US back in the manned space business?

T

The Sound Guy

Pursuit Driver
Six days until the planned launch of SpaceX's Dragon Capsule with two astronauts on board. it will be the first manned launch to orbit from US soil since the Space shuttle program was closed down. Virgin Galactic has launched five astronauts to the edge of space, but in a straight up and down path and does not approach orbit.

ORLANDO, Fla., May 21 (UPI) -- The Crew Dragon space capsule made by Elon Musk's SpaceX faces a final big test when two astronauts get on board to fly to the International Space Station next week. The United States hasn't had the capability to launch astronauts from U.S. soil since the last space shuttle mission in 2011. Since then, astronauts have flown to the space station only on Russian rockets launched from Kazakhstan.

A successful mission for Crew Dragon, which is to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday, will restore that capability and continue the nation's dominance in space, along with making scientific advances from space exploration. The flight, called Demo 2, is designed to certify the Crew Dragon for regular ferry service of astronauts to the space station.
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I'm looking forward to watching it. I've been thrilled to see private enterprise entering into space and doing it better than the Government ever did.

SpaceX

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I hope their Tesla battery holds a charge long enough to get them back safely. I think it's ironic that the face of the electric car industry is the same face that backs rockets which are...let's just say...not electric. Or maybe their planning to stop every 250 miles for a re-charge.
 
J-man said:
I hope their Tesla battery holds a charge long enough to get them back safely. I think it's ironic that the face of the electric car industry is the same face that backs rockets which are...let's just say...not electric. Or maybe their planning to stop every 250 miles for a re-charge.
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But in a way it's the same thing, he's trying to make electric cars affordable and trying to make space affordable by using technology.

in any case, my thinking is that burning rocket fuel (Kerosene) may make less pollution than what's generated building those lithium batteries for a Telsa.
 
Just 2 hours to go if weather permits.

Weather has to be good at the launch site and all the alternate landing sites in case something fails.
 
lotstodo said:
Those of you with kids and grandkids old enough to understand and be inspired should take advantage of this opportunity. Get them excited about science because we will need them to help solve the problems of tomorrow.
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Our grandson is with us this week, I'm making him watch it. Of course it's not that difficult, he loves science and is interested in space.

UPDATE: Mission aborted due to bad weather. Next attempt 3:22pm on Saturday (05/30/20) but the weather forecast is showing about the same so it may also get scrubbed. I'm sure Elon is happy though, he gets more free publicity.
 
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It appears that the Falcon 9 / Dragon combo has a limited ability to meet up with the space station, as they said that the launch has to occur within a 30 second window for success. Weather was clear enough to go 10 minutes after the launch time, but they couldn't wait. Considering this one only has two people in it and not much cargo, it's an interesting limitation. It may just be that they wanted it perfect due to it being a manned mission and limited time to orbit before docking, I'm not sure.

We'll see what happens Sat. Maybe he should put it on a Falcon Heavy. :) Plenty of kick with that sucker.
 
The Sound Guy said:
It appears that the Falcon 9 / Dragon combo has a limited ability to meet up with the space station, as they said that the launch has to occur within a 30 second window for success. Weather was clear enough to go 10 minutes after the launch time, but they couldn't wait. Considering this one only has two people in it and not much cargo, it's an interesting limitation. It may just be that they wanted it perfect due to it being a manned mission and limited time to orbit before docking, I'm not sure.

We'll see what happens Sat. Maybe he should put it on a Falcon Heavy. :) Plenty of kick with that sucker.
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The space station travels 4.76 miles per second. If you are 30 seconds late, that means it will be 143 miles from the rendezvous point. Wait a half hour and you will be chasing that thing across the sky.
 
lotstodo said:
The space station travels 4.76 miles per second. If you are 30 seconds late, that means it will be 143 miles from the rendezvous point. Wait a half hour and you will be chasing that thing across the sky.
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So you're saying we need faster ship?
 
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