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SpaceX Missions Section / Re: SpaceX F9 : Starlink group 4-26 : KSC LC-39A : 9/10 Aug. 2022 (0214 UTC)

« Last post by Rondaz on Today at 08:17 pm »

ASOG droneship is underway towards Port Canaveral with B1073, following Tuesday's mission.

Tug Kurt J Crosby is towing the droneship at the moment. Another Crosby tug - Crosby Skipper is sailing to join the convoy, it would appear.

I would expect arrival Sat - Sun.

https://twitter.com/SpaceOffshore/status/1557787791538458625

Boeing Starliner (CST-100) Section / Re: Boeing Starliner (CST-100) Master Update Thread - April 2019 onwards

« Last post by Targeteer on Today at 08:16 pm »

August 11, 2022
MEDIA ADVISORY M22-111
NASA, Boeing to Hold Media Update on Starliner Progress

NASA and Boeing will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 25, to provide an update on the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) to the International Space Station – the first flight with astronauts on the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.

Leadership on the call also will discuss data reviews from Boeing’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 to the space station, which successfully completed in May 2022.

The briefing participants are:

Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, CST-100 Starliner, Boeing

To participate in the call, media must RSVP to: [email protected] no later than one hour prior to the start of the event. Audio of the teleconference will livestream on NASA’s website.

CFT will demonstrate the ability of Starliner and the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket to safely carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. NASA will fly two astronaut test pilots, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, on the flight test to the space station, where they will live and work off the Earth for about two weeks.

Following a successful test flight with astronauts, NASA will begin the final process of certifying the Starliner spacecraft and systems for regular crew rotation flights to the space station.

Find out more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

NGIS (Formerly Orbital ATK) - Antares/Cygnus Section / Re: Northrop teams with Firefly

« Last post by Robert_the_Doll on Today at 08:16 pm »

The idea that both Antares 330 and Firefly Beta could well have their common first stage become recoverable vis-à-vis retropropulsion is a very interesting and attractive prospect.

SpaceX Missions Section / Re: SpaceX F9 : KPLO : CCSFS SLC-40 : 4 August 2022 (23:08 UTC)

« Last post by Rondaz on Today at 08:16 pm »

Leg retraction finally underway on B1052. Remains to be seen what SpaceX plans to do with the damaged leg.

The leg strut has been removed and appears to have been replaced with a tension cable.

https://twitter.com/SpaceOffshore/status/1557811282601967616

SpaceX Super Heavy/Starship (BFR/BFS) - Earth to Deep Space / Re: Starship In-orbit refueling - Options and Discussion

« Last post by TheRadicalModerate on Today at 08:12 pm »

Quote from: OTV Booster on Today at 01:41 am

One takeaway: Y2O3 exhibits infrared photoluminescence when laser pumped which explains its high emissivity in the IR.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the details, because I doubt that this is exactly what SpaceX will use on the LSS.

My dumb explanation of solar white:

1) It's really reflective in UV, visible light, and mid-infrared.
2) It's really emissive in low infrared.

It's the combination of these two properties that makes it effective.

Edit: Hopelessly ninja'd. That's what happens when you don't pay attention to the "you might want to recheck the thread" warning after leaving something sitting overnight.

Missions To The Moon (HSF) / Re: NASA's Artemis Program Updates and Discussion Thread 3

« Last post by DanClemmensen on Today at 08:10 pm »

Quote from: yg1968 on Today at 07:12 pm

Quote from: DanClemmensen on Today at 06:03 pm
Quote from: yg1968 on Today at 05:48 pm

Yes but bear in mind that the requirements in the BAA are minimums, NASA is very happy if you exceed them. The reason for having these relatively low minimum requirements is to ensure that more than one company can bid. NASA listens to the potential providers when setting up these requirements.
That's why I said that they got a capable system by chance and not by design. If SpaceX had not decided to bid Starship, then NASA would have been left with an HLS that barely met the grossly inadequate requirements. If SpaceX had chosen to bid an HLS based on Crew Dragon (or something) that was closer to the NASA reference design, then same result. But by happenstance the economics and time frames aligned, and SpaceX bid an HLS with ten to a hundred times the capability and half the cost of the alternate bids, and in my opinion (yours may differ) gives Artemis a chance to evolve into a meaningful program.

I agree with everything you said except that I don't think that's it's by accident. If you open up the process to all commercial companies, you are likely to have proposals that exceed your expectations but you are right than the timing was perfect.

The only problem now is that NASA doesn't seem to be taking full advantage of Starship's capability. I expect that is partly because Option A is only a demo flight. Hopefully, this will be fixed once that NASA is confident that Starship will work. One opportunity for Starship would to bid for the foundation surface habitat. Starship could probably be used as a habitat.

If Starship actually works (which it has not done yet) and lives up to its potential, then It can do many things as part of a real lunar program. But as long as NASA is forced to use SLS/Orion for all crew to cislunar space, Artemis will remain crippled. I think our best hope is for a commercial alternative to be permitted to fly independently of SLS/Orion, while SLS/Orion continues to stumble along at one mission every one or two years.

SpaceX Missions Section / Re: SpaceX F9 / Crew Dragon : Crew-5 : KSC LC-39A : early October 2022

« Last post by Rondaz on Today at 08:04 pm »

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 Mission Nears Completion of Crew Training

James Cawley Posted on August 11, 2022

By Jim Cawley
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

The crew members who will fly aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission are in the home stretch of a unique 18-month training program to prepare them for their mission to the International Space Station for a science expedition mission.

NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, commander; Josh Cassada, pilot; and mission specialists Koichi Wakata, of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina will lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft – on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket – from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for no earlier than Sept. 29. This marks the fifth crew rotation mission of the company’s human space transportation system, and its sixth flight with astronauts, to the space station for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

The crew has undergone mission-specific training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while also traveling to SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, for spacecraft training, and to international partner agencies for system and payload training.

“We really focus on what they’re going to need to perform the space station mission,” said Cassie Rodriquez, Crew-5 chief training officer at Johnson. “So that’s specific to the systems they’ll be working with and tasks they will be performing.”

In addition to space station systems, the crew has studied and participated in extravehicular activities; Russian language; robotics; T-38 jet flying; spacesuit training; spacecraft training; and physical, tool, and science training. The astronauts also are given opportunities to exercise crew resource management, where they are exposed to contingency situations, learning how to respond and take specific roles in case of an emergency.

“We put them through scenarios to help develop that teamwork and expeditionary skills; how to live and work with other people in very high-stress and dangerous situations,” Rodriquez said. “They have shown leadership, toughness, and focus in everything that they do. The dedication to human spaceflight, to making the mission a success – it’s very inspiring.”

Crew-5 will fly to the space station in Dragon Endurance, which previously flew the agency’s Crew-3 mission to and from the orbiting laboratory. Follow the commercial crew blog for the latest information on Crew-5 progress and flight readiness as reviews and milestones continue. NASA and its partners will host a media event in the coming weeks to discuss more about Crew-5 progress.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2022/08/11/nasas-spacex-crew-5-mission-nears-completion-of-crew-training/

Quote

Booster 7 Static Fire! Long duration firing!

youtube.com/watch?v=6yMrLi…