Author Topic: SpaceX swapping heat shield for next crew flight due to ‘manufacturing defect’  (Read 276 times)

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Spaceflight Now by  Stephen Clark May 24, 2022

SpaceX’s next crew mission to the International Space Station, set for launch in September, will fly with a different heat shield structure than originally planned after a composite substrate failed in acceptance testing due to a “manufacturing defect,” NASA said Tuesday.

The heat shield’s 13-foot-diameter (4-meter) composite structure — located at the bottom, blunt end of the Dragon capsule — is detachable and interchangeable between the reusable spacecraft in SpaceX’s Dragon fleet. SpaceX installs thermal protection tiles on the composite structure to protect the spacecraft from the searing heat of atmospheric re-entry at the end of each mission.

“SpaceX has a rigorous testing process to put every component and system through its paces to ensure safety and reliability,” NASA said. “In early May, a new heat shield composite structure intended for flight on Crew-5 did not pass an acceptance test. The test did its job and found a manufacturing defect. NASA and SpaceX will use another heat shield for the flight that will undergo the same rigorous testing prior to flight.”

NASA purchases crew transportation flights from SpaceX to ferry astronauts to and from the space station, and oversees SpaceX’s commercial crew and cargo contracts.

The Crew-5 mission will be SpaceX’s fifth operational crew rotation flight to the space station, and the eighth flight of a Dragon spacecraft with astronauts on-board. The four Crew-5 astronauts will replace the Crew-4 astronauts who launched to the space station April 27.

NASA said agency managers and SpaceX officials are “currently in the process of determining hardware allocation” for the Crew-5 mission. That hardware allocation includes the Dragon heat shield, NASA said.

“Crew safety remains the top priority for both NASA and SpaceX and we continue to target September 2022 for launch of Crew-5,” NASA said.

More: https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/05/24/spacex-swapping-heat-shield-for-next-crew-mission-due-to-manufacturing-defect/