The accident during testing of the engines of the Crew Dragon manned spacecraft, which led to its destruction, as it turns out, was not the only setback that befell SpaceX in April.
This week, NASA Associate Director for Human Space Exploration Bill Gerstenmaier admitted during a hearing before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee of the US Congress that the Crew Dragon suffered another accident in April during a test of parachutes held in Nevada.
“The tests were unsatisfactory,” said Gerstenmeier. We didn't get the desired results. The parachutes didn't work as intended."
According to him, during a test over a dry lake in Nevada, the spacecraft was damaged when it fell to the ground.
Crew Dragon is equipped with four parachutes, and this test was designed to determine how safe the spacecraft could land if one of the parachutes was damaged. Unfortunately, after deliberately disabling one of the parachutes, the remaining three did not work, which led to the incident described by Gerstenmaier.
At the same time, the official expressed confidence that the problems with the Crew Dragon parachute system would soon be resolved and nothing would interfere with the implementation of the federal government's ambitious plans for further space exploration. He emphasized that this is what tests are being conducted for. “It's part of the learning process,” Gerstenmeier said. “Through these misfires, we are collecting data and information to study and create a design that would ultimately ensure the safety of our crews. So I don't see it as a negative. That's why we're testing."
Source: 3dnews.ru