After Trip to ISS, SpaceX's Dragon Capsule Returns Safely To Earth

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After Trip to ISS, SpaceX's Dragon Capsule Returns Safely To Earth

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 31, 2012 @04:17AM from the congratulations-all-around dept.

thomas.kane writes "SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft has successfully reentered and is now safely in the waters of the Pacific Ocean after more than 9 days in space. The Dragon capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station on May 25; SpaceX is contracted by NASA for at least 12 more flights in the coming months bringing supplies to the space station and returning science done on board back to Earth." Reader MightyMartian adds a link to coverage at the BBC.

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Safely? in the waters of the Pacific Ocean by BagOBones · 2012-05-31 04:26 · Score: 3, Insightful

Touched down intact, but I wouldn't declare it safe till they recover it and open it... Re-entry is a bitch...

--
EA David Gardner -"... but the consumers have proven that actually what they want is fun."
1. Re:Safely? in the waters of the Pacific Ocean by mcgrew · 2012-05-31 04:53 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Details:
  On July 21, 1961, Grissom was pilot of the second Project Mercury flight, Mercury-Redstone 4, popularly known as Liberty Bell 7. This was a suborbital flight which lasted 15 minutes and 37 seconds. After splashdown, emergency explosive bolts unexpectedly fired and blew the hatch off, causing water to flood into the spacecraft. Quickly exiting through the open hatch and into the ocean, Grissom was nearly drowned as water began filling his spacesuit. A nearby helicopter tried to lift and recover the spacecraft, but the flooding spacecraft became too heavy, and it was ultimately cut loose before sinking.
  Grissom asserted he had done nothing to cause the hatch to blow, and NASA officials eventually concluded that he was correct. Initiating the explosive egress system required hitting a metal trigger with the side of a closed fist, which unavoidably left a large, obvious bruise on the astronaut's hand,[citation needed] but Grissom was found not to have any of the tell-tale bruising. Still, controversy remained, and fellow Mercury astronaut Wally Schirra, at the end of his October 3, 1962 flight, remained inside his spacecraft until it was safely aboard the recovery ship, and made a point of deliberately blowing the hatch to get out, bruising his hand.[26]
  
  --
  Free Martian Whores!
2. Re:Safely? in the waters of the Pacific Ocean by amicusNYCL · 2012-05-31 05:42 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Also if the stuff they sent back is smashed to bits from a hard landing, then well they have lots of work to do before sending humans.
  The thing landed at 17 feet per second, about 11.5 miles per hour. Future missions call for a touchdown on a launchpad on land with the assistance of rockets, not even a water landing.
  
  --
  "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
3. Re:Safely? in the waters of the Pacific Ocean by yurtinus · 2012-05-31 06:04 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Then again, a minutes worth of miscalculation while dangling from a *parachute* might not be as much "mistake" as "acceptable margin of error"
  
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  +1 Disagree
4. Re:Safely? in the waters of the Pacific Ocean by MojoRilla · 2012-05-31 06:50 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Elon just answered that they were off by a few seconds because of wind. He said that if it weren't for wind, they could land Dragon in someone's backyard.
Congratulation! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-31 04:27 · Score: 3, Funny

This is most excelent news. I, for one, welcome our new private sector space overlords!
Fantastic. Now let's see NASA push further! by Sgs-Cruz · 2012-05-31 04:28 · Score: 5, Interesting

This is fantastic news. I don't care what you think of space policy or anything, this is a good day for everybody.
Now, let's see NASA make good on their promise to hand over LEO to the private sector so they can think about Mars and beyond!

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Karma: pi (Mostly due to circular reasoning in posts).
1. Re:Fantastic. Now let's see NASA push further! by Moheeheeko · 2012-05-31 04:45 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  The funny thing is, SpaceX is already looking to Mars. The heat shield is designed to survive re-entry from a deep space trajectory.
2. Re:Fantastic. Now let's see NASA push further! by edremy · 2012-05-31 05:14 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Have humans brought things back? No. There have been various proposed Mars sample return missions but they've always been too expensive.
  Has nature? Yes. There are quite a few meteorites that originated on Mars.
  
  --
  "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
3. Re:Fantastic. Now let's see NASA push further! by demachina · 2012-05-31 06:18 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Elon Musk's primary goal in founding SpaceX is to go to Mars and I would give him as good a chance of acheiving it as anyone.
  The shuttle being decommisioned improves the odds of going to Mars, not reduces them. It was a money sink and it promoted the mind set of being stuck in LEO because it was stuck in LEO. It had also acquired so many restrictions for safety issues it was barely doing its vastly reduced mission. It had turned in to a pork barrell project to make jobs at NASA, Boeing and Lockheed, not do anything worthwhile in space (outside of servicing Hubble).
  Intelsat signed the first commercial contract for Falcon Heavy yesterday and if SpaceX can successfully build and launch those, and even better recover and reuse them, they will be a far more valuable tool in leaving LEO and going to Mars than Shuttle every would be.
  I personally dont think bone loss and eyesight are going to be show stopping issue for Mars. Radiation exposure in deep space and on the surface of Mars is the serious issue unless you can get a ship with enough shielding and propulsion to move the shielding.
  Me personally and I'm sure lots of others would volunteer for a Mars mission even if it was a one way mission and life shortening. To me the ideal mission to Mars is a one way trip with a permenent stay, and a logistics train to support a permenent colony. The zero G issues are more a problem returning to 1G and earth than they would be staying in 1/3 G on Mars which isn't as bad as zero G. A one way trip also saves a long return trip in zero G to get back to Earth. Even if zero G is a problem you can build a larger ship and spin it enough to get 1/3 G. That is an engineering challenge, not a show stopping issue.
  
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  @de_machina
4. Re:Fantastic. Now let's see NASA push further! by Chris+Burke · 2012-05-31 06:33 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I hope the hell they don't - there's plenty of useful work to be done in LEO yet. (Even though it doesn't give space fanbois any wood.)
  I hope to hell they do -- by doing all the useful work in LEO that will enable it, like orbital refueling depots or even shipyards. Getting to LEO is what needs to be handed off.
  If we can make access to LEO routine and cheap (relatively speaking), and allow NASA to develop LEO capabilities instead of wasting all their money on pork launchers so they can start their missions from components launched to LEO on commodity rockets, then we can make getting to the Moon trivial, and Mars easy enough that it's conceivable to do without stopping all other NASA work.
  This is my dream, and it could happen. Crazy.
  
  --
  
  The enemies of Democracy are
5. Re:Fantastic. Now let's see NASA push further! by demachina · 2012-05-31 07:11 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  It is hypocrisy but the aerospace companies that have dominated U.S. space access are also defense contractors and the Republican's are completely in thrall to defense contractors. Lockheed and Boeing help run the Republican party alongside big banks, big pharma and big fossil fuels.
  The American manned space program hasn't been about space exploration since Apollo ended. Its been about creating contracts for Lockheed and Boeing and creating jobs in the states of powerful Senators like Hatch in Utah, Shelby in Alabama, Hutchinson in Texas and Nelson in Florida(he is a Democrat).
  You can tell Lockheed has bought out Congress and the DOD because they've received back to back gigantic contracts for fighter jets both of which are staggeringly expensive and neither of which work, the F-22 and the F-35. The U.S. is currently committed to spending over $1 trillion we don't have on F-35's which have proven to be deeply flawed and are entering production without even being half way through flight test. F-22's have such serious oxygen system issues pilots are refusing to fly them and have never been used in combat. When a pilot blacked out and crashed an F-22, the DOD and Lockheed somehow managed to blame the pilot even when they new the Oxygen system was failing which shows how morally contemptible they are.
  
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  @de_machina
Observation by PPH · 2012-05-31 04:43 · Score: 4, Interesting

In digging around various information sources on Dragon, I noticed something odd: It appears in thisphoto that the capsule is equipped with standard red/green navigation lights. Are these actual nav lights? Are they an FAA requirement?

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Have gnu, will travel.
1. Re:Observation by weiserfireman · 2012-05-31 04:48 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  interesting
  But I would imagine it has to do more with docking the spaceship rather than reentry. The way they are both oriented on the same side is what makes me believe that.
  Red/green lights are normally located on opposite sides of the aircraft/ship so that you can tell which direction it is going at night.
2. Re:Observation by camperdave · 2012-05-31 05:07 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I'm not sure about the navigation lights themselves, but Dragon did have a strobe light that the ISS crew could turn on and off. It served the dual purpose of allowing them to find the craft, and it acted as a confirmation that the Dragon was receiving and processing commands from the ISS.
  
  --
  When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Re:Congratulations to the gang at SpaceX by DroolTwist · 2012-05-31 04:54 · Score: 5, Funny

Ice Road Space Truckers.
The highlight of the trip by TheSkepticalOptimist · 2012-05-31 04:59 · Score: 4, Funny

Had to be the video of the astronauts opening up the space capsule with the required safety goggles and masks. If something failed and an astronaut got sucked into space I am sure his final words would have been "The goggles, they do nothing...".
Its great to see private enterprise enter the space race now, maybe NASA will stop billing $20k for a toilet seat and $30k for a hammer because SpaceX can get them at Walmart for $5 a piece.

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1. Re:The highlight of the trip by 0123456 · 2012-05-31 06:42 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Had to be the video of the astronauts opening up the space capsule with the required safety goggles and masks.
  In microgravity, loose things float around. If something sharp came loose inside the Dragon, you don't want it to get in your eye. In an environment that's been entirely sealed for days, material outgassing or particulate breakdown can cause hazards which wouldn't be a problem on Earth because air movement would carry it away. So goggles and masks make sense.
  
  Its great to see private enterprise enter the space race now, maybe NASA will stop billing $20k for a toilet seat and $30k for a hammer because SpaceX can get them at Walmart for $5 a piece.
  Which is fine until the toxic outgassing from your $5 Chinese toilet seat poisons the atmosphere over the next month and kills the crew.
  One of the reasons space is legitimately expensive is because many things become complex when you don't have any gravity and are living in a sealed environment.
Re:Return of the Dragon by amliebsch · 2012-05-31 05:00 · Score: 5, Funny

Re-Enter The Dragon

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If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
New heat shield technology by Dunbal · 2012-05-31 05:00 · Score: 4, Funny

SpaceX has just announced the great success of its new heat shield technology. It turns out they were burning facebook shares to protect the craft.

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Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
An era of trillionaires by Prune · 2012-05-31 05:05 · Score: 3, Interesting

It would be interesting to see if the human expansion into space eventually ushers in further extension of the extremes of inequality, with the first trillionaires (as measured in today's currency, adjusted for inflation) being, say, asteroid mining tycoons. I don't yet have much of an opinion here; I'm more interested on reading others' thoughts on this.

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"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
Looking forward to launch/return of crewed Dragon by k6mfw · 2012-05-31 05:28 · Score: 3, Insightful

Imagine what that would be like of a successful and safe flight of Dragon carrying people to and from ISS. SpaceX may even beat a crewed Orion (so far they are ahead in terms of actually flying something). There are many critics saying it cannot be done, but reminds me back in usenet days, someone posted a story of a sci-fi author who noted names and home phone numbers of every journalist that denigrated Apollo program during 1960s. Then while really drunk while Neil and Buzz walked the surface of the moon, and in middle of the night he called these journalists on the phone, yelled, "Ya dumb son-of-a-bitch!" and hung up.
Anyone collecting names and phone numbers?

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mfwright@batnet.com
Re:Everybody's thinking it... by crypticedge · 2012-05-31 05:32 · Score: 3, Interesting

The Death Star was built by government labor, as was the Enterprise.
Re:Congratulations to the gang at SpaceX by cfulton · 2012-05-31 05:52 · Score: 4, Insightful

Truckers is just what we need. In order for space exploration to be successful we need boring, easily repeated, safe access to LOE. If they can make LOE boring and trucker like then we have a much better chance of getting past LOE. Until then every flight into space beyond earth will have weight and power constraints placed on it be the launch vehicle. Once shipping to LOE is easy and cheap we can build ships that are no longer constrained by the need to be completely contained in the payload compartment of the launch vehicle.

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Stupid Wikipedia by Chibi+Merrow · 2012-05-31 06:29 · Score: 5, Interesting

I read your post and immediately thought "How did he link to the Wikipedia article and not see where it mentions piloted spacecraft?" only to find out someone deleted all references to spacecraft in January with no explanation.
You can see the previous version here.
My understanding is that manned, piloted spacecraft are supposed to have nav lights on them. The Shuttle didn't have them because the FAA gave them a waiver and special airspace.

--
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them
Re:Looking forward to launch/return of crewed Drag by nitehawk214 · 2012-05-31 06:33 · Score: 3, Funny

Imagine what that would be like of a successful and safe flight of Dragon carrying people to and from ISS. SpaceX may even beat a crewed Orion (so far they are ahead in terms of actually flying something). There are many critics saying it cannot be done, but reminds me back in usenet days, someone posted a story of a sci-fi author who noted names and home phone numbers of every journalist that denigrated Apollo program during 1960s. Then while really drunk while Neil and Buzz walked the surface of the moon, and in middle of the night he called these journalists on the phone, yelled, "Ya dumb son-of-a-bitch!" and hung up.
Anyone collecting names and phone numbers?
I am pretty sure Neil and Buzz were not drunk while they walked on the moon.

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