NASA and SpaceX have a symbiotic relationship that combines speed in generating creative ideas with sharing years-long experience and keeping focus on safety, NASA Crew Dragon Engineer John Posey told Sputnik
NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2023) NASA and SpaceX have a symbiotic relationship that combines speed in generating creative ideas with sharing years-long experience and keeping focus on safety, NASA Crew Dragon Engineer John Posey told Sputnik.
"So they (SpaceX) can bring a lot of ideas to the table in a quick period of time, develop, test hardware... since they're flying very regularly with both cargo and now the crew missions, they have time to go test those things out," Posey said. "And so really our job is to help them be successful and make sure that what we're flying is safe for the crew."
NASA spends a lot of time sharing with SpaceX its experiences from all of its previous programs, Posey added, noting that this relationship is symbiotic.
"Some of the things that we've learned rub off on the partners, right, but also they're learning so fast that they're teaching us things," the engineer said.
For example, Posey said they had to work with SpaceX to develop NASA standards for certifying and verifying that the 3D printed rocket engine is safe to fly.
SpaceX was certified by NASA for crew transportation in November 2020, and currently its third crew rotation mission for the agency is in orbit.
On Friday, the four-member SpaceX Crew-6 mission docked on the ISS safely. Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg are also aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that launched from Florida on Thursday.
