CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was a pure flying machine compared to the space shuttle, according to the astronauts who rode it into space.<\/p>\n
Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken piloted the first manned flight of the Falcon 9 on May 30. Each astronaut had previously been onon two space shuttle missions, and they spoke of their surprise at how comparatively smooth the SpaceX launch was.<\/p>\n
From the time the engines lit, the first two-and-a-half minutes to staging was about like we expected, except you can never simulate the Gs, so as the Gs built you could certainly feel those, Hurley toldSpaceflight Now. What I thought was really neat was how sensitive we were to the throttling of the Merlin engines. That was really neat. You could definitely sense that as we broke Mach 1.<\/p>\n
He added: We didnt even need to look at the speed. You could tell just by how the rocket felt, so its a very pure flying machine.<\/p>\n
Remember, [the]shuttle had solid rocket boosters to start with, Hurley said. Those burned very rough for the first two-and-a-half minutes. The first stage with Falcon 9 were the nine Merlin engines. It was a much smoother ride, obviously, because it was a liquid engine ascent.<\/p>\n
Liquid engine ascent is a reference to the mix of super-chilled kerosene and cryogenic liquid oxygen propellants consumed by the Merlin engines.<\/p>\n
After the smooth launch, the astronauts said the second stage felt a bitrougher.<\/p>\n
The biggest difference is just the dynamics that are involved, the vibration, the experiences that we felt actually riding a real rocket, Behnken said.<\/p>\n
It will be interesting to walk with the SpaceX folks to find out why it was a little bit rougher ride on the second stage than it was for shuttle on those three main engines, Hurley added.<\/p>\n
The Crew Dragon spacecraft was developed to largely function autonomously, handling all prep and docking with the International Space Station following the 19-hour flight.<\/p>\n
NASA is also working with Boeing on itsmanned Starlinercapsule, which is expected to launch early next year.<\/p>\n
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\nAstronauts: Falcon 9 rocket was totally different ride than the space shuttle - WITI FOX 6 Milwaukee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"