As pioneers in space testing, NTS has worked on every major space program since the inception of manned exploration. And 2020 is no different. In a recent letter from Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Engineer at SpaceX, the visionary executive extended his thanks to NTS for recent work on the SpaceX Dragon Capsule.On May 30, 2020, the SpaceX Dragon Capsule, carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug Hurley of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, launched on Falcon rocket into orbit. According to Musk, “this launch is the start of a new era for commercial space exploration, the first time astronauts were launched by a private company, which is an important step in SpaceX’s guided mission to make life multi-planetary.”“It’s an honor to work with a visionary company like SpaceX,” said Charles Dieman, General Manager at NTS’s Space Center of Excellence Laboratory in Los Angeles, CA. With 28 labs in North America, NTS is supporting space projects across the country. “At our lab in Los Angeles, we tested a variety of components and subsystems on the Dragon Capsule, including thermal tiles, wiring harnesses, solar panels, docking structure, exterior lighting, and the touch-screen display the astronauts use to control the spacecraft.”On the Falcon 9, which is the two-stage launch vehicle for the Dragon Capsule, NTS engineers tested actuators and the second stage MVAC nozzle (along with other components). “We’re committed to a higher standard of space testing in order to support our customers and the American space program,” said Dieman. Click on the button below to learn more about NTS’s space testing capabilities.Learn More
