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But why fueling continues after crew has boarded? What is the technical reason?
by vl 8y ago
But why fueling continues after crew has boarded? What is the technical reason?
- balfirevic 8y agoCrew boards while the rocket is empty, which makes it safe. After that, there is launch escape system ready to take the crew to safety in case anything goes wrong during the fueling or launch. This is not considered less safe than fueling after the crew has boarded, and NASA agrees.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoThe technical reason from what I understand is that the closer you fuel to launch, the more cryo fuel you can pump into the rocket, as it won't have time to expand its volume before being used.
- maccam94 8y agoThe rocket runs on extremely cold fuel. It's impossible to perfectly maintain that temperature in the tank, so the fuel is constantly expanding and venting out of the tank so it doesn't explode. You can keep adding more chilled fuel to the tank though, so the goal is to top off the tank as close to launch as possible.