Over the past four years, the Dragon spacecraft has returned eight NASA crews by performing a parachute-assisted ocean landing, but the crew capsule now has an emergency landing method in case of emergencies.
SpaceX’s Dragon can land with force using the eight SuperDraco engines, which was originally supposed to be the primary method for the spacecraft to return to Earth but was later canceled due to safety concerns. During the live broadcast of the Crew-9 launch on September 27, NASA officials announced that in case all four parachutes fail to deploy, the Dragon will land on a solid surface using the SuperDraco thruster abort system.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter: “Dragon has always been designed to land propulsively, but I didn’t want to risk it as the primary method.” In the early days of its development, SpaceX marketed Dragon’s ability to land using the eight SuperDraco thrusters. These engines would slow down the spacecraft during descent until its speed reaches zero, at which point the landing legs would extend for the capsule to touch down on the platform. However, a lot can change over ten years.
After a few months of NASA awarding SpaceX the Commercial Crew Program contract, the company announced that its Dragon spacecraft will use parachutes for crew landing instead of landing on a solid surface. NASA later revealed that they felt more comfortable relying on the parachute landing system, according to NASA’s spaceflight agency. NASA also feared that the extendable landing legs could form hot spots during the spacecraft’s reentry through Earth’s atmosphere, potentially causing the crew capsule to disintegrate.
During the launch webcast, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, noted that Dragons capable of propulsive landing have flown on unmanned missions before, but the Crew-9 mission marks the first time they are being used on a crewed spacecraft. NASA crewed mission.
So far, NASA has many reasons to trust SpaceX and its ability to safely launch and return astronauts to Earth. The recently launched Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station also successfully returned two astronauts who flew to orbit on Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft, which was later deemed unsuitable for returning its crew to Earth. Perhaps this was the reason for finally allowing the Dragon spacecraft to retain its propulsive landing system in case of emergencies.
