LIVE: SpaceX Dragon CRS-3 (SpX-3) EOM (Unberth, Entry, Splashdown) UPDATES

[mme]

NASA official briefing. So far, no problems with the water intrusion.

Thanks for the link. Quoting the video (as best I can):

SpaceX did incur a minor water excursion. (sic) It has not caused us any impacts that we know of. Obviously we will be looking into that. The Dragon will be moving from the Hawthorn area, ah the Long Beach area to McGreggor. Again, no impacts that we're aware of.

So bummer there was any water, but at least according to NASA it's not caused any issues.

Of all the things I would expect to be hard about space, keeping water out of the capsule was not one of them (ignoring Liberty Bell 7). The more I know, the less I know that I know...

[Avron]

It took 11 hours to fish the capsule out of water? SpaceX needs to change this contractor and use bigger ship as well. Imagine this were a crewed dragon...

I wonder what on earth can take so long.

[docmordrid]

Hauling several tonnes of metal out of  rough seas is dangerous business. One wrong move and even a good sized tugs crew can be in the drink.

People are more important.

[TrueBlueWitt]

It took 11 hours to fish the capsule out of water? SpaceX needs to change this contractor and use bigger ship as well. Imagine this were a crewed dragon...

I wonder what on earth can take so long.

Sea swells in the area were around 8ft with 15-20knot winds according to the closest bouy.. Trivial task?

[Ben the Space Brit]

Sounds like there was some water intrusion in Dragon.   

http://aviationweek.com/space/water-found-inside-dragon-after-splashdown

Into the pressure vessel or just into the hull? The latter isn't unthinkable given the number of open panels after splash-down.

[Garrett]

Sounds like there was some water intrusion in Dragon.   

http://aviationweek.com/space/water-found-inside-dragon-after-splashdown

Into the pressure vessel or just into the hull? The latter isn't unthinkable given the number of open panels after splash-down.

from the article:

Witnesses at the port observed significant water as the cold storage containers brought back from the ISS were removed, and there was a report the capsule’s internal humidity sensors tripped, according to an industry source.

and

Initially, there was speculation the water source could have been one of several containment bags of water that NASA was returning on Dragon as part of its investigation into the July 16 water leak into the helmet of a U.S. spacesuit worn by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano. Bags containing several gallons of water from the ISS airlock were returned to Earth for analysis to help conclude the investigation

Both of those statements suggest water in the pressure vessel.

[rpapo]

Simple test: Is the water fresh or salty?

[Elmar Moelzer]

It took 11 hours to fish the capsule out of water? SpaceX needs to change this contractor and use bigger ship as well. Imagine this were a crewed dragon...

I wonder what on earth can take so long.

Sea swells in the area were around 8ft with 15-20knot winds according to the closest bouy.. Trivial task?

Just proofs once again that landing on land is the way to go.

[Mike_1179]

Landing on land requires firing hypergolic thrusters - if there is a leak, would you want to contaminate the inside of the craft (experiments, people) with those?

[Elmar Moelzer]

Landing on land requires firing hypergolic thrusters - if there is a leak, would you want to contaminate the inside of the craft (experiments, people) with those?

The hypergolic thrusters are there, whether you use them for landing or not. They could leak either way. In case of a leak, it actually be beneficial to use most of the hypergolic fuel for the landing. So there is less left to leak out.

[rnc]

I would not expect the capsule to leak either & the mfr will doubtless resolve this, but

(1) years of experience sailing proved to me that water is very difficult to keep out (2) if you look at the splashdown image, note the size of the splash - there is a great deal of hydraulic pressure in that single event. There will be a pulse caused at each roll caused by waves. Even a tiny leak would add up over 11 hours.

Recovering things from the sea is not trivial. You get motions of several meters between two vessels. The last thing you want to have happen is a collision between the capsule and the recovery vessel. If they waited 11 hours it would  be to allow sea conditions to improve to the point that they would do it safely with low risk to capsule and crew.

i shall go back to lurking :-)

[apologies Mr Moderator, this is OT for an update thread - please delete if you feel it adds nothing]
 

[kevin-rf]

Landing on land requires firing hypergolic thrusters - if there is a leak, would you want to contaminate the inside of the craft (experiments, people) with those?

The hypergolic thrusters are there, whether you use them for landing or not. They could leak either way. In case of a leak, it actually be beneficial to use most of the hypergolic fuel for the landing. So there is less left to leak out.

You are forgetting the water is believed to have made it in through a pressure equalization valve. On land, Hypergolic fumes can do the same thing.

[Elmar Moelzer]

Landing on land requires firing hypergolic thrusters - if there is a leak, would you want to contaminate the inside of the craft (experiments, people) with those?

The hypergolic thrusters are there, whether you use them for landing or not. They could leak either way. In case of a leak, it actually be beneficial to use most of the hypergolic fuel for the landing. So there is less left to leak out.

You are forgetting the water is believed to have made it in through a pressure equalization valve. On land, Hypergolic fumes can do the same thing.

And they can do the same in the water...

[mvpel]

So it does look cleaner than after the last two flights? I thought the same thing, but was not quite sure. Would like to see more pics from more angles.

Compared to a Soyuz, which looks like it just barely makes it through atmo, it's clean as a whistle.

[woods170]

Landing on land requires firing hypergolic thrusters - if there is a leak, would you want to contaminate the inside of the craft (experiments, people) with those?

The hypergolic thrusters are there, whether you use them for landing or not. They could leak either way. In case of a leak, it actually be beneficial to use most of the hypergolic fuel for the landing. So there is less left to leak out.

You are forgetting the water is believed to have made it in through a pressure equalization valve. On land, Hypergolic fumes can do the same thing.

Yup. Already happened once on a manned mission: Apollo Soyuz Test Project. The RCS was inadvertently left on during descent, and highly toxic nitrogen tetroxide was sucked into the spacecraft thru a cabin air intake as it drew in outside air. Crewmember Brand briefly lost consciousness, while crewmember Stafford retrieved emergency oxygen masks, put one on Brand, and gave one to crewmember Slayton.

[deltaV]

Being hit by waves for 11 hours could explain its unusual cleanliness.

[mvpel]

Being hit by waves for 11 hours could explain its unusual cleanliness.

Can you imagine if that'd been a DragonRider and you'd been inside that thing?  There'd be liquid in the compartment all right, but it wouldn't be water. 

[Lar]

Update thread, peeps.