SpaceX Tuesday...
Discussion
ASAP reviews Boeing failure, positive SpaceX success ahead of Commercial Crew announcement
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/07/asap-boein...
Critique.
Boeing suffers critical failure with Starliner:
As was first reported by Eric Berger on Ars Technica, Boeing suffered a test stand failure of Starliner’s critical pad abort thrusters in late-June, a failure that reportedly ended with the leaking of volatile propellant from the thruster system.
In multiple statements to numerous outlets thereafter, Boeing stated that they were “confident we found the cause and are moving forward with corrective action.”
But that wasn’t quite the take-away from the ASAP meeting that occurred days after the company issued its statement.
“Boeing recently conducted a hot fire test for their low-altitude abort milestone for the CST-100,” noted a member of the ASAP panel. “And there was an anomaly on that test that we need to better understand in terms of its potential impact on the design and operation and the schedule.
And so although there’s a lot of interest in this issue, Boeing has asked for some additional time to step back and understand that a little better.”
During its admittedly brief discussion of Boeing, ASAP members made no mention of any potential corrective action, instead indicating that Boeing was still in the process of understanding exactly what happened with the failure.
It is possible that ASAP was referring to information that predated the Boeing statement; however, it is also possible that the panel – which provides a cautious and measured approach – had not yet been presented evidence of such corrective action for the abort thruster issue.
Regardless, one thing was clear from ASAP: Boeing’s current schedules for both their uncrewed and crew test flights, known as the Orbital Flight Test (OFT) and the Crew Flight Test (CFT), respectively, are in a state of flux and not well understood.
“We can expect some uncertainty and their near-term schedules at least for the Boeing provider while they go through that,” noted the ASAP. “And then we should have a much better sense of the Orbital Flight Test and the Crew Flight Test for that provider.”
This statement is telling, especially ahead of NASA’s plan to announce new target launch dates for the OFT and CFT missions for Boeing (as well as for both of SpaceX’s uncrewed and crewed missions) this Friday, 3 August, at an event at the agency’s Johnson Space Center.
With this ASAP statement, it is now understood that those dates for Boeing to be announced Friday might not be completely realistic as the company continues to work through mitigation and potential redesign, as stated by ASAP, resulting from the test stand issue.
Praise for SpaceX, but still work to do:
Contrasting quite significantly from the above, the ASAP panel had high praise for SpaceX regarding a number of areas related to the production of the crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 boosters that will be used to launch the crew craft to the International Space Station.
Of particular note in the panel’s praise for SpaceX was the company’s strides both at innovation and adaptability while also developing procedures and computer tracking systems to greatly aid in Systems Engineering & Integration (SE&I) to properly track all changes to the vehicle and understand how those changes relate to the overall integrated design for crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket.
In fact, perhaps no better praise for these tools and systems came from an ASAP member who said they “would have been great to have for the Space Shuttle program” – which ASAP member, and former NASA astronaut Lieutenant General (Ret.) Susan Helms noted “was a great ‘attaboy’ for the program’s current visions of how the tools are not just evolving but how the SpaceX force is adapting to using them.”
ASAP discussed these positive attributes for SpaceX while discussing the Commercial Crew Program’s (CCP’s) overall positive progress on strategies and approaches to meeting the panel’s SE&I recommendations.
You can never review enough times what SE&I principals actually mean,” noted Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Helms. “It means understanding the margins of the integrated system designs, verifying that those margins exist through test and analysis, and then controlling both the configuration and the operation of the system to ensure those margins exist when flown and that these principles are both absolutely essential for culture and practice to achieve the best possible outcomes for the safety of space flight.”
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Helms also had great praise for SpaceX’s “extreme transparency” with the CCP office on all of their data, “including how the tools can help them with risk management.
“Assuming that the program continues to have confidence that SpaceX’s principles are evolving in a way that gets them to meeting the intent of our recommendations, it looks like things are on a good path to what we had originally intended with our recommendations.”
Nonetheless, there were a couple of issues (more items to watch than issues) ASAP brought forward regarding SpaceX in relation to vehicle hardware.
One such area is an upcoming change to the vendor that provides the parachute reef line cutters for Dragon. The original vendor selected by SpaceX was the only NASA-qualified vendor for reef line cutters, and it had to serve Dragon, Starliner, and Orion.
That vendor is an extremely small company, and challenges in ensuring the quantity and – most importantly – the quality of the delivered product due to increased demand from the three crewed vehicles developed.
As such, SpaceX made the decision to switch vendors to ensure a continuous and quality supply of reef line cutters. That new vendor is currently going through the qualification process, which is nearing completion.
What SpaceX is now in the process of deciding is on which mission they will switch to the new vendor’s hardware – the uncrewed DM-1 flight or the crewed DM-2 mission.
The parachutes for the DM-1 mission have already been packed inside the crew Dragon capsule, and changing out the reef line cutters would delay the DM-1 flight. SpaceX is actively engaged in risk management and risk posture discussions for potentially switching to the new reef line cutters on the crewed DM-2 flight, with ASAP noting that they are eagerly awaiting the results of those discussion
NASA have an event on 3rd August where Vice President Mike Pence will announce more commercial crew details, such as the astronauts for the test flights. He's also chairman of the National Space Council.
They haven't done the test fire yet.
Beati Dogu said:
Up next on Saturday, August 4th, another Falcon 9 launch - from SLC-40 in Florida. (06:19 - 08:50 UK time). With a drone ship landing to follow hopefully.
Launch moved back now to early Tuesday, August 7th UK time. The launch hazard zones span midnight, US east coast time.They haven't done the test fire yet.
Its always a surprise when you see the sheer scale of these things in the real world.
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/93wxkw/woo...
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/93wxkw/woo...
RobDickinson said:
Its always a surprise when you see the sheer scale of these things in the real world.
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/93wxkw/woo...
That's a heck of a sight on your drive home!https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/93wxkw/woo...
Quite a sight. Amazing that they haul them overland from Los Angeles all the way to Texas for test firing, then either back to California or on to Florida for launch. The requirement to haul them by road was certainly one of the main limiting factors on the Falcon 9's width in particular.
ULA prefers to ship their comparable Atlas V first stages from the factory in Alabama to either Florida or California on the MV Delta Mariner, which can take the larger Delta 4 and eventually the Vulcan rocket too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Delta_Mariner
They have been know to fly the cores occasionally too, in a Russian Antonov aircraft amusingly.
ULA prefers to ship their comparable Atlas V first stages from the factory in Alabama to either Florida or California on the MV Delta Mariner, which can take the larger Delta 4 and eventually the Vulcan rocket too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Delta_Mariner
They have been know to fly the cores occasionally too, in a Russian Antonov aircraft amusingly.
^ Pretty sure that's the plan. It'll probably be BFR- only and they can test fire them there too. They'll have to ship them round via the Panama Canal, but it has been done before.
NASA announce the target test flight date for their Commercial Crew Program earlier today:
Boeing Orbital Flight Test (uncrewed): late 2018 / early 2019
Boeing Crew Flight Test (crewed): mid-2019
SpaceX Demo-1 (uncrewed): November 2018
SpaceX Demo-2 (crewed): April 2019
So all later than expected; To the surprise of absolutely no one.
The crew details will be announced on Friday.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/08/02/n...
NASA announce the target test flight date for their Commercial Crew Program earlier today:
Boeing Orbital Flight Test (uncrewed): late 2018 / early 2019
Boeing Crew Flight Test (crewed): mid-2019
SpaceX Demo-1 (uncrewed): November 2018
SpaceX Demo-2 (crewed): April 2019
So all later than expected; To the surprise of absolutely no one.
The crew details will be announced on Friday.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/08/02/n...
Beati Dogu said:
NASA have an event on 3rd August where Vice President Mike Pence will announce more commercial crew details, such as the astronauts for the test flights. He's also chairman of the National Space Council.
Cancelled at the last minute. Gotta wring those tax bucks out to the fullest, if it's Boeing, it's not going....
Go SpaceX!
Edited by Kccv23highliftcam on Friday 3rd August 00:09
Meet Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins, the crew of SpaceX's first manned flight:
Victor Glover is from Pomona, California. He is Navy commander, Naval aviator and test pilot with almost 3,000 hours flying in more than 40 different aircraft, 400 carrier landings and 24 combat missions. He was selected as part of the 2013 astronaut candidate class, and this his will be his first spaceflight.
Mike Hopkins was born in Lebanon, Missouri, and grew up on a farm near Richland, Missouri. He is a Colonel in the Air Force, where he was a flight test engineer before being selected as a NASA astronaut in 2009. He’s spent 166 days on the International Space Station for Expeditions 37 and 38, and conducted two spacewalks.
The crew for the second SpaceX test flight have both flown the Space Shuttle (twice).
Details of the second test flight crew, plus the crews for the ULA Starliner here:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/
Victor Glover is from Pomona, California. He is Navy commander, Naval aviator and test pilot with almost 3,000 hours flying in more than 40 different aircraft, 400 carrier landings and 24 combat missions. He was selected as part of the 2013 astronaut candidate class, and this his will be his first spaceflight.
Mike Hopkins was born in Lebanon, Missouri, and grew up on a farm near Richland, Missouri. He is a Colonel in the Air Force, where he was a flight test engineer before being selected as a NASA astronaut in 2009. He’s spent 166 days on the International Space Station for Expeditions 37 and 38, and conducted two spacewalks.
The crew for the second SpaceX test flight have both flown the Space Shuttle (twice).
Details of the second test flight crew, plus the crews for the ULA Starliner here:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/
Indeed. Finally they can "capture the flag" that Shuttle Atlantis STS-135, the last manned flight to the ISS, left for them in 2011
Astronaut for the second SpaceX flight, Doug Hurley, piloted that Shuttle flight funnily enough.
Also tonight, SpaceX's CRS-15 Dragon capsule is about to deorbit burn and re-enter the atmosphere after just over a month at the ISS.
Astronaut for the second SpaceX flight, Doug Hurley, piloted that Shuttle flight funnily enough.
Also tonight, SpaceX's CRS-15 Dragon capsule is about to deorbit burn and re-enter the atmosphere after just over a month at the ISS.
They generally stay for about a month. It can be used as a life boat and gives them time to fill it with a couple of tonnes of trash & stuff they want to send back.
This one splashed down in the Pacific, but the last official word was that the recovery team was en route. Nothing since then.
Edit: The capsule is fine and on the recovery boat back to port. They were just slow to report it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmE9Of_l-M-/
Time to paint a second ISS logo on the side.
This one splashed down in the Pacific, but the last official word was that the recovery team was en route. Nothing since then.
Edit: The capsule is fine and on the recovery boat back to port. They were just slow to report it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmE9Of_l-M-/
Time to paint a second ISS logo on the side.
Edited by Beati Dogu on Sunday 5th August 18:20
I wonder it they'll ever use a capsule for a 3rd time. They have two of them that have done two flights now.
SpaceX's second east coast landing ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" should be ready by next summer apparently.
Tuesday morning's Falcon 9 is upright & getting ready for the off. The weather is 80% go currently.
This will be the 60th Falcon 9 launch and the 14th this year already.
SpaceX's second east coast landing ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" should be ready by next summer apparently.
Tuesday morning's Falcon 9 is upright & getting ready for the off. The weather is 80% go currently.
This will be the 60th Falcon 9 launch and the 14th this year already.
Another successful launch and landing.
Update Tuesday August 7th, 1:50AM ET: SpaceX’s used Block 5 rocket successfully took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1:18AM ET, deploying the Merah Putih satellite just over half an hour later. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster also performed another successful landing on one of the company’s drone ships in the Atlantic, becoming the 28th booster that SpaceX has ever recovered.
Update Tuesday August 7th, 1:50AM ET: SpaceX’s used Block 5 rocket successfully took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1:18AM ET, deploying the Merah Putih satellite just over half an hour later. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster also performed another successful landing on one of the company’s drone ships in the Atlantic, becoming the 28th booster that SpaceX has ever recovered.
Yes, good to hear. I didn't watch it live, but saw the highlights this afternoon.
They said they they're planning to launch it for a third time later this year too.
Nice shot from the maneuvering first stage of the Florida peninsula all lit up, with an electrical storm going on above it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjfQNBYv2IY&fe...
They said they they're planning to launch it for a third time later this year too.
Nice shot from the maneuvering first stage of the Florida peninsula all lit up, with an electrical storm going on above it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjfQNBYv2IY&fe...
Everyday astronaut gets invited to try out Boeing new space suit...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaOAsUR-o-U
Question is, when are they gonna get to use it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaOAsUR-o-U
Question is, when are they gonna get to use it?
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