SpaceX will carry out a thorough review to ensure safe operation on the pad and redundant cargo missions to NASA's crew and the International Space Station. We will evaluate the launch capability, "NASA said in a statement. ..

"As part of the review, NASA and SpaceX evaluate all available options, including the development of crew transport capacity at Space Ranch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida.

Pad 40 currently has no gantry and SpaceX has undergone a major change to add access to the Crew Dragon on Falcon 9. And you need to perform the upgrade. It allows for last-minute cargo additions and provides an emergency escape function.

For the Super Heavy Starship, SpaceX has already built a pad in Bocachica, Texas, and the company will soon begin orbital flight testing. We are currently building a second starship pad at 39A and using a huge crane to stack huge open lattice segments.

Last week, the first segment of eight gantry segments was brought to the complex and the second segment was installed early Thursday.

According to NASA's statement, "We are responsible for ensuring that SpaceX complies with the requirements of the real estate contract regarding the use of Launch Complex 39A."

" These requirements include requirements related to construction, safety, and environmental conditions. At this time, NASA only provides construction approvals. Before launch, hazards, operational implications, and requirements. Additional supportability reviews are needed. "

Also, like all launches from US soil, SpaceX requires a license from NASA.

William Harwood

Bill Harwood has covered the US space program full-time since 1984. He was initially the director of the Cape Canaveral bureau at United Press International and is now a consultant for CBS News. He covered 129. Space Shuttle missions, all interplanetary flights since Voyager 2's Neptune flyby, and numerous commercial and military launches. Based in the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Harwood is an avid amateur astronomy scholar and co-author of "Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle." Columbia. "