Weather could postpone Crew Dragon return - SpaceNews

WASHINGTON — NASA and SpaceX are ready to wrap up a test flight of the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, but poor weather could delay the return of the spacecraft and its two-person crew.

2, said Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, at a briefing after the review.

The undocking and splashdown will wrap up a mission that both NASA and SpaceX said they’ve been pleased with to date.

Once the spacecraft returns, NASA and SpaceX will inspect the spacecraft and review data as part of a process that will culminate with a formal NASA certification of the spacecraft for operational flights.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft that will fly that mission is nearing completion at SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California, factory and will ship to Florida in early August, said Benji Reed, director of crew mission management at SpaceX.

SpaceX won approval from NASA in May to start reusing both the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the first stages of Falcon 9 rockets on commercial crew missions, starting with Crew-2.

“We’ve continued over the last number of years proving the awesomeness of reuse and reflight, and the importance of it,” Reed said of the decision to reuse Crew Dragon spacecraft, noting its advantages not just in economics but also safety and reliability.