SpaceX and NASA are in the process of final preparations prior to launching their first crewed spaceflight mission – Demo-2, which is technically still a demonstration mission needed to validate SpaceX’s Crew Dragon for transporting humans during regular flight. But actual astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be on board the historic flight, which will see SpaceX’s vehicle fly them to the Space Station for the very first time.
One preparatory step for that launch happened on April 3, with a full run-through of the emergency egress system that will be in place during Demo-2 launch day to ensure that astronauts and ground crew can all quickly and safely get clear of the launchpad in case anything goes wrong. It’s highly unlikely that the system will actually be used, but safety is the name of the game in human spaceflight, and so NASA and SpaceX conducted a full demonstration with crew and support staff at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prove that everything works as intended.
On April 3, @NASA and @SpaceX conducted an emergency egress exercise at Launch Complex 39A at @NASAKennedy.
This demonstration was completed to ensure the crew & support teams can quickly evacuate from the launch pad in the unlikely event of an emergency: https://t.co/5xYN51WHGp pic.twitter.com/75LTRoyMKA
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) April 7, 2020
David Adams