Demo-2 Mission

• 02 May 2020

Why in News

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and SpaceX are all set for the Demo-2 mission which is scheduled for 27^th May, 2020 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.

• Demo-2 Mission will send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Key Points

• Under the Mission, astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will dock with ISS and then remain there for between one to four months, depending on the time of next mission.
• It is a part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which is a partnership to develop and fly human space transportation systems.
• SpaceX spacecraft named Crew Dragon will be used to take them into space.
  
  • It will be only the fifth class of US spacecraft to take human beings into orbit, after the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.
• It is a high priority mission for the US which is clear by the fact that the mission is being carried out amidst Covid-19 pandemic.
• The mission is a major milestone for SpaceX, which is a private company founded by Elon Musk, who is the founder of Tesla.
  
  • It has established itself as the leader in the private space sector mainly due to its reusable rocket, the Falcon 9.
• NASA classifies the impact of space flight on humans in 5 broad criteria known as 5 Hazards. These are:
  
  • Radiation
  • Isolation and confinement
  • Distance from Earth
  • Gravity
  • Hostile/closed environments
• Health Specific Impacts:
  
  • Weightlessness and osteoporosis
  • Telomeres get longer during spaceflight
  • Decreased body mass and increased folate in orbit
  • Spaceflight can Trigger Gene Mutations

Project Mercury (1958-63)

• It was the first US man-in-space program.
• The objectives of the program, which made six manned flights from 1961 to 1963, were specific:
  
  • To orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth.
  • To investigate man's ability to function in space.
  • To recover both man and spacecraft safely.

Gemini Program (1962-66)

• Designed as a bridge between the Mercury and Apollo programs, it primarily tested equipment and mission procedures and trained astronauts and ground crews for future Apollo missions.
• Four main goals:
  
  • To test an astronaut's ability to fly long-duration missions (up to two weeks in space).
  • To understand how spacecraft could meet and dock in orbit around the Earth and the moon.
  • To perfect re-entry and landing methods.
  • To further understand the effects of longer space flights on astronauts.

Apollo Program (1963-72)

• It was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth.
  
  • Six of the missions (Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) achieved this goal.
  • These missions returned with scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples.
• Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to go to the moon. This mission did not land on the moon. It orbited the moon, then came back to Earth.
• Apollo 11 was the first moon landing mission. It landed on 20^th July, 1969. The crew of Apollo 11 was Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

Space Shuttle Program (1981-2011)

• NASA's space shuttle fleet, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, flew 135 missions and helped construct the ISS.
• The spacecraft carried people into orbit repeatedly, launched, recovered and repaired satellites, conducted cutting-edge research and built the largest structure in space.
• The final space shuttle mission, STS-135, ended on 21^st July, 2011.
• As humanity's first reusable spacecraft, the space shuttle pushed the boundaries of discovery ever farther, requiring not only advanced technologies but the tremendous effort of a vast workforce.

Source: HT