Oh, can't we start the party thread now just to keep this discussion thread clean for the next two years?My party thread title suggestion: "The Final Score- Dragon 2: SPX-DM1"
Will the first crew demo flight assist in crew rotation ? (This question may not fit in this thread )
Careful there... If the best this thread has to offer is bets for beer, Chris may reconsider his decision to start this thread and he could lock it for the next 18 months.
Will these flights take any real cargo on them? To assist the resupply efforts, I mean. Will the first crew demo flight assist in crew rotation ? (This question may not fit in this thread )
But what doesn't make sense to me is the crewed demo. I mean what can be accomplished by the crew demo that can't be done on the unmanned version?
It makes good sense to me that the first flight(s) be unmanned, why risk a crew to test if you don't have to. But what doesn't make sense to me is the crewed demo. I mean what can be accomplished by the crew demo that can't be done on the unmanned version? Makes more sense to me to make the first crewed flight a fully operational crew rotation flight.
I wonder if NASA will insist that IDA3 has arrived at the ISS and properly installed, so that any visiting commercial vehicle has a backup docking port for attachment, before this SpX-DM1 flight is allowed to launch. As this flight (or Boeing's first uncrewed test flight) will be the first usage of the new docking standard in space, they may be wary. I believe I've heard that the IDA3 is penciled in for launch on SpaceX flight CRS-12, and that the best guess for CRS-12 is 'late 2017'. After that, IDA3 has to be manually mounted to its PMA by EVAing astronauts. Probably a new set of astronauts will need to be trained in this EVA before then. If all this is true, doesn't it suggest that this mission is more likely to launch around December 2017, and the rest of the Commercial Crew Program will follow in 2018? I hope NASA will allow SpaceX and Boeing to start flights while only IDA2 is operational.
IDA-3 is flying on SpX-14. See page 14 of this pdf.http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/5-Status_of_ISS.pdf
Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 03/18/2016 05:30 amIDA-3 is flying on SpX-14. See page 14 of this pdf.http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/5-Status_of_ISS.pdf This is all well and good, but much of the information is out of date.The FPIP page on slide 10 is dated October 20, 2015. L2 has one from February, and that is already out of date.This one has SpX-11 in August of 2016, which is probably when SpX-9 will launch.SpX-12 is probably flying when SpX-14 was scheduled as of Nov 4, 2014, the date of this presentation. SpX-12 will probably launch mid year 2017.If they want to "Establish 2 docking ports and 2 berthing ports on ISS USOS to support crew and cargo vehicles" as this states, they will want to move IDA-3 ahead in the delayed SpaceX CRS schedule, which can be accommodated.
Will these flights take any real cargo on them?
Quote from: dror on 03/07/2015 06:17 pmWill these flights take any real cargo on them?I would be curious to see if SpaceX could use DM-1 for one of the CRS flights, kill two birds with one stone. Anyway SpaceX can charge for both the DM-1 Milestone and a CRS flight on one mission?
Dragon-2 cannot be berthed, it must dock at one of the smaller docking ports (yet to have their IDA docking adapters to be installed). This makes Dragon 2 unsuitable for pressurized cargo delivery. For example, you can't get anything rack-sized through the docking port; that requires using one of the berthing ports.
SpaceX – yet to release a statement on the CRS2 award – will utilize its Dragon spacecraft, in two configurations, during CRS2, with both the berthed Dragon spacecraft – as currently being employed during CRS1 – and the upgraded Dragon 2, which can dock directly with the ISS.