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SpaceX's Crew Dragon Capsule Returns To Earth After Historic Test Flight (nbcnews.com)
SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule returned safely to Earth early Friday, wrapping up its inaugural mission to the International Space Station and signaling that the U.S. may soon be able to ferry astronauts to and from space without relying on Russian spacecraft. From a report: The uncrewed capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, off the east coast of Florida, at 8:45 a.m. ET after spending almost a week at the space station. The spacecraft undocked from the orbiting outpost Friday at 2:32 a.m. ET to begin its descent. "This is an amazing achievement in American history," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said from the space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "These are all capabilities that are leading to a day where we are launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil." The Crew Dragon capsule was lofted into orbit March 2 by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The flight was a crucial test of the new spacecraft, a seven-passenger vehicle that SpaceX has been developing for the past five years.
When astronauts are transported to the launch pad to load into the Dragon 2 capsule, is it true that SpaceX has selected Tesla to provide the transport vehicle? (Model X)
(that is a serious question. any real information would be interesting.)
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
The Zero-G indicator inside the Dragon 2 capsule looks like a stuffed furry plush toy.
Couldn't they have at least selected a different toy: the stuffed plush Alien Face Grabber? That would have been much better to be in the capsule with "Ripley" on this demo flight.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
I haven't heard that, but I would find it highly unlikely as I believe the crew will be in their pressure suits which would be very tight/awkward in anything less than a van.
Also, if there are up to seven astronauts going on the flight, that would mean up to four Model X's to transport the astronauts (four if an astronaut can't sit shotgun).
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Unless Telsa won a government contract to provide fleet vehciles to NASA, probably not. The space launch facility is still a government operation.
We've replicated 1960s technology!
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Nothing more to say, it looks like it was done flawlessly.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Did you mean dock? If so then this capsule actually did dock autonomously, the only commands sent from the station were test aborts to make sure it would respond, otherwise it docked on it's own.
But the crew will be in their sexy new spacex suits designed to contour to the seats of the tesla
Uh.. the capsule socked on it's own
What private company has done this before?
This is a first.
the capsule socked on its own
FTFY
The 60s capsules were throw away. the Dragon is reusable. This makes it affordable to build much nicer seats, controls and creature comforts into the capsule. Its the difference between a WW2 Glider and a private Citation 6 seater plane.
**Life is too short to be serious**
"This is an amazing achievement in American history," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said from the space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "These are all capabilities that are leading to a day where we are launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil."
So "leading" back to May 5, 1961, then? I had no idea NASA now has the capability to travel back in time 60 years.
My parents let me stay up to watch Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, and I sent money earned from my first real job to help keep Viking's data gathering operation going after funding ran out. And I was actually in the room at the AAAS conference in Toronto in January 1981, when the pictures from Voyager 1's November flyby of Saturn, showing the braided rings, were released. So I'm old enough to remember what an incredible space program America had, and to understand what world-changing scientific and technological advances it produced.
All I can do now is shake my head. I feel genuine grief over what it has become of the United States since the bean counters and warmongers took over.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Rockwell, McDonnell, and Boeing built the landers for the Gemini and Apollo missions, funded by the US government. How much of the Dragon Capsule was funded by the US government? I'm somewhat unclear on why this new generation is "commercial" but what we did in the 1960's isn't.
From what I've gleaned from business articles, Musk is pretty much just a rain maker for Space X - he's hands off of everything else. Vision? Yes. But day to day operations? No.
Really? So the micro-management stories from SpaceX are all lies?
Ezekiel 23:20
The difference is how much in the way of specifications, drawings, and input were given to the contractor. In the case of the Apollo era capsules, NASA and the various contractors were tightly integrated from beginning to end. Much of the manufacturing (especially of the larger pieces of the rockets) was conducted at NASA owned facilities.
When it comes to the Dragon, NASA set various requirements (Must carry x Astronauts, compartment must meet y environmental requirements, must use the IDA, etc...) and otherwise stayed out of the design.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
Cargo Dragon berths, which means the Canadarm catches it and it is bolted to a berthing port. Berthing ports have a larger opening than the International Docking Adapter, and you can get larger diameter cargo through the door. Crew vehicles dock so that a crew can abandon the ISS or board the uninhabited ISS - nobody would be on board to operate the arm and bolt the vehicle to the berthing port.
A berthing port can have an IDA attached to it, and then becomes a docking port.
Crew Dragon docks autonomously without needing assistance from the ISS or the crew on board the Dragon.
Bruce Perens.
Am I missing something here? I remember Elon standing up and touting the Dragon's ability to land with thrusters on a launch pad. Did this capability evaporate before this trial? Or did they just not want to try too many things at the same time for this launch and plan that for a future trial? One of SpaceX's pillars of reusability has been avoiding getting everything soaked in salt water.
Reportedly this is true. See here.
Now you have: via Electrek.
"Commercial" doesn't mean what you think in this context. The previous efforts were NASA projects with components farmed out to different vendors for development. NASA is famously bad as managing cross-vendor projects like that (almost every disaster can be traced to a failure to communicate properly netween vendors). This is different: NASA just set some acceptance criteria for a capsule, and bought them as finished projects from vendors: SpaceX and Boeing. The rocket launches to prove these capsules are also "COTS" launches. Crew Dragon 2 was just an "off the shelf" Falcon 9 payload. Starliner will be an "off the shelf" Atlas V launch.
It's massively cheaper this way as well, even including the grants SpaceX, Boeing, and others got along the way. The difference in cost is a difference in kind, BTW. Launch costs have fallen so far that projects that would have been entirely ridiculous in the 70s are now commonplace. E.g., an Israeli nonprofit putting a lander on the moon for a total budget of around $100M.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Well, not quite. NASA launches require significantly more verification and checkout than standard F9 launches. NASA also required certain changes (new COPV design among others) to permit the "Load 'n Go" style launches, and to avoid an AMOS-6 type RUD.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
No people aboard - scheduled for July (https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/1162)
First crewed flight is planned for November (https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/1002)
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Demo 2 is now NET July, not November. I didn't consider the abort test, as that goes up to Max-Q and then aborts, doesn't get close to orbit. Interestingly, they think there might be a chance to get the first stage back after the Dragon detaches at Max-Q. At that point, it's still attached to the second stage.
Bruce Perens.
I watched the full four-minute video, and was struck by how much the capsule was spinning and lurching beneath the parachutes. I imagined myself in the capsule and it didn't look like a lot of fun. I wonder if the stresses on the astronauts are worse during the return (pitch and yaw) than the launch (nearly vertical acceleration).
One example is 40-60 seconds into the video, but there are others: Video link
NAC provides Starliner, Dragon 2 update – Commercial Crew preps entering final leg to launch
I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
It was reported on Everyday Astronaut that crew will be delivered to the launch complex - Pad 39A in Tesla Model X's.
Might I suggest you would find more readers interested in your proposal over on Reddit.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
is it true that SpaceX has selected Tesla to provide the transport vehicle?
Little known fact, that Tesla that got sent to Mars with the empty suit in the drivers seat... that wasn't empty, it was someone who got in to test to see if a suited astronaut would fit and fell asleep.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Uh.. the capsule socked on it's own
They meant "docked", but you'll have to forgive the AC. English isn't their first language and Russians have a hard time pronouncing the sound of the letter D.
"This is an amazing achievement in American history," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said from the space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "These are all capabilities that are leading to a day where we are launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil."
suggests that he is completely unaware of what was happening in the 1960's and 70's which is even more surprising given that he was the NASA spokesperson.
Don't count your chickens just yet, Beresheet is still a long way from the surface of the moon.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
How many cup holders does it have?
And one day we might land on the moon? In a rocket. Admission humanity is in a time loop.