Marshall team prepares for upcoming Commercial Crew Launch

A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program - the first time since the end of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011.? The Commercial Crew Program was formed to facilitate the development of a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit. The mission, known as Demo-2, is currently targeted for May 27 at 4:32 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Behnken and Hurley will launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket, en route to an extended stay on the station. "The Commercial Crew Program has challenged the traditional way of developing human spaceflight launch vehicles by shifting the way we think," said Bobby Watkins, manager of the Human Exploration Development and Operations Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "This is a huge moment for NASA and its partners, and we are proud at Marshall to be a small part of this monumental mission." The Human Exploration Development and Operations Office at Marshall supports the Commercial Crew Program with engineers that have helped review critical design and development documentation. The team also helps provide oversight to safety standards for the spacecraft and verifies data. For the launch, members of the team will be present in the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at Marshall and will work closely with teams at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida and Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas to monitor launch conditions.

The team has already conducted several simulations in the HOSC, and will continue to do so in preparation for launch. During the simulations, participants use headsets and voice loops to communicate with flight control teams at Kennedy and Johnson Space Center as well as SpaceX. Marshall team members help analyze data for the simulations in real time,

"Using the HOSC for the simulations protected our employees by not having to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Steve Gaddis, launch vehicle deputy manager for the Commercial Crew Program. "This recent sim makes the excitement all the more tangible - especially for the team here at Marshall."

For almost 20 years, humans have continuously lived and worked aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies that enable us to prepare for human exploration to the Moon and Mars.

The station's design requires humans living aboard to maintain it, operate it, and upgrade it; thus, International Space Station operations, including commercial resupply and commercial crew, are essential to the mission. Marshall also supports the station by operating the Payload Operations Integration Center, which operates, plans and coordinates the science experiments onboard 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

NASA, SpaceX Simulate Upcoming Crew Mission with Astronauts

Joint teams from NASA and SpaceX continue making progress on the first flight test with astronauts to the International Space Station by completing a series of mission simulations from launch to landing. The mission, known as Demo-2, is a close mirror of the company's uncrewed flight test to station in March 2019, but this time with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft launching atop a Falcon 9 rocket as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). Over the last several months, key members of flight control teams working from NASA's Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers and SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, simulated different phases of the upcoming mission while the Demo-2 astronaut crew practiced procedures from inside a realistic simulator of Crew Dragon. "The simulations were a great opportunity to practice procedures and to coordinate decision-making for the mission management team, especially with respect to weather," said Michael Hess, manager of Operations Integration for CCP. "Simulation supervisors do a great job at picking cases that really make the team think and discuss." Recent simulations saw teams execute timelines from hatch closure to undocking with the space station - as well as a free flight in preparation for re-entry and splashdown. In March, the control teams and crew ran through a simulated mission starting at prelaunch and continuing through ascent and eventual rendezvous with the station. This recent sim makes the excitement all the more tangible, especially for the greater NASA team.

"What's happening in commercial crew is a big deal," Hess said. "It will be the first time to launch astronauts from U.S. soil since the end of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011, and it will be the first time since STS-1 that we will launch astronauts in a new spacecraft. This new spacecraft, Crew Dragon, was designed and built by SpaceX, not by NASA and traditional contractor partnerships - another first. Bob (Behnken) and Doug (Hurley) will definitely be earning their spacecraft test pilot wings with this mission. Also, the Space Station Program is really looking forward to another way to rotate crews to station to perform science and experiments to benefit all."

As the countdown clock winds down, Crew Dragon is undergoing final testing and prelaunch processing in a SpaceX facility on nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. All the activity is also kicking off "more simulations, final crew training and flight readiness reviews to ensure all of the mission systems and subsystems are ready for a crewed test flight," Hess noted.

When Crew Dragon launches atop a Falcon 9 rocket with Behnken and Hurley strapped inside as early as mid-to-late May, it will herald a new era for human spaceflight, enabling greater access to low-Earth orbit and destinations beyond with the help of commercial partners.

The Demo-2 crew is proceeding with its scheduled training activities. Astronaut trainers, along with all NASA employees, are closely adhering to CDC recommendations on infection control for the coronavirus. As all NASA centers are currently operating in a mode that requires any non-mission-essential work to be done remotely, the number of employees in contact with the crew is limited.