Elon musk's insane Dragon capsule upgrade that shocked NASA recall that in a recent leak in a
soyuz spacecraft Russian cosmonauts were left stranded in space because in case something
suddenly happens on the ISS that requires emergency evacuation they don't have a ride back
to Earth this led to a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft being upgraded in orbit to transport an additional
astronaut back to Earth if necessary how is SpaceX pulling off this incredible feat let's find out
hello everyone welcome back to Elon Musk Evolution where we bring you the most recent news about
Elon Musk and his multi-billion dollar companies space news and the latest science and technology
but before we begin make sure you subscribe to our Channel and click the Bell icon so you don't
miss any of our amazing videos NASA intends to begin transferring astronaut Frank Rubio's
heathliner from a Russian soyuz spacecraft to endurance the dragon spacecraft that is now
carrying out NASA's crew 5 Mission for SpaceX on Wednesday January 18th each vehicle is tethered
to the International Space Station the soyuz also known as ms-22 suffered a coolant leak last month
following what seemed to be a micro meteoroid or debris strike it has since been determined that
the spacecraft is not suitable for astronauts returns to earth other than in an emergency
the ms-22 crew which consists of Rubio and the Russian cosmonauts Sergey prokopayev and Dimitri
petalin will return to Earth on February 20th by an unmanned soyuz launch from the orbiting lab
if something terrible happens to the ISS prior to the arrival of the soyuz ms-22 may still be
used as a Lifeboat the seats liner maneuver is a result of the fact that ms-22 can only safely
take two astronauts down instead of three due to its compromised condition NASA authorities
updated their website on Friday January 13th with the following statement the change allows for
increased crew protection by reducing the Heat's load inside the ms-22 spacecraft for cosmonauts
procopayev and petalin in the event of an emergency return to Earth because crew 5 is made
up of just four astronauts NASA's Nicole man and Josh Casada Japanese space flyer koichi wakada and
Russia's Anna kakina endurance launched in October 2022 with only four seats installed however as
Dragon capsules can hold up to seven passengers endurance has room to accommodate Rubio as well
if necessary in September ms-22 was launched to the International Space Station for a six-month
Mission but it's more likely that Rubio prokopayev and petalin will spend twice as long in orbit the
plan is for Frank and Dimitri and Sergey to stay on board for several more months until they come
home probably in late September according to Dina contella NASA's ISS operations integration manager
who made the announcement during a news conference on Tuesday January 17th we're looking at the exact
timing of that but at this point that would be when the vehicle would be planned to come home
she stated the ms-22 cruise Mission extension is justified by the fact that their return flight
on the following soyuz will launch without a crew the ISS would be understaffed until a crude soyuz
could be prepared for launch if Rubio prokopayev and petalin returned to Earth in March on this
new vehicle the crew 6 Mission from SpaceX is scheduled to take off next month and transport
four more people to the ISS however a few days after the newcomers Embark crew 5 will return
to Earth and so let's take a closer look at what exactly is the space crew dragon the crew Dragon
was developed by Elon musk's SpaceX principally to transport astronauts to the International Space
Station was established as a component of NASA's strategy to transition from depending on Russian
launches for years to using American businesses for space station flights according to Elon Musk
his groundbreaking company SpaceX has always had human space flight as its primary objective
the entrepreneur realized his dream on Saturday May 30th 2020 when the crew Dragon spacecraft
sent NASA astronauts Bob binkin and Doug Hurley into orbit for a rendezvous with the International
Space Station since the shuttle's retirement in 2011 it was the first crude aircraft to take off
from U.S land as of September 2021 crew Dragon was utilized for totally private missions that
sent amateur astronauts into space in addition to its current schedule of routine trips to
the orbiting station musk's spacecraft is an evolution of the Dragon one spacecraft which
has launched 20 times on missions to deliver Goods to the ISS and a ceremony held at spacex's
headquarters in Hawthorne California in May 2014 musk introduced the seven-seat crew dragon design
similar to the Apollo command modules that took humans to the Moon it has a capsule-like design
the trunk which has cargo capacity heat removal radiators solar panels and fins to assistability
during emergency aborts is connected to the capsule from launch until just before re-entry
combined the capsule and stem measure about 8.1 meters or 26.7 feet tall and have a diameter of 4
meters or about 13 feet 16 Draco thrusters on the crew Dragon are used to control the craft while it
is in Orbit in the absence of gravity each Draco is capable of exerting 90 pounds of force the
capsule is equipped with a launch Escape system or Les which consists of eight sixteen thousand
pound Force super Draco engines in case anything goes wrong during liftoff crew Dragon immediately
separates from its rocket thanks to the Les inside the spacecraft the business intended
crew Dragon to feel like a 21st century spaceship according to SpaceX engineer John feder spiel
the inside touch screens he continues were built not simply to be incredibly functional but with a
user experience in mind and they are undoubtedly one of the most notable elements of dragon
the cockpits of earlier Vehicles like the space shuttle had analog buttons and dials which were
a far cry from the three sizable touch screens that the commander and pilot use to Monitor and
control the spacecraft Hurley and Beacon worked closely with SpaceX to prepare the crew capsule
ready for its historic launch in May 2020 as the first individuals designated to ride on crew
Dragon both of the crew members who had previously flown on the shuttle contributed significantly the
touchscreens required some getting accustomed to acknowledged Hurley you definitely don't
get that from the touchscreen he argues in terms of true physical feedback what you do get though
is an indicator of where you touched in the form of a return flash on the screen that informs the
astronauts if the vehicle correctly recognized their input Hurley continues that the touchscreen
controls are far more than enough for situations where astronauts may need to take over physical
control of the normally autonomous vehicle such as a docking sequel ones with a space station
according to binkin it just might not be the same thing you'd want to use if you were dressed
up in trying to fly an entrance or descent for example like we could do with the space shuttle
a suit seat system one of the topics that has received the most attention in relation
to crew dragon is the astronaut's spacesuits the modern customized ensembles are a departure from
earlier Styles however their primary function continues to be the same to safeguard the crew
from depressurization the loss of air from the capsule Chris Trigg manager of spacesuits and
crew equipment at SpaceX explains that the suit is actually a small component of the larger Dragon
system in order to make the trip to and from orbit as comfortable as possible crew Dragon includes
three distinct seat sizes that feature foam that is molded to the shape of the astronaut's body an
umbilical line from the astronaut cetus plugged into a port on the right thigh of
their spacesuit as they are ready to buckle up the umbilical supplies the suits air and electrical
connections as well as other life support systems reaching orbit on a specially modified Falcon 9
rocket from SpaceX the crew Dragon Blast out from Florida's Kennedy Space Center
the launch Escape system will trigger in the case of an emergency on the launch pad or during the
ascent to orbit launching the capsule and its crew away from the rocket the astronauts are
then brought down safely by the use of parachutes ultimately 450 kilometers off the coast of Florida
the crew Dragon splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean where recovery ships will transport the
astronauts to safety and collect the spacecraft after that the spacecraft can be upgraded as soon
as SpaceX completes its third flight to the International Space Station with humans NASA
has agreed to allow astronauts to fly on recycled crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 launchers the
dragon lab is a version of the dragon that will be used for unmanned non-nasa non-iss flights and
was created in the words of SpaceX for study and testing in a microgravity environment independent
of the International Space Station although two flights for it one for 2016 and the other
for 2018 appeared on the SpaceX manifest it has yet to be used the dragon version 2 capsule a
more extreme variant was unveiled in May 2014. it was always intended for Dragons of a human
related form and the dragon V2 is built to be a manship with room for up to seven crew members
it is designed to last for several reuses before needing to be renovated it was also designed with
safety in mind and as a result its special launch Escape mechanism is intended to enable crew to
reach safety at any point from launch to orbit rather than just in the initial few minutes in
the event that something goes wrong the escape plan is not abandoned as quickly as most others
eight super Draco thrusters which are Draco thrusters with significant enhancements will be
installed in pairs on each Dragon v2's walls and will be used to propel the spacecraft if something
were to happen these engines would be able to move the spacecraft away from Harm's Way according to
spacex's webpage about the spacecraft each of the super Draco engines has a maximum thrust capacity
of Sixteen thousand pounds force or 71 kilonewtons and would be used to propel the craft with the
accuracy of a helicopter while landing on Earth or another planet this would enable interplanetary
trips that would otherwise be limited to Ocean Landings and that ends today's episode what do you
think of this episode let us know your thoughts in the comment box below and please subscribe and
don't forget to like today's video and we'll see you in the next one thanks for watching