SpaceX Tuesday...
Discussion
Beati Dogu said:
Before that, on 9th April, the Russians are sending 3 crew to the ISS (2 Russian, 1 American) on a Soyuz rocket. There will be a crossover period before the existing Soyuz crew departs on the 17th.
I do wonder if the Soyuz passengers now are secretly spewing that they aren't getting a ride on a crew Dragon - they really are worlds apart. The Soyuz really shows it's age and the size of the seating compartment is truly astonishing - imagine being squashed in there in a semi-foetal position and then getting a couple of extra hours hold in the countdown. That must be enjoyable.Even worse for me is when you watch a video of going from the ISS into the Soyuz, squeezing down a tiny gap that's mostly blocked by hatch and ventilation hose into that tiny orbital module. God no! (On a related note - the difference in the Russian vs American sections of the ISS is very marked - the Russian part looks bloody cramped).
Then check out the crazy space in the Dragon - they can wave their appendages around. It's how I imagined spacecraft would look when I was a kid. But better. Whoever it is who has got it as his bedroom got a good deal
It might still happen. NASA is looking for a reciprocal deal with the Russians to launch each others personnel. There could be a Russian cosmonaut on a SpaceX Crew Dragon as early as the Crew-3 mission in September. The only thing really stopping it would be Russian national pride and their love of being difficult for the sake of it. So they'll say they want to see Dragon and later Starliner work over several flights before they consider it, I would expect.
At least the Soyuz has a good track record and doesn't take very long to get to the ISS. Just over two hours on the last flight.
At least the Soyuz has a good track record and doesn't take very long to get to the ISS. Just over two hours on the last flight.
The 4 astronauts who will make up the Crew-2 mission to the ISS have been visiting their Falcon 9 rocket:
This is the first reused rocket for a crewed flight since the Shuttle and they wrote their initials in the soot on its side.
From left to right they are :
ESA’s Thomas Pesquet (France)
NASA's Shane Kimbrough (USA)
JAXA’s Akihiko Hoshide (Japan)
NASA's Megan McArthur (USA)
This booster has flown just once before and launched the Crew Dragon that's attached to the ISS at the moment.
Their capsule, Crew Dragon Endeavour, has also flown once before. Doug Hurley & Bob Behnken took it to the ISS last year for the Demo-2 mission.
More pics and details here:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/
This is the first reused rocket for a crewed flight since the Shuttle and they wrote their initials in the soot on its side.
From left to right they are :
ESA’s Thomas Pesquet (France)
NASA's Shane Kimbrough (USA)
JAXA’s Akihiko Hoshide (Japan)
NASA's Megan McArthur (USA)
This booster has flown just once before and launched the Crew Dragon that's attached to the ISS at the moment.
Their capsule, Crew Dragon Endeavour, has also flown once before. Doug Hurley & Bob Behnken took it to the ISS last year for the Demo-2 mission.
More pics and details here:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/
annodomini2 said:
Musk has stated that "hard turbopump start" caused the explosion of SN11 (basically over pressure in the turbopump combustion chamber), due to the sensors/wiring being damaged by the little fire that was seen on ascent.
On a basic level, the engine exploded.
If nothing else, we’re going to get some great terminology out of Starship.On a basic level, the engine exploded.
Hard Start = it blew up when we turned it on
RUD = it blew up
Any others?
Today's booster (B1058) is on its 7th flight.
They're going to start doing Starlink launches on a polar orbit in the summer. They did a test batch of 10 earlier, so that must have gone OK. These need to have interconnecting laser links in order to provide coverage over huge areas with no ground stations available. Whether this will be from Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg isn't publicly known. They don't have a landing ship in the Pacific yet, so perhaps they will by then. They do have a 3rd one on the way - "A Shortfall of Gravitas".
Also they've confirmed that their efforts to catch fairings while they're in flight have been abandoned. They'll be picked up from the water instead. The two fairing catcher boats - Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief - have had their arms removed and will be released from the SpaceX fleet. Ms. Tree left Port Canaveral yesterday with her water canons going in a final salute.
They're going to start doing Starlink launches on a polar orbit in the summer. They did a test batch of 10 earlier, so that must have gone OK. These need to have interconnecting laser links in order to provide coverage over huge areas with no ground stations available. Whether this will be from Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg isn't publicly known. They don't have a landing ship in the Pacific yet, so perhaps they will by then. They do have a 3rd one on the way - "A Shortfall of Gravitas".
Also they've confirmed that their efforts to catch fairings while they're in flight have been abandoned. They'll be picked up from the water instead. The two fairing catcher boats - Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief - have had their arms removed and will be released from the SpaceX fleet. Ms. Tree left Port Canaveral yesterday with her water canons going in a final salute.
Launch video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy9Jn-3vuPs
rxe said:
annodomini2 said:
Musk has stated that "hard turbopump start" caused the explosion of SN11 (basically over pressure in the turbopump combustion chamber), due to the sensors/wiring being damaged by the little fire that was seen on ascent.
On a basic level, the engine exploded.
If nothing else, we’re going to get some great terminology out of Starship.On a basic level, the engine exploded.
Hard Start = it blew up when we turned it on
RUD = it blew up
Any others?
TITSUP - Total Inability To Support Usual Performance
Some initial camera outages during that Starlink launch, but they showed the view from the first stage camera most of the way down including the landing - have they shown that live before? Interesting that the booster camera kept running whilst the ship camera froze just before touchdown - more vibration on the boat than the booster from the rocket efflux?
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