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SpaceX Test Fires SuperDraco Abort Engines Critical To Astronaut Launch Safety
SpaceX test fires its SuperDraco engine that will eventually power the manned Dragon spacecraft launch escape system critical for Astronaut safety during launch to orbit. Credit: SpaceX
Watch the Engine Test video below
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has test fired a prototype of its new SuperDraco engine that will be critical to saving the lives of astronauts flying aboard a manned Dragon spacecraft soaring to orbit in the event of an in-flight emergency.
The successful full-duration, full-thrust firing of the new SuperDraco engine prototype was completed at the company’s Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas. The SuperDraco is a key component of the launch abort system of the Dragon spacecraft that must fire in a split second to insure crew safety during launch and the entire ascent to orbit.
The Dragon spacecraft is SpaceX’s entry into NASA’s commercial crew development program – known as CCDEV2 – that seeks to develop a commercial ‘space taxi’ to launch human crews to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station (ISS). (…)
Read the rest of SpaceX Test Fires SuperDraco Abort Engines Critical To Astronaut Launch Safety (579 words)
© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Commercial Crew, Dragon, Falcon 9, International Space Station (ISS), low earth orbit, NASA, space taxi, Space X Dragon, SpaceX
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