The Falcon 9 first stage was damaged during transport, a SpaceX spokesperson told reporters during a briefing today (Aug. 4). The subject of the briefing was SpaceX’s delayed Crew-5 mission, which is now scheduled to fly four people to the International Space Station in late September aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft. NASA disclosed the damage to Crew-5’s booster in mid-July, but the bridge crash does not appear to have been officially confirmed outside of media reports, such as this one from NASASpaceflight (opens in new tab), until today. In Pictures: Amazing launch photos of SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission “The booster stage came into contact with a bridge en route,” Benjamin Reed, senior director of SpaceX’s human spaceflight program, told NASA’s live briefing. As is typical for Falcon 9 boosters, the rocket stage was on a tractor-trailer moving between a SpaceX production facility in Hawthorne, California, and a test facility in McGregor, Texas, when the incident occurred, he said. “We assessed that damage. It was a fairly small intrusion, but it still caused some damage,” Reed continued. “We decided to replace the composite intermediate stage and some of the other components in this first stage.” Reed added that SpaceX went through a “very robust analysis and testing process” on that Falcon 9, and it was sometime during that time that the Crew-5 astronauts were made aware of the issue. Crew-5 includes NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina. “We’ve had some very transparent conversations with them,” Mann told reporters in a separate NASA briefing broadcast live today that included the four crew members. SpaceX leadership frequently spoke to the crew about “modifications and challenges” related to the crash, he said. “Everyone is definitely on the same page that the hardware has to be reliable and it has to be secure,” Mann continued. “We have every confidence that NASA and SpaceX and international partners are not going to put us on a rocket or spacecraft that they don’t think is ready to go.” Reed reiterated that focus on safety in his own comments, saying that SpaceX took a process “to assure that this stage would be ready to go and it would be absolutely safe to fly the crew as we do for every mission.” He added: “We want to make sure it’s the safest. We have all certified that it is [that way]and that we are sure to fly the crew members.”
Russia controls six modules on the International Space Station. (Image: NASA) NASA is framing Crew-5 as an unprecedented opportunity in international space cooperation, citing Kikina’s presence on a US commercial spacecraft — the first for any Russian federal space agency cosmonaut — as evidence. (Kikina’s position was held through a seat-swapping negotiation that will continue to put NASA astronauts aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which they’ve flown in for years.) Crew-5 preparations, however, are taking place amid more turmoil in the relationship between the ISS’s two main partners: NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. After months of threats from Roscosmos officials, new chief Yuri Borisov said in July that his agency would withdraw from the ISS partnership “after 2024,” which is the year the current agreement expires. Borisov later clarified the statement, saying that Roscosmos will “start the exit process” around 2024 as it prepares to build and operate a Russian space station at the end of the decade. NASA and international partners emphasized in today’s briefings that discussions are continuing to negotiate the separation in the coming years.
Artist’s conception of the Russian Orbiting Space Station, Roscosmos’ touted next human spaceflight effort after the International Space Station. (Image: Roscosmos) The ISS coalition met Friday (July 29) at the regular Multilateral Coordination Board (MCB) session to discuss plans, NASA’s human spaceflight chief Kathy Luders told reporters. “Our end gives us direction to continue the space station until 2030,” Lunders said, referring to legislation awaiting US President Joe Biden’s signature to extend NASA’s involvement until that date. (Media reports say Biden will sign the legislation next week.) Partners who wish to continue the relationship after 2024, Lueders added, “are also working on their plans and gradually looking for support.” As for what’s next with Russia, “We have to wait and see what the administration wants each of us to do,” he said. “To be fair, they are still in the process of getting approval. The aim would be to talk about their progress at our next MCB, which is scheduled in the next six or seven months.” Echoing earlier comments by Roscosmos about Russian ISS components, which are rated for 15 years of service and in some cases approaching 25 years in orbit, the executive director of the agency’s human spaceflight programs said it’s time to get ready for a station replacement. But this will not be an immediate process. “We are looking for projects for the new station, but for now, we are working on extending the operation and we don’t know for how long yet,” Sergei Krikalev said at the briefing in Russian. his comments were interpreted on the spot into English. “When there is a technical reason for termination… of course, we will coordinate with our partners on our interface processes to make it as seamless as possible for all program participants,” he added. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which supplies the Kibo science module and robotic technology to the ISS, “continues to work closely with international partners to ensure the stability of this operation,” said Hiroshi Sasaki, vice president and general manager of human spaceflight. organization flight. technology direction, in the same update. “We have no issues regarding the extension, so we want to continue to support the program,” Sasaki continued, but added that technical evaluations are ongoing. Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and Facebook (opens in new tab).
