SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft test fire ahead of first astronaut mission

SpaceX's Crew Dragon astronaut spacecraft successfully fired its launch-escape engines on the ground on Wednesday (Nov. 13) at the company's facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida — paving the way for a high-altitude rocket escape test and demonstrating engineers have apparently fixed the problem that triggered an explosion during a similar ground firing in April. If that test flight goes well, SpaceX is then poised to fly humans on the Crew Dragon for the first time next year.
The ground test Wednesday was a significant achievement for SpaceX as the company steps closer toward launching astronauts, a goal set back by months after an April 20 explosion destroyed a Crew Dragon spacecraft that had recently returned from an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station.
“Full duration static fire test of Crew Dragon’s launch escape system complete,” SpaceX tweeted Wednesday. “SpaceX and NASA teams are now reviewing test data and working toward an in-flight demonstration of Crew Dragon’s launch escape capabilities.”
SpaceX and NASA did not publicize the schedule for Wednesday’s static fire test in advance.
The test-firing occurred at approximately 3:08 p.m. EST Wednesday on a test stand at Landing Zone 1, the site where SpaceX lands Falcon 9 rocket boosters for reuse.
The engines that SpaceX ignited, are part of the Crew Dragon’s emergency abort system — a crucial part of the spacecraft that will activate if there’s ever a catastrophe during launch. The Crew Dragon is designed to travel into space on top of one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, but if for some reason that rocket fails in mid-air, the emergency engines embedded in the hull of the spacecraft will ignite and carry the capsule away to safety. The capsule would then land using its own parachutes.
In this video Engineering Today will discuss SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft which fired up its emergency escape engines. SpaceX passes Crew Dragon test that previously ended in an explosion.
Let’s get into details.

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