Quote from: Lar on 12/15/2017 06:38 pmSo what is this thing? Washers typically don't come loose unless the nut holding them on comes loose, was that just missed? r is it something else like a spacer? Just before the floating washer there was this picture of the bottom of the Dragon. What is this? Does it come off at Dragon sep? Those washers look familiar.
So what is this thing? Washers typically don't come loose unless the nut holding them on comes loose, was that just missed? r is it something else like a spacer?
We had a long shot this time of the Dragon after spacecraft separation and I was really hoping to see the solar array covers jettisoned. Alas, no! Has it ever been shown on any video? I can't recall ever seeing it.
Love that NASA burnback and landing footage.
Quote from: billh on 12/15/2017 10:59 pmWe had a long shot this time of the Dragon after spacecraft separation and I was really hoping to see the solar array covers jettisoned. Alas, no! Has it ever been shown on any video? I can't recall ever seeing it.Yes, we've seen it at least once. Though I don't remember which mission.
Quote from: deruch on 12/15/2017 11:26 pmQuote from: billh on 12/15/2017 10:59 pmWe had a long shot this time of the Dragon after spacecraft separation and I was really hoping to see the solar array covers jettisoned. Alas, no! Has it ever been shown on any video? I can't recall ever seeing it.Yes, we've seen it at least once. Though I don't remember which mission.CRS-6, which happened to be the previous use of this Dragon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csVpa25iqH0?t=1701I was also hoping they can get another view of the covers jettison, but they kept switching back to MVac.
Having looked at more pictures (SpaceX one attached) it’s now clear that one side of the booster was clean at lift-off while the other side was still sooty. The clean side was closer to the strong back and thus the one with lots of LOX vapours swirling around it. So maybe that’s the cleaning agent?!
I just (maybe 30 minutes ago) watched the ISS do a pass overhead. Even though it’s a bit cloudy here, it was still visible and was darned near directly overhead at one point. Trailing some distance behind it I saw another, much dimmer dot of light. Did I see CRS 13?
2 things I noticed: First, the first stage flip after staging was extremely fast, making for an efficiently timed boostback burn.
Quote from: llanitedave on 12/16/2017 08:09 pm2 things I noticed: First, the first stage flip after staging was extremely fast, making for an efficiently timed boostback burn.Noticed that one too, and went back to find comparison. Side-by-side with NROL-76: http://youtubedoubler.com/mqCH[edit for shorter URL]
Quote from: bjornl on 12/17/2017 08:32 amQuote from: llanitedave on 12/16/2017 08:09 pm2 things I noticed: First, the first stage flip after staging was extremely fast, making for an efficiently timed boostback burn.Noticed that one too, and went back to find comparison. Side-by-side with NROL-76: http://youtubedoubler.com/mqCH[edit for shorter URL]Super quick turn and burn. Seems SpaceX is getting the timing refined. It will be interesting to see how fast the FH side boosters can do the boost back burn since they peel off the side versus axial separation.
Quote from: wannamoonbase on 12/17/2017 02:45 pmQuote from: bjornl on 12/17/2017 08:32 amQuote from: llanitedave on 12/16/2017 08:09 pm2 things I noticed: First, the first stage flip after staging was extremely fast, making for an efficiently timed boostback burn.Noticed that one too, and went back to find comparison. Side-by-side with NROL-76: http://youtubedoubler.com/mqCH[edit for shorter URL]Super quick turn and burn. Seems SpaceX is getting the timing refined. It will be interesting to see how fast the FH side boosters can do the boost back burn since they peel off the side versus axial separation.That's a neat way to compare videos, but I can't resolve any real difference in the interval between MECO and the start of the boostback burn. Did anyone do a more careful comparison, perhaps going frame by frame?