Does anyone know how fast orion could reach ISS?
I understand, it would also be interesting how much plane change an Orion can do once in orbit, for example would it be possible to fly a Orion docked to the ISS to a potential Chinese space station or a Bigelow one? Do you think the Mir -> Salyut 7 -> Mir flight will be the last time a manned spacecraft goes from one space station to another, for the next 25 years?
I expect Orion, like the Apollo CSM on the Skylab missions, will need a propellant offload that will restrict its plane-change capability to within a few degrees of ISS.
Quote from: Jorge on 05/12/2009 09:40 pmI expect Orion, like the Apollo CSM on the Skylab missions, will need a propellant offload that will restrict its plane-change capability to within a few degrees of ISS.Why would the propellant offload be needed?
I guess for Bieglow it would make sense to launch any station in an orbit compatible with the other stations available, I'd guess it is a potential safety increase and it might also be dictated by the north atlantic anomaly and by the fact that Bigelow probably wants it's station to be reachable by Soyuz spacecraft (unless the Russians launch manned Soyuz from koruou in the future that would mean at least 51 degrees)
No he has other requirements. He is looking at lower inclinations (40 degrees I think I read). He would like more launch opportunities per day
Quote from: Jim on 05/13/2009 12:09 amNo he has other requirements. He is looking at lower inclinations (40 degrees I think I read). He would like more launch opportunities per dayI thought you always had precisely two opportunities per day, each time you pass through the line of nodes. What am I confusing this with?
Do you think the Mir -> Salyut 7 -> Mir flight will be the last time a manned spacecraft goes from one space station to another, for the next 25 years?
Quote from: Spacenick on 05/12/2009 09:37 pmDo you think the Mir -> Salyut 7 -> Mir flight will be the last time a manned spacecraft goes from one space station to another, for the next 25 years?Wow, I never knew that happened! Interesting!