SpaceX Tuesday...

[AshVX220]

I'm going to have to make a special trip to watch the heavy launch then, take a day off work and head over for it. What will it actually be called (so I can keep an eye on the schedule)?

[ninja-lewis]

AshVX220 said:

I'm going to have to make a special trip to watch the heavy launch then, take a day off work and head over for it. What will it actually be called (so I can keep an eye on the schedule)?

Think that's to be announced still.

This wikipedia page is kept up to the date and it includes the launch vehicle so you can follow the FH dates that way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and...

[Beati Dogu]

callmedave said:

I have dual monitors, 1366x 768 I really want a wallpaper with the falcon take on the left and the landing on the right.

Cant find anything, Will look into making my own.

Spacex's Flickr account has some great photos and images on it:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/with/29937257...

Higher res than you need, but you could clip them and/or resize them to suit.

[RobDickinson]

all of nasa's photography is available on line also

[callmedave]

Thanks for those links, Some amazing pictures there!

Will spend the weekend on photo shop blending something together

[AshVX220]

ninja-lewis said:

Think that's to be announced still.

This wikipedia page is kept up to the date and it includes the launch vehicle so you can follow the FH dates that way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and...

Awesome, thanks.

[MartG]

CRS-10 docking delayed by GPS error

http://spaceflightnow.com/2017/02/22/spacex-waves-...

[Beati Dogu]

A Russian Progress resupply spacecraft took off this morning on a Soyuz rocket.

This was the last hurrah of the Soyuz-U rocket, which has flown 786 missions since it entered service in 1973.

The capsule is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Friday morning, so hopefully they've got Dragon out of the way by then.

[RobDickinson]

There are 4 docking ports for soyuz/progres , dragon uses the old space shuttle ( well upgraded to the new IDA-2 port.

No reason they cant both be docked at the same time

[MartG]

RobDickinson said:

There are 4 docking ports for soyuz/progres , dragon uses the old space shuttle ( well upgraded to the new IDA-2 port.

No reason they cant both be docked at the same time

I think he meant the actual docking operations for Dragon had been completed, so they didn't have two spacecraft flying around near the ISS at the same time

[Beati Dogu]

Precisely. They're REALLY careful about how things approach the ISS.

The can hold off the capsules for some time if necessary, but the cargo is a more time critical (mice, biological samples etc.)

[Eric Mc]

All going smoothly today.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/02/17/spacex-crs-1...

[RobDickinson]

Dragon safely docked to IIS.

Looked like a telemetry/gps data issue from ground control was the issue

[Beati Dogu]

It's slightly ironic that this Dragon capsule was carrying a new ISS unit designed to track and ultimately to guide in capsules automatically: NASA's Raven

https://sspd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Raven.html

NASA hope to develop this technology into an autonomous system for a new class of maintenance spacecraft. So for example one that could dock with an existing satellite and refuel, upgrade and even relocate it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrIISJ8MCQY

https://sspd.gsfc.nasa.gov/restore-L.html

[Beati Dogu]

Another Falcon 9 on its way east:

https://imgur.com/a/t9UAX

Imagine the static charge you get unwrapping that bad boy.

[Eric Mc]

That reminds me of two things from my youth - my nylon pyjamas and my hair.

[durbster]

Beati Dogu said:

Another Falcon 9 on its way east:

https://imgur.com/a/t9UAX

Imagine the static charge you get unwrapping that bad boy.

OK, excuse the stupid question - why is it in a bin bag? Simply to protect it or something more complex and scientific?

[Eric Mc]

I'm sure it's just a dust cover. In the old days they used brown paper -

Look at this documentary at 22.16 in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07nZxVxX8n4&t=...

In fact, I'd recommend the entire documentary - one of the best American TV documentaries ever.

[Sylvaforever]

I wonder if the ones from the barges are left open to air/dry out.......

[Eric Mc]

Are you talking about the 1st stages that have been recovered at sea?

The simple answer is yes. They will be hosed down and cleaned to ensure all traces of salt have been removed.

Don't forget NASA were happy to reuse solid boosters that had been fully immersed in salt water.