In July 2011, the last independent dispatch by the American space agency NASA of astronauts into Earth orbit took place. After the final fourth mission of the Atlantis shuttle was sent to the International Space Station, only Russia began to send people there. For these purposes, there are reliable and simple Soyuz spacecraft, which were first launched into space back in 1967. However, the Russian monopoly in the space transportation industry will soon come to an end, as NASA experts have planned a number of key tests of spacecraft for 2017, which could turn the United States of America into a leader in the manned space industry.
NASA announced the resumption of the manned flight program in early fall 2014. At that time, a special press conference was held, at which the head of the agency, Charles Bolden, Major General of the Marine Corps, spoke about the two companies selected from among many contenders for the construction of reusable manned spacecraft that are designed to transport astronauts to International Space Station. The tender was won by Boeing and SpaceX, which provided projects for the CST-100 and Dragon V2 spacecraft. Work on the construction of these two vehicles was estimated at 4.2 and 2.6 billion dollars (respectively for Boeing and SpaceX).
According to the head of NASA, it was very difficult to make the choice, however, it was possible to do so. The agency has received many offers from aerospace companies. All firms that have united in the desire to return to the United States sending man into space, competed for the opportunity to serve the nation and get rid of dependence on Russia. Bolden also noted that he appreciates their hard work, innovation and patriotism. In addition, he reasoned the choice in favor of the named companies by the fact that the agency's cooperation with them was quite successful, as well as the fact that NASA is confident that these companies meet the agency's high requirements.
If we talk about competition, the main opponent of SpaceX and Boeing was Sierra Nevada, which invited NASA specialists to send astronauts to the International Space Station on the Dream Chaser spacecraft - a deep modernization of the HL-20 orbital aircraft. Meanwhile, the reasons for choosing the agency in favor of SpaceX and Boeing and the distribution of funding between them are quite obvious. NASA has greater confidence in reliable and large partners, while at the same time welcoming young and promising companies and healthy competition. The agency did not enter into a contract with the defense and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, due to the fact that the company was previously working on the Orion Mars spacecraft. Also, they did not expand cooperation with Orbital ATK, because its Cygnus cargo vehicles also flew to the international station.
The Orion ship by the moon (as represented by the artist)
Image: Lockheed Martin Follow / Flickr
In June 2010, the head of SpaceX Elon Musk accurately predicted the company's prospects. So, according to him, his company won 12 missions, while Orbital - only eight. The cash premium is higher for Orbital, even though the company has fewer missions. NASA doesn't want to depend on one source. Musk also noted that Lockheed or Boeing will most likely win the tender for the construction of a device for a manned flight to the ISS, having received most of the funding, and SpaceX will be the second. It is now quite obvious that he was right.
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Orion ship at the head of a Delta IV Heavy rocket
Photo: Lockheed Martin Follow / Flickr
It should be noted that the agency's choice of the two main partners of Boeing and SpaceX had certain consequences. The company Sierra Nevada for a long period of time in court unsuccessfully tried to challenge the results of the tender, after which more than a hundred employees who worked on the Dream Chaser apparatus were fired. On the other hand, the agency promised support to the young and promising company, but not within the framework of the project of manned missions to the ISS. In 2014, the Americans were confident that three years later, astronauts would be sent to low-Earth orbit only from the United States, without the participation of Russia. Boeing and SpaceX are, of course, fulfilling their obligations, but with a lag of about one year.
In terms of spacecraft, it should be noted that the Dragon V2 is a deep modernization of the Dragon cargo ship, which makes successful flights to the International Space Station. The design of the ship is almost monoblock, it makes it possible, together with a load of up to 2.5 tons, to send four people to the station in cargo transportation mode, and up to seven people in passenger mode. It is assumed that in 2017 the construction of three Dragon V2 vehicles will be completed, and in November it will be possible to conduct a test unmanned flight into low-earth orbit of one of these ships. According to expectations, the device should dock with the station and leave it in 30 days.
Dragon V2 capsule
Photo: spacex.com
According to SpaceX experts, the space inside the Dragon V2 spacecraft is organized in such a way as to provide maximum comfort for the crew. The pilots' seats are made of high quality carbon fiber and finished in Alcantara. The astronaut capsule contains four windows through which the outer space is visible. The crew members will be able to monitor the state of the apparatus during the flight on a special panel, all indicators will be presented in real time. In addition, astronauts will have the ability to manually adjust the temperature on board the ship. In addition, the device also provides an evacuation system in case of emergency situations.
Before the first flight of the Dragon V2 spacecraft, it is planned to conduct fire tests of Draco and SuperDraco engines, printed on a three-dimensional printer and installed for a controlled landing of the device and as elements of a rescue system. In addition, the company expects to test a special spacesuit, which will enable astronauts to withstand the load in the event of a depressurization of the spacecraft capsule. Boeing plans to conduct the same tests of its suit in 2017. The landing of the CST-100 and Dragon V2 ships will be carried out using parachutes - this year it is planned to test the systems necessary for this.
It is planned to launch the Dragon V2 spacecraft from the SLC-39 launch complex (Kennedy Space Center) using a Falcon 9 rocket. Apollo and Space Shuttle missions were previously sent into space from the same center. The first manned mission (with 2 astronauts on board) is scheduled for May 2018. I must say that SpaceX is extremely interested in meeting the stated deadlines, because it was thanks to NASA's funding of manned and cargo ships that the company managed to avoid bankruptcy. Boeing is more stable in this regard.
Boeing postponed the first unmanned and test flight of the CST-100 to June 2018. Earlier, we recall, it was scheduled for December 2017. In August 2018, a manned flight of the apparatus with two astronauts on board is expected to take place. Like the Dragon V2 spacecraft, the CST-100 can transport seven people into low-earth orbit. Prelaunch training will also take place in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center. The launch of the spacecraft will be carried out from the site of the Cape Canaveral cosmodrome, using a heavy Atlas V rocket, if necessary - from Falcon 9 and Delta IV rockets or the Vulcan carrier being created.
Boeing and SpaceX have postponed the first launches of their vehicles for fundamentally different reasons. SpaceX has more modest resources than Boeing, moreover, some of them had to be used to identify and eliminate the causes of the Falcon 9 accident, which occurred in September last year. NASA experts criticized the company for refueling the rocket just 30 minutes before launch. In other words, in the process of fueling the rocket and in the event of an emergency situation, the astronauts will be in the head of the carrier, and not at a safe distance. And that is how much time was spent by the company to minimize possible risks.
Ships of the Soyuz and Federation series (near-earth and lunar versions)
Image: Kamov / Wikipedia
Boeing explained the postponement of testing its ship with some technical problems and additional safety net. In particular, we are talking about damage to the capsule of the vehicle and a small deviation in the actual and estimated mass of the ship. Apparently, the company is not worried about the delays in the launch of the CST-100 spacecraft, because the aerospace giant has five seats on the Russian Soyuz, which were received as compensation in the settlement of disputes arising from the sale of the Sea Launch space launch site.
Even if Boeing does not have time to prepare its spacecraft within the stated timeframe, it will still be able to fulfill its obligations to the American space agency in full. NASA is already interested in purchasing from the company two seats on the Soyuz spacecraft for the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018, as well as three seats for 2019. It must be said that Roskosmos is also interested in such castling, because it is known that the Russian segment at the International Space Station is planned to be reduced to two people.
Thus, we can say that the difficulties faced by NASA's partners are of a working nature and are being successfully resolved. It is likely that the country that landed astronauts on the moon six times and sent a ton rover to Mars will be able to cope with these tasks. As a result, a few years later, the United States of America will have at its disposal a fleet of spacecraft, at least consisting of cargo ships Cygnus and Dragon, near-earth manned spacecraft CST-100 and Dragon V2, and the lunar-Martian spacecraft Orion, which can also be used for flights. to the International Space Station, but too expensive. This will help the United States not only to secure its independence from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and Federation spacecraft that are preparing to replace them,but it will also allow ensuring intra-national competition between space companies.