Space X - Dragon Launch Today

[Eric Mc]

I am really enthused by this project. They do seem like a dedicated and professional bunch. I wish them well.

I loved the lift off this morning. It had that slow majestic climb off the pad I associate with early generation rockets and the Saturns. I'm sure that is mainly because it is a liquid fueled rocket only and doesn't use solid rocket boosters for that initial kick.

[Eric Mc]

And the important thing is that within a few years the Dragon spacecraft will be capable of carrying people. THAT is the real game changer.

[Eric Mc]

Watching and listening to the progress on Spaceflight Now at the moment.

[Eric Mc]

Having some trouble calibtrating the TV cameras and monitors that will be used for the docking tomorrow.

[Eric Mc]

They have the Dragon capsule in sight. It's 20km behind the ISS and catching up gradually.

[Eric Mc]

Tomorrow - providing they can successfully perform all the tests during today's fly by.

[Eric Mc]

Real 2001 stuff.

[Eric Mc]

Einion Yrth said:

I love the way the test of the ISS's ability to remote control Dragon was to turn on a strobe light... which it's too brightly illuminated to see.

It was more a test of the telemetry as opposed to a visual test.

[Eric Mc]

Beginning to see some detail. The deployed solar panels are pretty obvious now.

[Eric Mc]

A bit. Dragon isn't that big so will only increase the reflectivity by a decimal point or two.
Migt be able to see the pair over the UK before docking - if you get up early enough.

Just seen a lovely shot of the Dragon crossing the eastern coastline of South Africa as the ISS and Dragon start across the Indian Ocean.

[Eric Mc]

dickymint said:

Did you note the little dig when He commented Atlanta being the last American craft sighted over a year ago?

Atlantis.

I didn't think it was a dig - more a wistful comment.

Bad timing in that they are going to have a four minute loss of signal (LOS) just at the moment of closest approach.

[Eric Mc]

Einion Yrth said:

Eric Mc said:

Atlantis.

I didn't think it was a dig - more a wistful comment.

Bad timing in that they are going to have a four minute loss of signal (LOS) just at the moment of closest approach.

Indeed, or is it bad planning? They should have launched from somewhere else.

My back garden is available.

And the ISS passes directly overhead.

[Eric Mc]

Absolutely.

I had a fireworks party in the back garden back in 2000. That shows it's suitable.

Anyway, it would be revenge for their non-stop yappy dog.

[Eric Mc]

All the reporting and calls to and from the spacecraft today was in metric units.

The fact that Musk is a South African might have something to do with it.

[Eric Mc]

dickymint said:

What units (SI or otherwise) are we talking about?

Distances were been given in meters and kilometres. Speed was given in meters per second.

[Eric Mc]

Within the next hour.

[Eric Mc]

They actually said at one of the post launch press conferences that they think the aborted launch, if it had proceeded, would not have resulted in an expl;osion. The cut off criteria was pretty tight which is why the engine shut down.

[Eric Mc]

They are certainly aiming high - and hopefully now beginning to reap the commercial benefits of their (so far) success -

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1205/29falconheavy...

The Falcon Heavy is certainly a heavy lifter - about 60 tons into earth orbit. It will be the biggest lifter since teh Saturn V and Energia.

[Eric Mc]

The fairly reliable Russian R7 has 32.

[Eric Mc]

Caruso said:

Eric Mc said:

The fairly reliable Russian R7 has 32.

I'm sure Spacex can make it work reliably and economically. But surely 5 F1-X engines would be cheaper in the long run?

I don't know the costs involved in develooping and testing rocket engines so I couldn't really tell. But we are now in a competitive commercial world so different compaies will be designing and building their own solutions and trying to convince their customers that their solution is best and most economically viable.
The more "launch solutions" there are out there, the more choice customers will have.

I'd love to see the F1 back in action and recently Boeing announced that they would like to see the F1 on a developed version of the SLS. We shall see how things work out.