(air whooshing)
The space industry is at a turning point.
NASA's Space Launch System is about to fly.
With it, the new Orion spacecraft,
a collaboration between NASA and ESA,
will target the Moon.
A landing is scheduled for 2024.
As far as the United States is concerned,
low Earth orbit is now the province of corporations,
with Boeing and SpaceX competing
to break Russia's stranglehold
on manned trips to the International Space Station.
(gentle upbeat music)
New technology is cutting costs
and increasing launch frequency
with complex satellites being so small,
they can be deployed in new ways.
Several companies are working towards space tourism.
Virgin Galactic says its promised trips
beyond the atmosphere should start happening soon.
(inspiring triumphant music)
Since the retirement of the shuttle in 2011,
space science has shifted focus
to research carried out
on the International Space Station
and to robotic missions in deep space.
During this period,
all manned flights have been to and from the ISS,
with the only viable spacecraft being the Russian Soyuz.
This has cost both NASA and ESA billions in launch fees.
Russia, Europe and Japan, major partners in the ISS,
developed their own cargo craft
to resupply the Space Station.
But NASA tendered for private companies
to take on these responsibilities.
Rising star in the launch business, SpaceX,
was contracted to develop a cargo craft
that would launch on its Falcon 9 rocket.
Three, two, one, zero.
And launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket,
as NASA turns to the private sector
to resupply the International Space Station.
(rocket rumbling)
A second aerospace business,
Orbital Sciences Corporation,
now Orbital ATK, signed a contract
for similar hardware and services.
NASA is developing its own launch system
and the Orion spacecraft,
but it's designed for missions far more ambitious
than resupplying the ISS.
America's activity in low Earth orbit
is being reallocated to the commercial sector
and NASA is helping with technology transfers.
Agency administrators want two completely different systems,
giving the Space Agency
what they call dissimilar redundancy.
(soft somber music)
When the space shuttle twice suffered catastrophic failures,
NASA was stuck on the ground for years
while exhaustive investigations were made.
The redundancy approach will prevent this paralysis.
In 2014, NASA signed contracts with Boeing and SpaceX
to develop and test human-rated spacecraft
to ferry astronauts to and from
the International Space Station.
It was a continuation of the dissimilar redundancy approach.
The Space Agency has set performance criteria
for the new craft and crew training,
but is taking a hands-off approach
regarding how the companies meet the requirements.
Boeing's spacecraft is called the Starliner.
It has space for seven astronauts
and will be capable of being used 10 times.
NASA requires any human-rated spacecraft
to meet higher standards of safety and reliability
than a cargo craft.
And new capsules must demonstrate,
via a series of test flights,
that they meet certification.
Five, four.
One crucial part of the new spacecraft
is the launch escape system.
(flames crashing)
It's the equivalent of a fighter pilot's ejector seat.
Feature on.
Both Boeing and SpaceX have opted
for a new method of capsule mounted rockets
to push the craft clear in an emergency,
in contrast to the more traditional escape tower
above the Agency's new Orion spacecraft.
The trial of Boeing's escape system worked well,
with the exception that only two
of the three parachutes deployed,
but the problem is understood.
The Starliner could continue
to the next uncrewed launch to orbit.
One of the novel features of Boeing's capsule
is its ability to return to dry land,
like Russia's Soyuz craft.
Airbags, stowed behind the heat shield,
inflate prior to landing.
Without the need to deploy ships for an ocean recovery,
there will be considerable savings.
Though the capsule can fly on the Delta 4,
the Falcon 9 and the yet to be flown Vulcan,
initial testing of the spacecraft
has been with the Atlas 5 launcher.
The Atlas ground support infrastructure
has been modified to accommodate the Starliner
with the addition of a crew access arm.
The Starliner made its first unmanned test flight
in December, 2019.
Its destination was the ISS.
(flames crashing)
The launch was perfect
and four and a half minutes after liftoff,
the first stage separated.
Next, the boost protect covers
and the aero skirt were jettisoned,
and the Centaur upper stage burned
for a further seven minutes,
following the course parameters perfectly.
After separation,
the capsule was in a sub orbital trajectory,
selected because it allowed a safe path
back to the ground in case of a malfunction
during the boost phase.
To achieve the correct orbit, the craft was required
to fire its four attitude and orbital maneuvering thrusters
31 minutes after liftoff.
However, the Starliner's sequence clock was incorrect
and the orbit insertion burn did not happen.
Ground control was able to salvage parts of the mission,
but the craft was not able
to reach the International Space Station.
This setback will delay
the Starliner's first mission carrying astronauts.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is a refinement
of the cargo craft that first flew in 2010.
From the beginning,
the Dragon capsule has had a heat shield,
enabling it to return safely to the ground.
No other ISS cargo craft has had this ability.
In addition, the Dragon also has a window.
This should have been a clue
to SpaceX's long-term plans for the craft.
In 2014, after the contract
for a human-rated craft was signed,
SpaceX began work on the Dragon 2.
Like its Boeing equivalent,
the Dragon 2 sits above a service module
that can carry unpressurized cargo
and includes a heat exchange unit
and a coating of solar cells,
that does away with the moving parts involved
in extendable solar wings.
The Dragon 2 can accommodate seven astronauts.
Though NASA has said it will generally only send
four people at a time.
Control interface is via a touchscreen.
Cape Canaveral's launch complex 39A
has been equipped with a crew access arm.
And in March 2019, in a flight known as Demo One,
the unmanned craft made its first space flight.
The Dragon carried a dummy astronaut,
wired with sensors to monitor g-forces,
and a small delivery of equipment for the ISS.
The launch and the phasing maneuvers
to align its orbit with the ISS
were all correctly executed.
The automated docking procedure went smoothly
and the Dragon stayed connected
to the Space Station for five days.
Decoupling from the ISS went as expected
and observers on the ground were delighted
with the capsule's behavior.
Throughout the mission,
every aspect of the Dragon 2's performance was monitored.
(spacecraft whooshing)
The craft's return to Earth was faultless
and the recovered capsule would be reused
for the one remaining uncrewed flight test.
SpaceX plan to use new capsules for manned flights
and then recycle the craft for cargo use.
Confident planners at SpaceX and NASA
were looking toward the first crewed flight.
The final certification test was an in-flight simulation
of a booster failure
that would monitor the Dragon's launch escape system.
But before that, the craft's SuperDraco engines,
used in mission aborts, needed retesting.
This was considered routine
and had been carried out many times.
(spacecraft crackling)
A leaked video revealed an explosion
that had destroyed the capsule.
The problem was not engine failure,
but a faulty valve.
The flight test of the Dragon 2's escape system
eventually happened early in 2020,
but, just as with the Boeing capsule,
which was also well behind schedule,
the explosion and the inquiry that followed
were another unwelcome delay.
Two, one, zero, ignition.
(dramatic music)
Around the point of maximum dynamic pressure
the core stage's engines were cut
and the escape system triggered automatically.
Shortly after, aerodynamic stresses
on the tumbling booster caused it to explode.
A bright flash there.
It looks like that maybe Falcon 9 breaking up.
The certification test was a success
and the Dragon 2's next flight will carry astronauts.
But there is another spacecraft in development
that's worth mentioning,
the Sierra Nevada Corporation's, Dream Chaser.
It's a lifting-body craft, designed
to ride to orbit on an Atlas 5,
but return to the ground via a commercial landing strip.
So far, the Dream Chaser's only flights
have been glide tests.
As a cargo ship, the Dream Chaser
can return a 1,750 kilogram load to the surface.
As a crewed vehicle,
it is designed to take from two to seven astronauts.
(gentle bright music)
The European Space Agency has shown interest in the craft
with the possibility of launching European astronauts
atop the French Ariane.
The craft will use the by-propellants methane
and hydrogen tetroxide for on-orbit maneuvers,
doing away with the highly toxic hydrazine.
(eerie music)
When the space shuttle landed,
it had to be at a restricted runway
where suited ground staff purged the craft
of residual hydrazine.
Originally in the running for a NASA contract
for ferrying astronauts to the ISS,
it missed out because Sierra Nevada
could not comply with NASA's 2017 deadline
for crewed missions.
The favorite contractors, Boeing and SpaceX,
both failed to meet that same deadline.
But the Dream Chaser has a contract
for cargo missions to the ISS,
and an expendable cargo module,
known as Shooting Star, is being developed.
The company still plans
a human-rated version of the Dream Chaser,
but it's unclear when the craft will fly.
Five, four, three,
two, one, fire in the hole.
Fire in the hole.
(explosions banging)
Cape Canaveral's launch complex 17,
was the starting point
for many historic Delta 2 missions.
Since the demise of the space shuttle,
NASA infrastructure from the earliest days of space flight
has been eliminated.
Since the heady days of the space race,
NASA's budget has been steadily trending downward
and various launch sites have been given over
to the private sector.
While NASA has been overseeing the commercial craft
that will continue to service the research work
carried out on the ISS, its sharpest focus
has been on the new Orion spacecraft
and the giant Space Launch System
that will boost it to orbit.
After its establishment in 1958,
the Agency's challenge had been to master space technology
and then to reach the Moon.
But since then,
the exploration side of NASA's charter
has been achieved by robotic missions.
(gentle upbeat music)
Now a new plan called Artemis will return to the Moon.
It relies upon the Orion spacecraft and the SLS.
The Space Launch System
will be the most powerful rocket yet built.
And although the design features the latest technologies,
most of its components are derived from the space shuttle.
The Block 1 version,
which will send an unmanned Orion spacecraft
to orbit the Moon, features a central core
that owes much to the shuttle's external tank.
At the base of the central core are four RS-25 engines.
The shuttle had three of these engines.
And NASA still has 16 left over from the shuttle program.
Although the engines remain the same,
their control systems have been redesigned.
Each one has been exhaustively tested,
and when the original batch had been utilized,
an upgraded version, the RS-25D, will be available.
Flanking the central core of the Space Launch System
are two solid fuel boosters.
Again, a refinement of shuttle technology,
but with each booster having five instead of four segments.
The new design has been rigorously tested.
The boosters will only burn
for the first two minutes of flight,
each consuming six tons of propellant every second,
and providing more than 75% of the rocket's thrust.
Unlike the shuttle's boosters, these will not be reusable.
The upper stage for the Block 1 configuration
of the Space Launch System
is called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, the ICPS.
It's a stop gap modification
of the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage,
used with the Delta 3 and 4 launches.
In 2014, a Delta 4, fitted with this upper stage,
lifted an Orion spacecraft to its first orbital test.
The Orion, with a dummy service module,
was boosted to a height approaching 5,800 kilometers,
allowing it a high-speed return to Earth,
similar to a lunar mission.
The much larger exploration upper stage
was to replace the ICPS
for the first crewed mission,
atop a Block 1B launcher,
but design changes have led to delays,
and the EUS now won't fly till the fourth Orion mission.
The Orion spacecraft itself
will comfortably accommodate four astronauts for 21 days,
with the crew breathing air at atmospheric pressure.
The craft is intended for missions beyond Earth orbit.
It's designed to integrate with larger modular structures,
such as habitation modules, specialist landing craft,
or the planned Lunar Gateway.
Instrumentation and the control interface
are primarily via a touchscreen.
The digital control enables weight-saving
through the absence of wires and switches.
The Orion service module
is the European Space Agency's contribution to the craft.
It's derived from the automated transfer vehicle,
which delivered cargo to the ISS.
Oxygen and nitrogen cylinders
in the service module supply air.
There's a water storage tank
and wastewater is not dumped, but recycled.
A four-wing solar array generates 11 kilowatts
for battery charging and powering the electrical subsystems.
For propulsion and maneuvering,
the service module is equipped with a version
of the same system used by the space shuttle,
but like so many aspects of this spacecraft,
the system can be easily replaced
when alternate models under consideration become available.
The third important piece of the Orion craft
is the launch abort system, mounted above the capsule.
Three different types of solid fuel rocket
are designed to fire at the first hint
of a malfunctioning in the launcher.
One, ignition.
The system was tested in July 2019,
above a Minotaur booster,
a highly modified peacekeeper missile.
Engineers were delighted with its performance.
Launch infrastructure is being upgraded for the SLS
and there's increased activity in preparation
for the first test of the big new rocket.
(soft inspiring music)
There were celebrations
as the core stage left the Michoud Assembly Facility,
but it hasn't gone to Cape Canaveral, not yet.
It was taken by barge
to the Stennis test facility in Mississippi,
where the stage will be powered up
for a series of tests known as the Green Run test campaign.
The date, or even the year,
for the first launch has been put back a number of times,
although it could be as early as 2020.
NASA's exploration initiative received a jolt in 2019,
when US Vice President Pence,
the chairman of the National Space Council,
called for NASA's exploration initiative
to be accelerated.
It is a stated policy of this administration
and the United States of America
to return American astronauts to the Moon
within the next five years.
(audience clapping)
And now's come the time for us to make
the next giant leap and return American astronauts
to the Moon, establish a permanent base there
and develop the technologies
to take American astronauts to Mars and beyond.
(eerie music)
The existing plan had called
for a Moon landing no earlier than 2028.
The month after the vice president's speech,
NASA announced the Artemis program.
Artemis being the sister of Apollo.
Late in 2019,
companies were called to tender for a lunar lander
and for a lunar space station known as the Lunar Gateway.
The timeline calls for Artemis 1,
an uncrewed Orion craft,
to enter a series of looping orbits of the Moon in 2020.
Astronauts are in training for Artemis 2
due to launch in 2022.
The current proposal will see a crew of four
sent to a retrograde orbit of the Moon
in a flight that could last as long as 21 days.
The powerful exploration upper stage
will not be ready for this flight,
and its proposed trajectory has been modified
to accommodate the limited capacity
of the Interim Cryogenic Upper Stage.
During this time,
the Artemis plan calls for commercial launch services
to make a series of uncrewed flights,
to position elements of the Lunar Gateway
and lunar lander in orbit around the Moon.
A contract has been signed with Maxar Technologies
for a power and propulsion element.
Some see this phase of the Artemis program as a weak link,
because the US Congress has been reluctant
to authorize additional funds.
There are no concrete blueprints for a lunar lander yet.
And some have suggested that the 2024 deadline
is being pushed too enthusiastically.
Artemis 3 will see a male and a female astronaut
land near the lunar south pole,
where ice exists within permanently shaded craters.
Long-term goals for NASA's Space Exploration initiative
include the development of technologies
that will enable a landing on the surface of Mars.
Finally, a different form of spacecraft
will soon be taking passengers.
(inspiring music)
Virgin Galactic will start taking paying customers
to space in 2020.
Everything about the company's spaceships,
enterprise and unity is reusable
and Virgin is building two additional spacecraft.
Passengers will experience weightlessness
for about six minutes.
Virgin is also entering the satellite business,
with a launcher service using
a 747 called Cosmic Girl,
acting as an air launch mothership.
(lively inspiring music)
(arrow whooshing)