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SpaceX Delays First Crewed Flight Of Its Dragon Capsule For NASA (theverge.com)
NASA says the first crewed test flight of SpaceX's Dragon vehicle has been delayed until May 2018. From a report on The Verge: In the wake of its September 1st rocket explosion, SpaceX has officially delayed the first crewed flight of its Crew Dragon vehicle -- the capsule that the company is building to take NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Originally planned for late 2017, the first flight of the Crew Dragon with people on board is now slated to take place in May of 2018, according to a NASA blog post. Prior to that flight, SpaceX will perform a demonstration mission of Crew Dragon in November 2017 -- a flight that won't include any astronauts. There had been heavy speculation that the flight would be delayed following the accident, in which a Falcon 9 rocket exploded as it was being fueled on a Florida launch pad. And SpaceX says the move was made as the company finalizes its investigation into the accident. "As this investigation has been conducted, our Commercial Crew team has continued to work closely with NASA and is completing all planned milestones for this period," SpaceX said in a statement to The Verge. "We are carefully assessing our designs, systems, and processes taking into account the lessons learned and corrective actions identified. Our schedule reflects the additional time needed for this assessment and implementation."
We can't stop progress for every bump in the road!
Anybody have an over-under on how many times the phrase "Space Nutter" will appear in these comments?
Snake putter!
Snake putter!
So just between you and me, I count two-and-a-half instances.
Crew quits and runs screaming for the door; new crew being sought.
The tunnel crack problem was discovered in Jan 2015 so they have had awhile to work on it. This was first revealed on 1 Sept 2016 in the Commercial Crew program update.
'NASA Program officials anticipate SpaceX will encounter additional delays on the path to certification. For example, in January 2015, the tunnel that provides a passageway for astronauts and cargo between the Dragon and the ISS was reported to have cracked during the heat treatment phase of the manufacturing process. As a result, SpaceX delayed qualification testing by approximately one year to better align the tests as SpaceX moves toward certification. SpaceX has also experienced ongoing issues with stress fractures in turbopumps that must be resolved prior to flight.23 Additionally, SpaceX has not yet completed parachute system level testing which may reveal issues that would require redesign that could further delay the test flights. Accordingly, we anticipate additional schedule slippage and do not expect certified flights by SpaceX earlier than late 2018.'
Today's vices may be tomorrow's virtues.
For Elon Musk fanbois. Trump will put him out of business anyway.
Boeing had earlier said they would be delayed in providing a man-ready CST-100 spacecraft. Boeing's spacecraft is supposed to be compatible with several rockets (including the SpaceX Falcon 9) but probably would launch on an Atlas V. Sierra Nevada, well I'm having trouble taking them seriously and always have, there's no chance that Dream Chaser will be ready before the others. Nor will Blue Origin.
Bruce Perens.
Can you imagine being one of the designated crew? I wonder what they will be doing for the next 2 years or so while the launch moratorium is in effect. It doesn't make sense for them to just sit around drawing a salary but maybe that's exactly what they get.
In the words of John Young, first shuttle pilot: if you aren't a bit nervous you really don't know what is going on. Two years is a long time to sit thinking about it.
Did they have to recalibrate the 3D printer?
NASA probably shouldnt have blown it up in the first place, but i guess it was their only choice seeing as they where encroaching on their territory and would have figure shit out if it had gotten further.
SpaceX or ANY other space related activities wont ever be allowed in space for real.
You funny man. SpaceX is in the running only because the congress deliberately sabotaged ULA and the executive directed the Air Force to pencil-whip SpaceX's certification in spite of not having a rigorous design process.
Depends how many times people think we'll colonize Mars because we have an upper atmosphere tree-house for autistics.
If he wants to pursue private cargo and doesn't need government contracts anymore, it doesn't matter. There's a whole lot of baggage with government contracts.
The government paid to develop an alternative launch vehicle, which they can launch if they want. If the government doesn't want to use it, I'm sure a good businessman can find other customers.
Is the government business profitable enough to deal with the next President? Evidently not, according to his judgment.
Hot Astronauts
I see the SJW set has fully invaded slashdot copy editing. No matter. I choose to read that headline as "manned flight"
or more likely, how long you've been off your meds...