By akademiotoelektronik, 12/09/2022

What's the first to pilot a new spacecraft?

This Saturday, and if the weather permits, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will climb in the Crew Dragon Capsule of SpaceX, direction the ISS.The two astronauts will, on this occasion, integrate the very closed club of the seven astronauts having piloted for the very first time a new spaceship.

The last time Americans went on a spaceship for the first time, it was in 1981, when astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen joined the Columbia space shuttle.John Young, who also carried out the first mission of the NASA Gemini program, died in 2018.It is Robert Crippen, 82, the only astronaut still alive to have ever piloted this type of machine for the first time.In a recent maintains Wired, the astronaut returned to his experience.

"When you are a recruit that goes up, it's good to have a pro with you"

Crippen was selected as nasa astronaut only a few months after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon.At the time, the Apollo program was still underway, but the American agency was already focusing on a completely different major project: the space shuttle program.

Crippen was then hired for his first test flight with Young, a veteran astronaut who also walked on the moon (penultimate Apollo mission, in April 1972).

Combining an old hand with a beginner astronaut was an unusual choice at the time, but Crippen stressed that it was necessary."When you are a recruit that goes up, it's good to have a pro with you," he recalls.These pairs were then the rule for several years, allowing the most experienced to transmit their knowledge to the "Blues".

In comparison, the first test flight of the Crew Dragon Capsule of SpaceX this time will involve two experienced astronauts.

On the one hand we have Bob Behnken.Selected in 2000, the astronaut made two flight shuttle flights (Mission STS-123 in March 2008 and Mission STS-130 in February 2010).He also has three outings in space to his credit.On the other hand we have Doug Hurley.Also selected as astronaut in 2000, he notably piloted the STS-127 mission in July 2009, then the STS-135 mission, the last of the space shuttle, scheduled for July 2011.

Thousands of hours spent in simulator

If Behnken and Hurley will briefly pilot the capsule during their mission, the Crew Dragon will fly independently during a large part of the trip.In this sense, Crippen's experience was a little different insofar as the piloting of space shuttles required more manual controls, especially during landing (while the capsule must bite by releasing a parachute).

Thus, like Behnken and Hurley in recent months, Crippen and Young have also spent an incalculable number of hours in simulators, so as to prepare for all possibilities.The astronaut explains indeed to have landed at least 1500 times virtually before joining the Colombia shuttle for its inaugural flight in 1981.

"We had confidence"

Note also that, unlike previous programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo), Crippen and Young piloted their ship while no crew flight had been previously made.This seems unthinkable today.Before Behnken and Hurley climb the Crew Dragon capsule, it was obviously deployed, alone, for a test mission to the space station (last year).

Despite this risk taking, Crippen stresses that he was no more worried than that.On the contrary, he said he was "very excited".

Like Behnken and Hurley, who acted as a link between NASA and SpaceX, Crippen had also spent a lot of time working with the companies responsible for building the shuttle."We were trusting," he explains.Some people were concerned about the fact that there had been no inhabited flight before, but John [Young] and I both thought that there was a better chances of success if we were on board ".

In addition to participating in the mission of the first shuttle, note that the astronaut was also a member of the very first crew of five people (STS-7, with the first American woman in space, Sally Ride).He also participated in the first satellite repair operation (Mission STS-41-C, which repaired the Satellite Solar Maximum Mission) and was a member of the very first crew of seven people (Mission STS-41-G).Yes, that makes a lot of first for one man.

Finally concerning the next flight of its accomplices in the Crew Dragon capsule which will take place this Saturday, Crippen has only one advice: "Take advantage!»».