The first private spacecraft in space: Ilon Musk sent Ripley's dummy from Alien to the ISS

This morning, for the first time in history, a private ship departed for the International Space Station (ISS). it

Crew Dragon company Ilona Mask SpaceX.

How it was

The launch took place at 9:49 Kiev time from the launch site of the LC-39A complex of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From here at one time American Apollos with astronauts on board went to the moon.

Ship Crew Dragon put into spacethe Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which then landed successfully on one of the company’s unmanned barges in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the 35th successful landing of SpaceX.

Why do you need it

The mission itself is a test and is called SpX-DM1(Demonstration Mission 1). Inside the ship Crew Dragon they planted Ripley's dummy - in honor of the heroine Ellen Ripley from the movie “Alien” (Ilon in her repertoire), as well as a soft toy of the earth. The mannequin is crammed with various sensors that monitor the status and indicators of the "passenger" during the entire flight. The fact is that Crew Dragon is a passenger ship and is designed to send people into space. Of course, the first time living people sent with him did not dare, but Ripley will help to understand how the flight will affect a person. In the future, space tourists will be able to fly around the moon on Crew Dragon.

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The weight of people is compensated by the load - 182 kg of food, scientific equipment and materials for the ISS.

What's next

Tomorrow at 10 am Kyiv time shipshould get to the ISS. He will "park" automatically, without the help of astronauts or a robotic arm. If the landing is successful - astronauts Anne McClain from NASA, David Saint-Jacques from Canada and Oleg Kononenko from Russia will meet the Crew Dragon station. They will pick up the cargo and check the condition of the ship.

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On the ISS, Crew Dragon will not stay long: on Friday morning, already with another cargo, he will go back to Earth. With the help of a parachute system, he must land in the Atlantic Ocean near Florida.

Source: SpaceX 1, 2