It was an almost blink-and-you’ll-miss-it event: SpaceX tested its “pad abort” system for the Dragon capsule this morning, with the launch occurring right on time at 09:00 EDT.
Within minutes, SpaceX had video (note: check your volume setting; this is loud):
Just before launch you can see the water dump, done to suppress fire and vibration damage from the sound. Then the eight SuperDraco engines fire, and holy wow does the capsule leave in a hurry!
At T+15 seconds the lower trunk (which in a real flight supports the capsule on the rocket stack and would contain unpressurized cargo and the capsule’s solar arrays) disengages and falls away. The capsule then flips nearly all the way over, and the parachutes release. That stops the near-tumble, and the capsule fell safely into the water at T+1:38.
The test looked successful, and I have unofficial word it went as planned.
But there was an odd moment during launch. At T+37 the announcer says, “Downrange distance …” but never completes the sentence. Another voice says something unintelligible a few seconds later, there’s an unintelligible reply, and then at T+48 we hear, “Hang tight, everyone.”
After that, nothing. The capsule splashes down, but we hear no more official word.
It’s too early to speculate over this, honestly, because again, to be clear, there is no official word yet. I’m awaiting the report from SpaceX and/or NASA on how everything went, and I’ll update this post when I hear more.
For information on the background behind this test, please read my post from May 5.
Correction, May 6, 2015, at 14:30 UTC: I originally misstated that the test went off at 07:00 EDT, but it was 09:00. It was originally set for 07:00.
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