OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dicit:

The Crew Demo-2 was planned for launch in July 2019 as part of the Commercial Crew Development contract with a crew of two on a 14-day test mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It is expected to be the first American spacecraft to fly crew into orbit since STS-135 in July 2011, though depending on the success of their respective test programs this honor could go to the crewed flight test of the Boeing Starliner.

On April 20, 2019, the Crew Dragon capsule from the Demo-1 mission was destroyed during static fire testing of its SuperDraco thrusters, ahead of its planned use for an inflight abort test. SpaceX traced the cause of the static fire anomaly to a valve that leaked propellant into high pressure helium lines. As of October 23, 2019, a new static fire test is expected to take place in early November, to be followed by a drop test campaign to qualify the upgraded parachute system. If all tests are successful, the Demo-2 mission could take place during the first quarter of 2020. NASA is considering extending the duration of the mission, enabling it to perform a standard crew rotation.

Video Credit: SpaceX

Wikipedia dicit:

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner (Crew Space Transportation) is a crew capsule manufactured by Boeing as its participation in NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program. Its primary purpose is to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and to private space stations such as the proposed Bigelow Aerospace Commercial Space Station.

The capsule has a diameter of 4.56 meters (15.0 ft), which is slightly larger than the Apollo command module and smaller than the Orion capsule. The Starliner is to support larger crews of up to seven people and is being designed to be able to remain in-orbit for up to seven months with reusability of up to ten missions. It is designed to be compatible with four launch vehicles: Atlas V, Delta IV, Falcon 9, and Vulcan.

In the first phase of its CCDev program NASA awarded Boeing US$18 million in 2010 for preliminary development of the spacecraft. In the second phase Boeing was awarded a $93 million contract in 2011 for further spacecraft development. On August 3, 2012, NASA announced the award of $460 million to Boeing to continue work on the CST-100 under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) Program. On September 16, 2014, NASA selected the CST-100, along with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, for the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) program, with an award of $4.2 billion. On July 30, 2019, NASA had no specific dates for Commercial Crew launches, stating that this was under review pending a leadership change.

Starliner’s uncrewed test flight launched with the Atlas V N22, on December 20, 2019 from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. During the test, the Starliner experienced an anomaly that precluded a docking with the International Space Station. Two days after launch, on December 22, 2019 at 7:58 a.m. EST (1258 GMT), with the successful landing at White Sands, New Mexico, the CST-100 became the first-ever, crew-capable space capsule to make a land-based touchdown in the United States.

Video Credit: NASA

Blue Origin dicit:

Blue Origin has been demonstrating the safety, reliability and robustness of the New Shepard vehicle through its flight program and is moving towards verifying the system for human spaceflight. An important part of preparing for our astronauts is rehearsing procedures for training and launch day, like entering the capsule on the tower, which is shown here.

Video Credit: Blue Origin

Blue Origin dicit:

We’re currently testing the newest member of the BE-3 family, BE-3U (upper stage), a variant of the BE-3PM propelling New Shepard. With a back-to-back turbine assembly and a larger nozzle, BE-3U is optimized to operate in the vacuum of space and generates 710 kN (160,000 lbf) thrust in vacuum.

Two BE-3U engines power New Glenn’s restartable upper stage, enabling the full range of customer missions including direct injection to geostationary orbit. Building on years of operational experience and rigorous testing, BE-3U will be one of the best understood rocket engines when it launches into space.

Video Credit: Blue Origin

Wikipedia dicit:

The Progress is a Russian expendable cargo spacecraft. Its purpose is to deliver supplies needed to sustain human presence in orbit. While it does not carry a crew it can be boarded by astronauts when docked with a space station, hence it being classified as manned by its manufacturer. Progress is derived from the manned Soyuz spacecraft and launches on the same vehicle, a Soyuz rocket.

Progress has supported space stations as early as Salyut 6 and as recently as the International Space Station. Each year there are between three and four Progress flights to the ISS. A Progress remains docked until shortly before being replaced with a new one or a Soyuz (which will use the same docking port). Then it is filled with waste, disconnected, and de-orbited, at which point it burns up in the atmosphere. Due to the variation in Progress vehicles flown to the ISS, NASA uses its own nomenclature where “ISS 1P” means the first Progress spacecraft to ISS.

Progress was developed because of the need for a constant source of supplies to make long duration space missions possible. It was determined that cosmonauts needed an inflow of consumables (food, water, air, etc.), plus there was a need for maintenance items and scientific payloads that necessitated a dedicated cargo carrier. Such payloads were impractical to launch with passengers in the restricted space of a Soyuz. As of 1 December 2016 there have been 155 Progress flights with three failures. All three failures have occurred since 2011.

Video Credit: Roscosmos

Wikipedia dicit:

The SpaceX Dragon is a reusable cargo spacecraft developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company. Dragon is launched into orbit by the company’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

During its maiden flight in December 2010, Dragon became the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to be recovered successfully from orbit. On 25 May 2012, a cargo variant of Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with and attach to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX is contracted to deliver cargo to the ISS under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program, and Dragon began regular cargo flights in October 2012.

On 3 June 2017, the CRS-11 capsule, largely assembled from previously flown components from the CRS-4 mission in September 2014, was launched again for the first time, with the hull, structural elements, thrusters, harnesses, propellant tanks, plumbing and many of the avionics reused while the heat shield, batteries and components exposed to sea water upon splashdown for recovery were replaced.

Video Credit: NASA Kennedy/SpaceX