Damaged SpaceX Rocket Delays NASA's Next Astronaut Mission

Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station has been delayed by nearly a month because the Falcon 9 booster was damaged during transport.

The Crew-5 mission — the fifth of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program — will now launch no earlier than September 29. The launch was supposed to start in early September, meaning the mission has been delayed by nearly a month. The revised schedule will allow SpaceX to “complete hardware processing,” according to a NASA statement.

SpaceX is preparing a Falcon 9 booster for its maiden voyage, but obstacles along the way have resulted in some extra work and scheduling changes, as NASA explains:

SpaceX removed and replaced the rocket interstage and some onboard instrumentation after hardware was damaged during transportation from SpaceX’s production plant in Hawthorne, California, to the company’s McGregor test facility in Texas for stage testing. The SpaceX team completed – and the NASA team reviewed – load, shock, and structural analysis, coupled with detailed inspections and X-rays, to verify damage isolated to the interstage and ensure the integrity of the rest of the boosters.

So, that doesn’t sound like a big deal. However, it is not clear when the damage occurred or what happened during the transport that caused the booster which was not flown to fail. After replacement of the faulty hardware, the booster will undergo further tests before flight certification. The trusted and reusable Falcon 9 rocket is the first and only commercial rocket certified to deliver NASA astronauts to the ISS.

Houston, we have a launch date@NASA_Astronaut Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA’s Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina will go to @Space station no earlier than September 29. https://t.co/apUrx2YZEe pic.twitter.com/tzQyvOhi3b

— NASA Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) 22 July 2022

The delayed launch means Russia’s manned Soyuz MS-22 mission, currently scheduled for launch on September 21, will reach the ISS before Crew-5. The capsule will deliver Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the orbital laboratory. The Soyuz MS-21 will then return cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Sergey Korsakov, and Denis Matveev to the surface.

Crew-5 consisted of NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA’s Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina. Rubio and Kikina were part of a recent seat swap agreement between NASA and Roscosmos.

Crew Dragon Endurance on the ISS. (Photo: NASA)

Kikina will make history by becoming the first Russian cosmonaut to board the SpaceX Crew Dragon. He will get on the ship ResistanceThe Crew Dragon that flew previously during the Crew-3 mission from November 11, 2021 to May 6, 2022. Resistance is currently undergoing repairs at SpaceX’s processing facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The team installed new components, including heat shields, parachutes and pod panels. Crew-5 will be unique in that it will be the first mission in which all four Draco front bulkhead thrusters will be reused for a NASA mission. The Draco engine makes it possible to reorient the Crew Dragon and make altitude adjustments when the spacecraft is in low Earth orbit.

Once the repair is complete, SpaceX will ship Resistance to the corporate hangar at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The capsule will be mated to a Falcon 9 rocket and then launched for an integrated static fire test prior to the scheduled launch.

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