SpaceX Delays First Crewed Flight Of Its Dragon Capsule For NASA (theverge.com)

NASA says the first crewed test flight of SpaceX's Dragon vehicle has been delayed until May 2018. From a report on The Verge: In the wake of its September 1st rocket explosion, SpaceX has officially delayed the first crewed flight of its Crew Dragon vehicle -- the capsule that the company is building to take NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Originally planned for late 2017, the first flight of the Crew Dragon with people on board is now slated to take place in May of 2018, according to a NASA blog post. Prior to that flight, SpaceX will perform a demonstration mission of Crew Dragon in November 2017 -- a flight that won't include any astronauts. There had been heavy speculation that the flight would be delayed following the accident, in which a Falcon 9 rocket exploded as it was being fueled on a Florida launch pad. And SpaceX says the move was made as the company finalizes its investigation into the accident. "As this investigation has been conducted, our Commercial Crew team has continued to work closely with NASA and is completing all planned milestones for this period," SpaceX said in a statement to The Verge. "We are carefully assessing our designs, systems, and processes taking into account the lessons learned and corrective actions identified. Our schedule reflects the additional time needed for this assessment and implementation."

Comments

Previously announced on 1 Sept

[frank249]

The tunnel crack problem was discovered in Jan 2015 so they have had awhile to work on it. This was first revealed on 1 Sept 2016 in the Commercial Crew program update.

'NASA Program officials anticipate SpaceX will encounter additional delays on the path to certification. For example, in January 2015, the tunnel that provides a passageway for astronauts and cargo between the Dragon and the ISS was reported to have cracked during the heat treatment phase of the manufacturing process. As a result, SpaceX delayed qualification testing by approximately one year to better align the tests as SpaceX moves toward certification. SpaceX has also experienced ongoing issues with stress fractures in turbopumps that must be resolved prior to flight.23 Additionally, SpaceX has not yet completed parachute system level testing which may reveal issues that would require redesign that could further delay the test flights. Accordingly, we anticipate additional schedule slippage and do not expect certified flights by SpaceX earlier than late 2018.'

Boeing, Sierra Nevada, and SpaceX all delayed.

[Bruce Perens]

Boeing had earlier said they would be delayed in providing a man-ready CST-100 spacecraft. Boeing's spacecraft is supposed to be compatible with several rockets (including the SpaceX Falcon 9) but probably would launch on an Atlas V. Sierra Nevada, well I'm having trouble taking them seriously and always have, there's no chance that Dream Chaser will be ready before the others. Nor will Blue Origin.

Re:Boeing, Sierra Nevada, and SpaceX all delayed.

[WindBourne]

well, BO's new shep. capsule will not work for orbital work. As such, they are not in the running on this.
Likewise, SNC is not developing a crewed version, at this time. They are strictly focused on cargo.

It would be nice to see Dragon V2 work on other launchers. In particular, Atlas or Delta. I suspect that Dragon will be ready much sooner than cst-100.

Re:Boeing, Sierra Nevada, and SpaceX all delayed.

[Bruce Perens]

I surmise that WindBourne brought this up because so many people need to be to have it explained to them that New Shepard is not an orbital rocket. By now, we just start explaining every time Blue Origin is mentioned. No surprise, really, that most people don't have it clear in their heads how much additional energy it takes to go into orbit rather than just to really high and fall down again.

Re:Boeing, Sierra Nevada, and SpaceX all delayed.

[WindBourne]

there are ppl on this site that have still not heard of BO, and others that read about it about for the first time with your post.
They just need to understand that it will be a while before humans launch and that SpaceX and Boeing really are all that we will have for the next 4-5 years.

Talk about dodging a bullet

[AlanObject]

Can you imagine being one of the designated crew? I wonder what they will be doing for the next 2 years or so while the launch moratorium is in effect. It doesn't make sense for them to just sit around drawing a salary but maybe that's exactly what they get.

In the words of John Young, first shuttle pilot: if you aren't a bit nervous you really don't know what is going on. Two years is a long time to sit thinking about it.

Re:Talk about dodging a bullet

[SpaceDave]

It doesn't make sense for them to just sit around drawing a salary but maybe that's exactly what they get.

No, astronauts don't just sit around. If you add up the hours of an astronaut's career you'll see that even those with the most flight time spend almost all their time on the ground except a few relatively short stints in space. They are involved in all sorts of activities including R&D, developing missions, testing procedures, etc. It's a busy life. Most astronaut's I've spoken to say you have to treat the actual spaceflight as the icing on the cake rather than the focus of the job.

Re:Why?

[bill_mcgonigle]

We can't stop progress for every bump in the road!

The fueling explosion mishap set their schedule back by several months and the crew mission is being delayed by several months.

Frankly, it would have been actual news if the crew schedule had remained fixed and not pushed back by the overall delay.

Re:Why?

[Bruce Perens]

Not a chance in hell that I'd ride that thing.

I bet you're just waiting for the phone to ring so you can say "no". :-)

I have a feeling for those ships,
Each worn and ancient one,
With great bluff bows, and broad in the beam:
Ay, it was unkindly done.
But so they serve the Obsolete -
Even so, Stone Fleet!

To scuttle them - a pirate deed -
Sack them, and dismast;
They sunk so slow, they died so hard,
But gurgling dropped at last.
Their ghosts in gales repeat
Woe's us, Stone Fleet!

- Herman Melville