Page 19 - Flight International (January 2020)

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SPACEFLIGHT DAN THISDELL PARIS
Now back to the Moon, via Germany

As NASA opens new era of Earth-orbit and deep space flight capability, European partners get ready for the ride

or crewed spaceflight, expect has been seconded to NASA’s as-
Fa big year in 2020. The USA Artemis 1 flight’s main tronaut office in Houston and the
plans to restore its independent rocket stage is readied assumption is that ESA will train
ability to launch astronauts, with ahead of testing its astronauts to fly to the ISS on
the service entry of low-Earth one of the new US capsules.
orbit crew launch systems by
Boeing and SpaceX. And, going SHARED PROJECTS
way beyond the International Critically, Soyuz seats are bought
Space Station, by year-end NASA by the Americans and shared
intends to make the maiden flight with non-Russian ISS partners on
of its Space Launch System (SLS) a barter basis, which has always
rocket with Orion crew capsule, been the principal mechanism
an ensemble designed to reach for sharing ISS projects.
the Moon. Europe is in the strong position
Together, these capabilities of providing a critical-path com-
promise to deliver a psycho- ponent of the SLS-Orion system
logical boost for a nation that has, NASA that will be the transport for
since it “won” the 1960s space NASA’s Artemis return-to-the-
race, invested a substantial share replace or update its reliable At least one of the US cap- Moon programme. While astro-
of its self-esteem in being master but 1960s-era Soyuz, the question sules, then, may be ready to fly nauts will ride in the Lockheed
of the cosmos. for the 2020s is: where is the crew within months. For the fore- Martin-built Orion capsule, the
But realising the Commercial USA going and who is along for seeable future, Crew Dragon, service module – providing pro-
Crew Earth-orbit scheme will also the ride? Starliner and Soyuz will share pulsion, life support and avionics
upset a balance of terrestrial Work started on NASA’s Com- ISS ride duties, and to maintain – comes from ESA.
power that has prevailed for near- mercial Crew programme in operations NASA is understood Built by Airbus in Bremen,
ly a decade. The last time human 2010, when it chose to outsource to be considering buying more Germany, and developed from its
crew flew in a US vehicle was transport rather than develop its Soyuz seats. robotic ISS resupply ship, the
2011, when the inspiring but fa- own post-Shuttle equipment. first European Service Module
tally flawed Space Shuttle was re- Contracts to fly astronauts were The White House has (ESM) is now in the USA for inte-
tired. Since then, US, Canadian, awarded to Boeing and SpaceX gration and testing before the
European and Japanese missions in 2014. Delays scuppered hope charged NASA with launch, either at the end of 2020
to the ISS have started from Bai- of flying from 2017, and last year or early 2021, of an uncrewed
konur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan both contractors suffered further putting American boots SLS-Orion proving mission
– Yuri Gagarin’s launch site – setbacks; SpaceX lost a Crew – including a pair worn around the Moon. A second ESM
aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Dragon capsule to a launchpad is under construction, contract
What’s more, since the final Apol- fire – later traced to fuel valves by a woman – back on negotiations are under way for a
lo mission, in 1972, nobody has and plumbing – while Boeing’s third and four, five and six are
had the hardware to push a crew uncrewed December test flight the Moon by 2024 also under discussion.
beyond low-Earth orbit; SLS-Ori- was only a partial success, failing In short, deep-space crewed
on will restore America’s sole su- to reach the ISS after a timer missions will not happen with-
premacy in deep space. problem prevented thrusters out Europe and ESA, and for the
from pushing the Starliner cap- But David Parker, the European Moon there is momentum.
PARTNERSHIP sule to a high enough orbit. Space Agency’s director of human A crewed Artemis mission will
Spaceflight has changed dramati- Early indications are the flight and robotic exploration, says the follow the proving flight, and the
cally since the 1960s and 1970s. was otherwise as planned, in- next ESA astronauts to go to the Donald Trump White House has
Where Apollo mirrored the exis- cluding the first-ever dry ground ISS may fly from the USA rather charged NASA with putting
tential, fiercely nationalistic Cold landing by a US space capsule, than Russia. Speaking to Flight- American boots – including a
War stand-off, the ISS has been a and it remains to be determined Global on the sidelines of ESA di- pair worn by a woman – back on
successful partnership built on whether Boeing will have to fly rector general Jan Woer ner’s an- the Moon by 2024. Parker adds
two anchor players – the Russia again to achieve certification. nual January press briefing in that while the details depend on
and USA – with essential and on- SpaceX, meanwhile, opened Paris, Parker had just returned “barter” agreements, he antici-
going contributions from Canada, 2020 with a spectacularly fiery from the USA – where he had pates a European astronaut riding
Europe and Japan. But with the and apparently successful flight “positive” discussions with Orion to the so-called Gateway
imminent end of the Russian from Cape Canaveral to an Atlan- NASA counterpart Doug Loverro space station that will serve as
mono poly on transport, and no tic splashdown to prove its cap- and also visited ESA’s Danish the jumping-off point for lunar
visible signs of Russian work on a sule’s escape rockets can lift it astronaut, Andreas Mogensen. sorties in 2025, and joining a mis-
new generation of spacecraft to clear of a failing booster. Parker notes that Mogensen sion to the surface in 2030. ■

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