NASA astronauts explain difference between SpaceX Dragon Crew's ride and Space Shuttle

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken who flew in the Dragon Crew spacecraft on May 30 spoke to SpaceX officials and employees from the International Space Station. During a live conference from the ISS, the astronauts shared their first-hand experience of the commercial spacecraft.

Behnken talked about the difference in the experience with staging between the space shuttle and the Dragon since they didn’t shut down the main engine on the space shuttle. He said that there was a significant difference between the solid rocket boosters on the shuttle in the second stage, adding that they definitely felt that separation and heard the clunk associated with it.

“Doug and I both commented that we did feel some early 0-G (zero gravity) when we came off of the first stage and we were getting ready to transition to the second stage and then we felt that second stage light,” said Behnken.

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'Similar to Apollo 13 movie'

Speaking about the key moment during the ascent phase and technological differences, Hurley said that Falcon 9 is a liquid fuel rocket while the shuttle had solid rocket boosters which burned very rough for the first two and a half minutes. He said that difference started during staging which was very similar to the Apollo 13 movie when it took some time between the “booster separating and merlin vacuum engine starting”. 

“At that point, we go from roughly 3-G from 0-G for half a second. When merlin vacuum engine fires then we start accelerating again for the next 5-6 minutes until we achieve orbit,” he added.

The Crew Dragon capsule blasted off from Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Pad 39A on May 30 at 3:22pm EDT to the International Space Station from the American turf for the first time in nine years. Space veterans Hurley and Behnken rode off the capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from the launch pad which was used by the Apollo Moon missions nearly half a century ago. 

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