SpaceX simply examined a brand new astronaut trip — one which takes people right down to the bottom moderately than excessive above it.
That trip is a deployable slide put in atop the tower at Area Launch Complicated 40 (SLC-40), a pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Area Power Station. It is designed to get astronauts off the tower in a rush within the occasion of an emergency earlier than liftoff.
We simply bought to see the slide in motion, due to a video SpaceX posted on X on Tuesday (March 19). The 24-second video gives an astronaut’s-eye view of the slide expertise, which — although critical enterprise — would not be misplaced at an amusement park.
“Although it’s meant for use for emergencies, it seems like numerous enjoyable!” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk stated via X on Tuesday, in a publish responding to the slide video.
Associated: SpaceX to launch thirtieth cargo mission to the ISS for NASA this week
The latest slide take a look at is a part of SpaceX’s effort to certify SLC-40 for astronaut launches. SpaceX has launched 13 crewed missions thus far, all of them from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Area Heart, which is subsequent door to Cape Canaveral Area Power Station.
To evacuate from Pad 39A’s launch tower, astronauts bounce into baskets that slide down wires to terra firma. The SLC-40 system is totally different, as the brand new video exhibits: It is an enclosed chute that deploys from the highest of the tower when wanted, driving already-emplaced cables to the bottom.
SpaceX has launched many (uncrewed) missions from SLC-40 over time. And one other one will elevate off on Thursday (March 21), if all goes in line with plan.
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch a robotic Dragon cargo capsule towards the Worldwide Area Station from the pad on Thursday at 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 GMT). You may watch the motion right here on Area.com when the time comes.