LIVE: SpaceX Dragon COTS Demo (C2+) FD10 - EOM - UNBERTH, ENTRY, SPLASHDOWN

[ugordan]

Here is a July 24th presentation by Alan Lindenmoyer which provides a mission summary of the SpaceX COTS C2+ flight:
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/672215main_1-SpaceX%20C2_Summary_NAC_20120724_508.pdf

"Well within landing ellipse, 8 km from the expected landing location"

Question: what does this mean exactly:

* Orbital insertion of 297 x 346.5 km
[POST model 310x345]

It appears that CRS-1 has slipped to October.

Been that way for quite some time, although seeing how the SLC-40 hangar still had construction on it going on a week ago, I wonder if early October is doable, and even that's neglecting any possible Dragon delays.

[ugordan]

Thanks, but I already knew it was a piece of software, it was occasionally mentioned around here. My question is more about what that line is supposed to tell us? That the vehicle delivered Dragon to a 13 km lower perigee than expected?

[Space Pete]

Two previously unseen Dragon hatch opening images I found on the Roscosmos website.

[manboy]

Pictures from post-flight analysis.

www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/7978144836/

[krytek]

Pictures from post-flight analysis.

www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/7978144836/

Any idea what post flight analysis actually entails ?

[manboy]

Pictures from post-flight analysis.

www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/7978144836/

Any idea what post flight analysis actually entails ?

I can only assume that they are inspecting the Dragon to see how well it held up, either for later re-use purposes (not for this capsule) or to see if the design for anything needs to be tweaked.

Although it would be kind of interesting if they re-used a Draco for a later mission to see how re-usable they really are.

[paycom]

Although it would be kind of interesting if they re-used a Draco for a later mission to see how re-usable they really are.

I think SpaceX plans to reuse some of the COTS/CRS Dragons for DragonLab.

[Space Pete]

On the subject of Dragon splashdown, I came across this earlier today and just had to post it.

Credit: http://www.toonpool.com/user/5624/files/spacex_dragon_1696715.jpg

[daver]

Ralf Vandebergh took some ground based photo's of the 2nd stage in orbit.

http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/2012/10/22/dragon/

[robertross]

On the subject of Dragon splashdown, I came across this earlier today and just had to post it.

Credit: http://www.toonpool.com/user/5624/files/spacex_dragon_1696715.jpg

Classic...LOL

[woods170]

Thanks to Lars_J:

You all probably remember that some cargo was taken off the C2+ Dragon while she was still on the barge en-route back to port.

The video below (posted by SpaceX) contains sped-up footage of the opening of the side-hatch on-board the barge. The clip is only 5 seconds long, between 1:13 and 1:19

A mission update video from SpaceX:



It also contains some new footage from the C2+ mission, including opening the hatch on the barge for early cargo unload. (@ 1:13)

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1531693704322248704

Today marks the 10th anniversary of completion of the COTS Demo Flight 2 (COTS 2) – Dragon’s first mission to and from the @Space_Station