Author Topic: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral  (Read 15455 times)

Offline MarekCyzio

SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« on: 07/03/2011 01:44 am »
The Dragon capsule that flew into space last year is on the display in Cape Canaveral next to the USAF Space & Missile Museum History Center:
http://www.afspacemuseum.org/historycenter/index.htm


Offline vt_hokie

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #1 on: 07/03/2011 01:50 am »
A pretty sorry looking "replacement" as we retire the impressive shuttle fleet, imo.

Offline RocketEconomist327

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #2 on: 07/03/2011 01:57 am »
A pretty sorry looking "replacement" as we retire the impressive shuttle fleet, imo.

Then do us all a favor and give us an extra three billion a year so we can continue to fly the shuttle. 

Thanks for asking.

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RE327
You can talk about all the great things you can do, or want to do, in space; but unless the rocket scientists get a sound understanding of economics (and quickly), the US space program will never achieve the greatness it should.

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Offline Rocket Science

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #3 on: 07/03/2011 02:02 am »
Pick out one war and end it one week early. That would cover it. Its not like its going to make a difference in the long run with those countries anyway...
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« Last Edit: 07/03/2011 02:03 am by Rocket Science »
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Offline Jason1701

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #4 on: 07/03/2011 02:03 am »
Nice pictures, Marek!

vt_hokie, ugordan said earlier:
Quote
This is the work of a company that didn't even exist 8 years ago and only put something successfully into orbit 3 years ago and did so at a fraction of the cost it would have taken NASA. In my book that's progress.

The problem is you seem to equate SpaceX and SpaceX alone with the entire U.S. manned space program. Don't like capsules for any purpose, even cargo delivery? Fine, wait for Dreamchaser or whatever.

Is it SpaceX's fault that the shuttles are going away? No, even though they own the system that will replace the largest share of the lost capabilities. NASA's own replacement for the shuttles will not have the opportunity to look like this capsule for two years and a total of twenty times the cost.

Offline Nascent Ascent

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #5 on: 07/03/2011 02:07 am »
Looks barely used.

Offline MarekCyzio

Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #6 on: 07/03/2011 03:32 am »
Nice pictures, Marek!


Thank you! I have a few more on my blog (warning, contents in Polish!) + a few of the MPCV.

The Dragon capsule is really amazing, and there is no charge to see it (unlike the MPCV).

Offline Andy USA

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #7 on: 07/03/2011 03:37 am »
Quick trim. Not the thread for what was said on here before the trim. Those wondering what it was about, don't. You really don't want to ask.

Nice pics Marek.

Offline mduncan36

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #8 on: 07/03/2011 03:43 am »
Quick trim. Not the thread for what was said on here before the trim. Those wondering what it was about, don't. You really don't want to ask.

Nice pics Marek.

I expected that and agree. Back on the subject, it's great that those of us who can't be there in person can at least be there through the generosity of others who share this interest. My curiosity increases with every photo. Thank you very much.

Offline Jkew

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #9 on: 07/03/2011 03:44 am »
This may be a dumb question but is the charred coloration from the ablative heat shield or from the rest of the shell? I really think they should paint capsules brown ;)

Offline MarekCyzio

Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #10 on: 07/03/2011 03:50 am »
This may be a dumb question but is the charred coloration from the ablative heat shield or from the rest of the shell? I really think they should paint capsules brown ;)

I am not an expert, but most of the off-white color was on the parachute side, so I suspect this may be related to parachute deployment, not charring.

The material that covers the sides of Dragon looks like a very dense styrofoam, but looks more fragile (I saw at least one crack at the engine nozzle). And the capsule has a very distinct shape, more like an enlarged Mercury than Apollo.

I was hoping to smell some cheese, but no luck :)

Offline kraisee

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #11 on: 07/03/2011 04:35 am »
The leading edges of the PICA-X tiles look fairly well ablated to me, or is that just a lighting effect?

Ross.
« Last Edit: 07/03/2011 04:36 am by kraisee »
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Offline Prober

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #12 on: 07/03/2011 05:27 am »
 
Looks barely used.

looks like it came down on its side abit  or maybe the heat shield needs to be enlarged a tad.
 
 
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Offline kevin-rf

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #13 on: 07/03/2011 07:23 am »
Looks barely used.

looks like it came down on its side abit  or maybe the heat shield needs to be enlarged a tad.
 
 

That is part of the design, coming at an angle instead of pointing the heat shield straight on generates lift that reduces g-forces and provides cross range so it can come in more precisely. Apollo and Soyuz did/do the same thing.
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Offline Jason1701

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #14 on: 07/03/2011 11:31 am »
Looks barely used.

looks like it came down on its side abit  or maybe the heat shield needs to be enlarged a tad.
 
 

That is part of the design, coming at an angle instead of pointing the heat shield straight on generates lift that reduces g-forces and provides cross range so it can come in more precisely. Apollo and Soyuz did/do the same thing.

The heat shield tiles are actually not radially symmetric. Watch the video where the Dragon separates from the F9US and you'll see that they spiral around an off-center point.

Offline mr. mark

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #15 on: 07/03/2011 03:40 pm »
You have to remember that the capsule was torn apart and stitched back together after recovery. A better example of what the capsule looked like was on the barge shortly after recovery. (included is a pristine capsule picture before launch)

Offline SpacexULA

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #16 on: 07/03/2011 06:06 pm »
A pretty sorry looking "replacement" as we retire the impressive shuttle fleet, imo.

My Brother is the space geek with money in the family.  He flew down yesterday to see it from Atlanta.  Some impressions that he came away with:

-He has seen Enterprise, Apollo, and Gemini at the Smithsonian, the Apollo and Gemini Capsules scorched from reentry, but not close enough for you to smell them.  He said the thing that was wonderful with this exebit was that you could SMELL the capsule.  It had a burnt chemical smell too it that was for him just intoxicating.

-He did say it did look like they paid some college student 2 cases of beers to put it back together, the panels where all out of alignment and you could actually see finger marks in the scorching where people where taking it apart.

-They allowed him to get really close, definitely within spiting distance (no getting ideas please).

This is just the 1st capsule, can you imagine how in your face SpaceX is going to be about this when they have 2-3 crispy capsules?  Every conference one of the managers speak at they are going to push a crispy capsule out in front of them, give a speech leaning on it, then at the end have a model in a space suit hydraulically shot out the docking ring.
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Offline Jason1701

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #17 on: 07/03/2011 06:50 pm »
-He did say it did look like they paid some college student 2 cases of beers to put it back together, the panels where all out of alignment and you could actually see finger marks in the scorching where people where taking it apart.

This is just the 1st capsule, can you imagine how in your face SpaceX is going to be about this when they have 2-3 crispy capsules?  Every conference one of the managers speak at they are going to push a crispy capsule out in front of them, give a speech leaning on it, then at the end have a model in a space suit hydraulically shot out the docking ring.

Heh, the reporters at the conferences would be happily sitting there taking big whiffs of the capsule smell. ;D

From what I've heard, this capsule has been completely disassembled and had the components tested thoroughly. No wonder it doesn't fit together perfectly - my VCR disassembly days come to mind.

Offline go4mars

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Re: SpaceX Dragon capsule in Cape Canaveral
« Reply #18 on: 07/04/2011 03:50 pm »
Every conference one of the managers speak at they are going to push a crispy capsule out in front of them, give a speech leaning on it, then at the end have a model in a space suit hydraulically shot out the docking ring.

That sounds like a conference just about anyone would love to attend.  Better still if the model in the space bikini gave the speech after shooting out the top and handing out a smoky flavoured space cheese. 
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Offline MarekCyzio

Two more pics
« Reply #19 on: 07/04/2011 10:37 pm »
Hi-res closeups of some interesting areas

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