18 | MANE AEROSPACE, DEFENCE & SPACE | APRIL 2019
Early morning on March 2nd SpaceX successfully launched its new Crew Dragon capsule for the future time, paving the way for passenger flights. This is the start of a milestone test needed to certify the vehicle for carrying passengers.
The capsule developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and splashed down off the coast of Cape Canaveral on Friday 8th March returning from a five-day mission docked to the International Space Station.
This flight was unmanned, however it did carry a lifelike test device called Ripley which was outfitted with sensors to provide data about potential effects that humans would experience if they were to travel in the spacecraft.
SpaceX will then use this data to refurbish its capsule for its next mission, which they are planning for the summer. Demo-2 will be the first crew tested flight which will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on the spacecraft’s final flight before it’s certified for routine operational missions.
You can see the highlights
from SpaceX Demo-1 here --->