The Washington Post - USA (2020-08-02)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE K A

BY CHRISTIAN DAVENPORT

The launch two months ago
went about as smoothly as possi-
ble, flying American astronauts
into orbit from U.S. soil for the
first time since 2011. And
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft
docked so gracefully with the
International Space Station that
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken
and Doug Hurley didn’t even feel
it.
Now they are c oming h ome.
Even though Hurricane Isaias
is projected to hit the east coast
of Florida just as Dragon would
be returning, NASA and SpaceX,
which owns and operates the
spacecraft, proceeded with a
landing a ttempt, aiming for a
site in the Gulf of Mexico near
Pensacola along the Florida Pan-
handle, where waves are expect-
ed to be one to two feet.
“Not intuitive, but Isaias may
actually help make nice weather
on landing a few hundred miles
west,” Zebulon Scoville, NASA’s
flight director, wrote on Twitter
on Saturday morning.
It will be the first landing ever
by astronauts in the gulf, accord-
ing to Jonathan McDowell, as-
tronomer at the Harvard-Smith-
sonian Center for Astrophysics.
T he crew undocked from the
station at 7:35 p.m. Eastern time
Saturday, firing small nose rock-
ets to push away. Splashdown on
Sunday is scheduled for
2:42 p.m.
Even without weather con-
cerns, the return journey is a
treacherous one. The spacecraft
will have to withstand tempera-
tures as high as 3,500 degrees a s
it moves through the atmo-
sphere. A quartet of parachutes
will have to slow the 21,200-
pound capsule for a soft landing
at sea. Then rescue crews will
have to quickly recover the
vehicle from the g ulf in what
would be the first water landing
for American astronauts since a
joint U.S.-Soviet mission in
1975.
If all that weren’t challenging
enough, NASA and SpaceX are
attempting to bring the crew
home during an active hurricane
season. And the possibility of
strong winds from I saias kicking
up an unruly churn has put
NASA and SpaceX officials on
alert.

But if SpaceX is able to bring

Hurley and Behnken home safe-

ly in the first test flight with

humans on board, it would be

the triumphant culmination of

years of work and the opening

of a new era in human space-

flight in which corporations

play a starring role alongside

NASA.

Last year, SpaceX successfully

completed a test run of the

mission without astronauts that

went smoothly and paved the

way for Hurley and Behnken’s

mission. It has also flown its

cargo Dragon spacecraft back to

Earth in water landings many

times successfully, so it has lots

of practice.

Still, no one is ready to cele-

brate until the men are back

safely.

“The hardest part was getting

us launched, but the most impor-

tant part is bringing us home,”

Behnken said Saturday morning

during a farewell ceremony on

the space station.

At the ceremony, Hurley and

Behnken gathered with their fel-

low station crewmates, NASA’s

Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts

Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vag-

ner. Cassidy handed Hurley an

American flag that was brought

up to the station on the last space

shuttle mission in 2011. Hurley, a

member of that flight, now gets

to bring it home, marking the

restoration of human spaceflight

from American soil.

“This flag has spent some time

up here, on the order of nine

years,” Hurley said. “I’m very

proud to return this flag home

and see what’s next for it on its

journey to the moon.”

Just after the successful

launch of the spacecraft into

orbit, Elon Musk, SpaceX’s

founder, said “there’s an argu-

ment that the return is more

dangerous in some ways than the

ascent. So we don’t want to

declare victory yet. We need to

bring them home safely, make

sure that we’re doing everything

we can to minimize the risk of

reentry and return.”

Thinking about the astro-

nauts and their families, Musk

became emotional, unable to

speak. “I’m getting choked up.

... We’re going to do everything
we can to make sure they get
home safely.”
SpaceX started putting pic-
tures of Hurley and Behnken on
work orders to remind employ-
ees that lives were at stake.
Recently they had another re-
minder. Behnken’s wife, Megan
McArthur, also a NASA astro-

naut, was chosen to fly on a

SpaceX flight next spring. To

prepare, she recently spent a few

days at the company’s headquar-

ters.

In many ways, returning to

Earth is more perilous than es-

caping it.

Getting into orbit requires an

enormous amount of energy. The

spacecraft goes from sitting still

atop a rocket on the launchpad

to chasing the space station at

17,500 mph in a matter of min-

utes. Coming home requires do-

ing the reverse, shedding all that

energy quickly. Friction with the

thickening atmosphere will gen-

erate a tremendous amount of

heat that will engulf the space-

craft in a fireball.

“Out the window, it’s all or-

ange, and it’s glowing, and it’s

quite a sight,” said Garrett Reis-

man, a former astronaut who

flew two shuttle missions. “But

you don’t feel anything. You

know you don’t want to be out

there because its thousands of

degrees, but on the inside it’s

pretty cool. It’s very comfort-

able.”

At mission control, NASA and

SpaceX officials won’t be so com-

fortable. As the fireball envelops

the spacecraft, testing the heat

shield, communication with the

astronauts will be lost. The

blackout runs about six minutes,

but it will feel much longer.

During Apollo 13, the nearly

catastrophic mission, the black-

out lasted for what seemed like

forever, said Gerry Griffin, a

legendary former flight direc-

tor at NASA during the Apollo

era.

The capcom, the person at

mission control communicating

with the astronauts, “kept call-

ing Apollo 13. ‘This is Houston,’ ”

he recalled. “And nothing. He

went on for two minutes. You

could hear a pin drop in that

control center.”

Unlike the shuttle, which

landed on a runway, the Dragon

spacecraft is something of a

throwback, a capsule that will

land in water under parachutes.

Parachutes are an old technology

but a tricky one, and SpaceX has

struggled with the design. Last

year it suffered a failure during a

test of the parachute system that

ultimately prompted the compa-

ny to upgrade.

The upgraded version uses a

stronger material in the lines

that run to the canopy and a new

stitching intended to handle the

loads at deployment.

“Parachutes are way harder

than they look,” Musk said in an

interview with The Washington

Post in the days leading up to

the launch. “The Apollo pro-

gram actually had a real morale

issue with the parachutes be-

cause they were so... hard.

They had people quitting over

how hard the parachutes were.

And then, you know, we almost

had people quit at SpaceX over

how hard the parachutes were. I

mean, they soldiered though,

but man, the parachutes are

hard.”

If all goes well, two drogue

parachutes will deploy when the

spacecraft’s altitude is about

18,000 feet, traveling at about

350 mph. Then, as the drogue

chutes slow the capsule to about

119 mph, four main parachutes

should deploy at about

6,000 feet.

At a news conference late last

year, Musk said the Mark 3

parachutes are “probably

10 times safer” than the Mark 2

version. “In my opinion they are

the best parachutes ever. By a

lot.”

Since the Apollo era, para-

chute design has come a long

way, especially in the develop-

ment of lightweight but stronger

materials, said Kurt Hempe, the

director of space business for

Airborne Systems, which de-

signs parachutes for SpaceX and

several other companies.

“But testing is absolutely an

ordeal,” he said. “One of the big

things we do today that they

couldn’t do then was create

computer models. We can come

up with a model and simulate

before we go fly. And then we go

fly and we compare the data

results with the model we devel-

oped.”

NASA and SpaceX have

picked out seven different land-

ing sites along the east and west

coasts of Florida, ranging from

about 22 nautical miles from

shore to 175. Two recovery ships

will be ready to speed to the

spacecraft once it arrives.

Adjusting to Earth’s gravity is

always a difficult transition for

astronauts, but landing in the

water makes it even harder.

“You feel sick and you’re walk-

ing like a drunken sailor, if

you’re walking at all,” Reisman

said. “Couple that with landing

in the ocean, bobbing up and

down, even in relatively calm

water, it’s going to be unpleas-

ant.”

The water landing in itself

presents a challenge. Mercury

astronaut Gus Grissom nearly

drowned after his spacecraft

splashed down in 1961 and his

Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft sank

after the hatch blew early.

That’s why the NASA and

SpaceX teams will be holding

their breath until they see Hurley

and Behnken safely aboard the

recovery vessel.

“We didn’t celebrate anything

in the control center until the

guys stepped out on the carrier

deck,” said Griffin, the Apollo-era

flight director. “That’s when we

lit our cigars.”

During the novel coronavirus

pandemic, however, that won’t

be likely. NASA is taking extra

precautions to protect workers

and the astronauts, including

testing people who come in

contact with the astronauts.

And everyone will be wearing

masks.

[email protected]

NASA and SpaceX prepare for astronauts’ splashdown

NASA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bob Behnken, front left, and Doug Hurley wrap up their space station visit. “This flag has spent some

time up here,” Hurley said. “I’m very proud to return this flag home and see what’s next for it.”

SUMMER WINDOW SALE!

SUMMER KITCHEN SALE!

Instant

$75 Window

Rebates

Payments

as low as

$

FREE QUOTES! • THOUSANDS OF REFERENCES

http://www.CAPITALREMODELING.com AD CODE: RP 0802

CALL TODAY! 1(888)450- 7479

CABINETS • COUNTERTOPS • FLOORING • TILING

GRANITE

SILESTONE

CORIAN

ZODIAC

COUNTERTOP SPECIALS

OR NO INTEREST

FOR 12 MONTHS

Offer must be presented and used at time of estimate. Expires 8/30/20.

Capital is not a lender. Financing requires approval and varies based on

credit history and other factors. Minimum monthly payment are based on

minimum size job with one third down. Offers on ad cannot be combined.

All offers exclude previous contracts and order. Call for more details.

INSTANT

$

75

CABINET

REBATES

FREE

GRANITE

UPGRADE FROM

CORIAN

TRUST OUR 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

MHIC #

WINDWINDOWOW SALE! SALE!

Super

Super

Offer must be presented and used at time of estimate. Special rebates

expire 8/30/20. Capital is not a lender. Financing requires approval

and varies based on credit history and other factors. Minimum

monthly payments are based on minimum size job with one third

down. Offers on ad cannot be combined. All offers exclude previous

contracts and orders. Call for more details.

7 WINDOWS

$

525

12 CABINETS

$

900

15 CABINETS

$

1125

EXAMPLES

15 WINDOWS

$

1125

✔Save up to

50% OFF

Energy Bills

✔ I ncreases

Resale Value

✔Installed in

ONE DAY

✔ Easy to Clean

EXAMPLES

OR NO INTEREST

FOR 12 MONTHS