If you were sitting on the ISS...

[Mojocvh]

...the last thing you'd want to see would be a resupply vehicle with dodgy thrusters approaching...

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/01/1714...

[Eric Mc]

Pity your thread title doesn't mention the actual subject matter.

I'm sure it will go OK. Dragon is still in its early days so you can expect glitches like this.

The good thing about the Dragon capsule does not have to physically dock with the space station. It is stopped a few meters away from the station and then pulled into position using the remote manipulator arm.

[Mojocvh]

"Pity your thread title doesn't mention the actual subject matter."

Actually, I think it is quite, accurate.


and pray, tell us, just how "It is stopped a few meters away" leprechauns?

[Einion Yrth]

Mojocvh said:

and pray, tell us, just how "It is stopped a few meters away" leprechauns?

No, they'll be using the RCS now they've fixed the pressurisation issues. Minor glitch, fixed.

[Mojocvh]

Yep, I hope so.

[Eric Mc]

Don't ever underestimate the skills of people who work on these projects. They almost always have "work arounds" and backups in place for just such eventualities.

Reading a bit about the issues they had with the thrusters, it seems they never were without thruster capability completely. So, even if they couldn't have fixed the specific problem, they still had sufficient control over some of the thrusters which they could have used to nudge the Dragon into a position near enough to the ISS where it would be grabbed by the remote arm.

If they had not been able to exercise sufficient control over the thrusters, the rendevous and docking would have been abandoned.