SpaceX's first test of its astronaut bailout system a success

SpaceX has demonstrated its astronaut escape system for Crew Dragon spacecraft

A loud whoosh, faint smoke trail and billowing parachutes marked a successful demonstration Wednesday by SpaceX of its Crew Dragon spacecraft abort system, an important step in NASA's endeavor to rebuild America's ability to launch crews to the International Space Station from U.S. soil.

The successful test of the spacecraft's launch escape capabilities proved the spacecraft's ability to carry astronauts to safety in the unlikely event of a life-threatening situation on the launch pad.

The Crew Dragon simultaneously fired its eight SuperDraco engines at 9 a.m. EDT and leapt off a specially built platform at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida.

The engines fired for about six seconds, instantly producing about 15,000 pounds of thrust each and lifting the spacecraft out over the Atlantic Ocean before jettisoning its trunk, as planned, and parachuting safely into the ocean. The test lasted about two minutes from engine ignition to splashdown.

Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said that this is a critical step toward ensuring crew safety for government and commercial endeavors in low-Earth orbit, adding that congratulations to SpaceX on what appears to have been a successful test on the company's road toward achieving NASA certification of the Crew Dragon spacecraft for missions to and from the International Space Station.

The test was the first with a full-size developmental spacecraft using a complete set of eight SuperDraco engines in the demanding real-world conditions of a pad abort situation. SpaceX built the SuperDracos for pad and launch abort use. Each engine, the chambers of which are 3-D printed, burns hypergolic propellants monomethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide.