Sunday, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule completed a critical in-flight abort test. Crewed only by mannequins, the crew Capsule was launched atop a well-used Falcon 9 Rocket. 84 seconds after launch, after the rocket exceeded the speed of sound—the most stressful point in the launch sequence—the Falcon 9 was deliberately exploded to test the crew capsule escape system.
Immediately, the eight SuperDraco crew capsule engines fired and pulled the capsule free of the failing rocket.
Kathy Lueders, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, explained during a pre-launch briefing, “We are purposefully failing a launch vehicle, to make sure our abort system works. That’s a very, very different way for us to formally conduct a mission.”
Initial reports suggest that the emergency systems designed to save the crew in event of a catastrophic launch vehicle explosion worked as expected.