There have been enough spaceflight blunders recently to make it abundantly clear that getting things to and from space is no mean feat. And when humans are on board, there really is no room for error. That's why private company SpaceX, together with NASA, have been developing a capsule that will enable astronauts to safely travel to and from the International Space Station in 2017.
Named “Dragon,” the capsule must undergo rigorous testing to handle emergency situations, such as the pad abort test. If something did go awry, the spacecraft could separate from its rocket quickly and safely.
But before loading the Dragon up with real humans, SpaceX must first demonstrate their equipment can handle emergencies with the help of a crash test dummy.
Image credit: SpaceX. Dummy astronaut, preparing for test flight.
On May 6, the first pad abort test fired the Dragon from a launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. And now, SpaceX has just released an exciting video of the Dragon’s launch, shown below, which was filmed using a camera attached to the spacecraft. If you’ve ever wanted to know what it would be like to be stuck to the outside of a rapidly ascending rocket, have a watch.
[H/T Popular Science]
