SpaceX Demo-2 Manned Mission - Also general SpaceX happenings

[Fareal]

I still feel anxious about the return journey. I don’t think I can forget watching Columbia not make it home.

 

[That_Guy]

lol I did not. That's pretty funny. And my joke about the call from SpaceX was because I saw a lot of people saying it took them more than one try to dock. I was surprised by that because it was pretty fucking easy. Just take it slow and keep the controls on small bursts.

Pretty sure flat-earth mode is actually serious. How things move relative to each other in orbit is very non-intuitively weird. if you wait a good chunk of an orbit. Turning that off so stuff moves the way you'd expect might be helpful if you're doing a very slow approach.

Of course if you fly the thing like Jebidiah Kerman it's either docked or rammed into some part of the station in under five minutes which is quick enough that the orbital weirdness hasn't really shown up yet.

 

[MrJokerRager]

I am surprised how much equipment they needed for the space shuttles compared to this launch.

 

[Sam Losco]

Thanks for the reminder about this thread.

Demo-2 is set to return to Earth on August 2nd.

 

[That_Guy]

I am surprised how much equipment they needed for the space shuttles compared to this launch.

And that's the same pad for both launches. They really changed a lot of stuff there. Re-used Shuttle service tower, which is recycled Saturn service tower bits.

 

[Sam Losco]

Live departing ISS.

 

[Jump]

I still feel anxious about the return journey. I don’t think I can forget watching Columbia not make it home.

I think the only memory I have of grade school is being in classroom watching Challenger happen. When ever I see one of those old school TV/VCR classroom carts I think of that.
These people doing manned missions then and now are the last of the real Heroes.Putting their lives on the table for science.I think the real tragedy of Columbia is it caused NASA to just give up on anything that was risky. I don't think those Astronauts would have wanted them to just give up on manned flight like that. Thank God for SpaceX.

Good luck Dragon!

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[Sam Losco]

Splashdown in about an hour. Live here:

 

[Sam Losco]

Four main chutes deployed:


Edit:
Splashdown!



Edit 2 - High-res splashdown:

 

[Miller]

Great job. It's the beginning of a new era.

 

[spiritofamermaid]

"Thanks for flying SpaceX."

As hilarious as that was, this was so cool to watch.

 

[Sam Losco]

FFS, jackass boaters out there getting close.

Now they've zoomed the camera in so you can't see the boat with the flag.

Edit - Holy shit, lot of private boats out there:

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

Dang reading it’s costing the government $35m a seat for this - that’s insanely cheap.

 

[Sam Losco]

And finally getting them out.

 

[Miller]

Debriefing with NASA and SpaceX people:

Interview with Behnken and Hurley:

 

[Dark Edea]

USA! USA! USA!

Good job!!!

*clapping*

 

[Fluoxetine Man]

Great job. It's the beginning of a new era.

View attachment 1490868

It's been a long road, getting from there to here...

 

[Leibowitz]

Dang reading it’s costing the government $35m a seat for this - that’s insanely cheap.

The figure I saw was $55m, but the difference is still stunning.

 

[Sam Losco]

Just gonna use this as a general SpaceX happenings.

Starship prototype just did a 150 meter hop, not even 30 minutes ago.

I expect SpaceX will release drone footage of it within the next couple of days. This is a big step in getting this design flying. If they follow what they did with Falcon 9, they will likely do another hop that goes higher, maybe 500m, and then another up to 1km. After that, the next launch will be orbital.

This is just a full size tank prototype of Starship itself with one Raptor engine. It's missing the nose cone (thought hey have several built and ready to go). Eventually, this will have several Raptors, some configured for atmo flight and some for space flight. It will be launched into space ontop of a massive booster stage. You can see the current design here: https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

Edit to avoid double posting. SpaceX has their video up:

 

[That_Guy]

One engine, Off-center.* Which is why it kind of flies a bit sideways. Upside is it can handle landing without all three running. Control-wise anyways. Not enough thrust would still be bad.

Spacex's Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1HA9LlFNM0
^Ring of 3 around the centerline planned/mounts built, One installed.