Watching the liftoff as Falcon cleared the tower I noticed - just briefly - a possible plume impingement on the Crew Access Arm. Watched several times and still not sure. Can anyone confirm or deny any damage - of any kind - to the Crew Access Arm?
Here was video I shot from the VAB showing the launch, audio of the first stage disintegration, second stage fall and impact and explosion on the water:
Flight specs from @SpaceX Jan. 18 Crew Dragon Inflight Abort Test: Launch escape initiated by special configuration of min-acceleration trigger at 536 m/s, as designed 85 seconds into the flight at 10:31:25 ESTFlawless superdraco burn performance. Peak instantaneous sensed acceleration of 3.3 g, accelerating dragon from 540 m/s (1180 mph) to 675 m/s (1500 mph) in approximately 7 secondsFalcon telemetry halted at about 11 s after burn, suggesting a comfortable separation distance of about 1500 m (4900 ft) or nearly 1 milePeak mach of 2.3Peak altitude over 40 km (131,000 ft)Drogue deployment at 5.8 km.Mains deployment at 2 km.Final splashdown distance about 42 km east of KSC LC39 at 10:38:54 EST
https://mobile.twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1219372664298659840
Data from the Jan. 19 in-flight launch escape demonstration of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft indicate the performance of the capsule’s SuperDraco abort engines was “flawless” as the thrusters boosted the ship away from the top of a Falcon 9 rocket with a peak acceleration of about 3.3Gs, officials said Thursday.
It looks like @SpaceX implemented Crew Access Arm (CAA) throwback for the In-Flight Abort Test! During DM-1, after CAA retraction, the CAA was held in the same position.Is this a new feature to reduce damage @elonmusk?
Five still images show the drama of SpaceX's in-flight abort test. Images shared by NASA's Phil McAlister today at the NAC meeting.
