SpaceX launches and destroys rocket in critical astronaut escape test

Delayed a day by bad weather, Sunday's launch from Kennedy Space Center brought together hundreds of SpaceX, NASA and Air Force employees on land, at sea and in the air.

BS : SpaceX completed the last big test of its crew capsule before launching astronauts in as little as two months, mimicking an emergency escape shortly after liftoff Sunday.

No one was aboard for the wild ride in the skies above Cape Canaveral, just two mannequins.

A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off as normal, but just over a minute into its supersonic flight, the Dragon crew capsule catapulted off the top 12 miles (20 kilometers) above the Atlantic.

Powerful thrusters on the capsule propelled it up and out of harm's way, as the rocket engines deliberately shut down and the booster tumbled out of control in a fiery flash.

The capsule reached an altitude of about 27 miles (44 kilometers) before parachuting into the ocean just offshore to bring the nine-minute test flight to a close and pave the way for two NASA astronauts to climb aboard next time.

SpaceX flight controllers at the company's California headquarters cheered every milestone especially the splashdown. Everything appeared to go well despite the choppy seas.

Recycled from three previous launches, the SpaceX rocket was destroyed as it crashed into the sea in pieces. The company founded and led by Elon Musk normally recovers its boosters, landing them upright on a floating platform or back at the launch site.

"That's the main objective of this test, is to show that we can carry the astronauts safely away from the rocket in case anything's going wrong," said SpaceX's Benji Reed, director of crew mission management.

"This test is very important to us ... a huge practice session," Reed added.

NASA's commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders, said the launch abort test was "our last open milestone" before allowing SpaceX to launch Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station.

She said that could happen as soon as March.

"We are purposely failing a launch vehicle to make sure that our abort system on the spacecraft, that will be flying for our crews, works," Lueders said in advance of the demo.

A-SAT missile test created 400 pieces of debris, put ISS at risk: Nasa

Nasa's Jim Bridenstine said about 60 pieces have been tracked so far and out of which 24 are going above the apogee of the ISS.

The NASA on Tuesday termed as a "terrible thing" India's shooting down of one of its satellites that has created about 400 pieces of orbital debris, endangering the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said about 60 pieces have been tracked so far and out of which 24 are going above the apogee of the ISS.

"That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris and an apogee that goes above the international space station. That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight that we need to see have happen," he said at a NASA townhall here.

"The ASAT test by India last week has resulted in about 400 pieces of orbital debris," he added.

Bridenstine said not all of the pieces were big enough to track and the NASA is right now tracking objects which are 10 centimeters or bigger.

"Some 60 pieces of orbital debris have been tracked so far, 24 out of which poses risk to the International Space Station," he said.

Bridenstine was addressing employees of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address, announced that India shot down a satellite in space with a missile, catapulting the country into an elite club of space powers alongside the US, Russia and China

Bridenstine is the first top official from the Trump administration to come out in public against the India's ASAT test.

"We are charged with commercialising of low earth orbit. We are charged with enabling more activities in space than we've ever seen before for the purpose of benefiting the human condition, whether it's pharmaceuticals or printing human organs in 3D to save lives here on earth or manufacturing capabilities in space that you're not able to do in a gravity well," he said.

"All of those are placed at risk when these kinds of events happen," Bridenstine said as he feared India's ASAT test could risk proliferation of such activities by other countries.

"When one country does it, other countries feel like they have to do it as well," he said.

"It's unacceptable. The NASA needs to be very clear about what its impact to us is," the NASA Administrator said.

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Gaganyaan mission: In a first, India to send humans into space for 7 days

The total programme is expected to be completed before 2022 with the first unmanned flight within 30 months.

Indias first manned space flight - Gaganyaan - is expected to send three persons into the space for seven days and the spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km.

Giving details of the programme at a press conference here, Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh said GSLV Mk III, the three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle, will be used to launch Gaganyaan as it has the necessary payload capability.

He said two unmanned Gaganyaan missions will be undertaken prior to sending humans.

"The total programme is expected to be completed before 2022 with the first unmanned flight within 30 months. The mission will aim to send a three-person crew to space for a period of seven days. The spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km. The programme is expected to cost less than Rs 10 billion," Singh said.

ALSO READ: Gaganyaan: Isro's first manned space mission on schedule, says Raghavan

The Gaganyaan mission was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address. He had said that by 2022 or even before that, some of the young boys and girls will unfurl the Tricolour in space.

Sing said the complex programme will truly be a national endeavour with the participation of ISRO, academia, industry as well as other government and private agencies as stake holders.

"The mission will make India the fourth nation in the world to launch a Human Spaceflight Mission," Singh said.

To accelerate the programme, ISRO may consider seeking collaborations with space agencies from friendly countries and advanced space programmes, he said.

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