Dec 3 2009
From The Space Library
SpaceX announced that it had conducted its first Dragon spacecraft operations training in October 2009 at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California, for a group of NASA astronauts and personnel. The training had focused on how the crew would interface with the spacecraft as it approached and docked at the ISS. NASA had assigned astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Shannon Walker, and Douglas H. Wheelock to be on board the ISS when the Dragon made its inaugural visit under the COTS program, scheduled for February 2010. The training had been the first time the NASA astronauts scheduled to interact with the Dragon were actually inside the flight vehicle. This first training session marked a key step toward SpaceX’s provision of the alternative craft that NASA would use to transport cargo to and from the ISS after the Space Shuttle program ended. In the session, SpaceX had briefed the NASA astronauts on all aspects of the Dragon related to cargo transport—how to open the spacecraft’s hatch, how to enter the craft, and how to send commands as the craft approached the station.
Space Exploration Technologies, “SpaceX Hosts Preliminary Training for NASA ISS Astronauts in Preparation for Dragon Spacecraft Rendezvous and Station Berthing,” SpaceX news release, 3 December 2009, http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20091203 (accessed 19 December 2011); Robert Block, “SpaceX Trains Its First Batch of NASA Astronauts,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 3 December 2009.
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