Author Topic: SpaceX Crewed Dragon Circumlunar Mission  (Read 504542 times)

Offline Chris Bergin

SpaceX Crewed Dragon Circumlunar Mission
« on: 02/27/2017 06:42 pm »
NSF Threads for Crewed Circumlunar Mission : Discussion

NSF Articles for Crewed Circumlunar Mission :
      Booster Prep: SpaceX to fly two private individuals on a Dragon 2 lunar mission

NET late 2018 on Falcon Heavy from LC-39A at KSC  Seems to have been cancelled.



Livestream never worked...anyway this is the post-announcement thread.

Ah ha, a link:
http://www.spacex.com/news/2017/02/27/spacex-send-privately-crewed-dragon-spacecraft-beyond-moon-next-year

Our article:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/02/spacex-two-citizens-dragon-2-lunar-mission/
« Last Edit: 02/15/2018 04:10 pm by gongora »
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Offline Rebel44

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Re: SpaceX Announcement
« Reply #1 on: 02/27/2017 08:29 pm »
@jeff_foust  28 seconds ago

 Elon Musk announces SpaceX will launch a Dragon spacecraft with 2 people on board on a Falcon Heavy for a circumlunar mission in late 2018.

https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/836326945059180544

Online FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #2 on: 02/27/2017 08:31 pm »
Quote
SpaceX/Update: Musk said the cost would be similar to what it would take for a private citizen to visit the space station

https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/836327448002330624

Online gongora

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #3 on: 02/27/2017 08:32 pm »
Do we need a poll on whether SpaceX will fly people around the moon before Commercial Crew certification is finished?

Online FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #4 on: 02/27/2017 08:33 pm »
Quote
Musk declined to identify the two individuals who would fly, beyond they know each other; they have paid a despite on the undisclosed price.

https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/836327349998202882

Offline Marslauncher

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #5 on: 02/27/2017 08:33 pm »
http://www.spacex.com/news/2017/02/27/spacex-send-privately-crewed-dragon-spacecraft-beyond-moon-next-year

Quote

We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration. We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year. Other flight teams have also expressed strong interest and we expect more to follow. Additional information will be released about the flight teams, contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness test results.

Most importantly, we would like to thank NASA, without whom this would not be possible. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which provided most of the funding for Dragon 2 development, is a key enabler for this mission. In addition, this will make use of the Falcon Heavy rocket, which was developed with internal SpaceX funding. Falcon Heavy is due to launch its first test flight this summer and, once successful, will be the most powerful vehicle to reach orbit after the Saturn V moon rocket. At 5 million pounds of liftoff thrust, Falcon Heavy is two-thirds the thrust of Saturn V and more than double the thrust of the next largest launch vehicle currently flying.

Later this year, as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, we will launch our Crew Dragon (Dragon Version 2) spacecraft to the International Space Station. This first demonstration mission will be in automatic mode, without people on board. A subsequent mission with crew is expected to fly in the second quarter of 2018. SpaceX is currently contracted to perform an average of four Dragon 2 missions to the ISS per year, three carrying cargo and one carrying crew. By also flying privately crewed missions, which NASA has encouraged, long-term costs to the government decline and more flight reliability history is gained, benefiting both government and private missions.

Once operational Crew Dragon missions are underway for NASA, SpaceX will launch the private mission on a journey to circumnavigate the moon and return to Earth. Lift-off will be from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Pad 39A near Cape Canaveral – the same launch pad used by the Apollo program for its lunar missions. This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years and they will travel faster and further into the Solar System than any before them.

Designed from the beginning to carry humans, the Dragon spacecraft already has a long flight heritage. These missions will build upon that heritage, extending it to deep space mission operations, an important milestone as we work towards our ultimate goal of transporting humans to Mars.
« Last Edit: 02/27/2017 08:35 pm by gongora »

Offline symbios

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #6 on: 02/27/2017 08:33 pm »
SpaceX plans to send two people around the Moon

http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/27/14754404/spacex-moon-mission-2018-elon-musk-announces-private-citizen-passengers

"The company expects to fly an uncrewed Dragon 2 with Falcon 9 to ISS by the end of this year. There will be another mission six months later with a NASA crew. Six months after that, if all goes as planned, is when the two people would fly around the Moon.

If NASA decides they want to do the first lunar mission, NASA would have priority. For its part, SpaceX expects to do more than one Moon mission. “Next year is going to be the big year for carrying people,” says Musk. Other flight teams have already expressed interest in going on future trips."
I'm a fan, not a fanatic...

Offline Star One

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SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #7 on: 02/27/2017 08:34 pm »
It wouldn't surprise me if one of them might be James Cameron, don't forget the guy is an adventurer and billionaire.
« Last Edit: 02/27/2017 08:36 pm by Star One »

Offline andrewsdanj

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #8 on: 02/27/2017 08:34 pm »
Awesome! Even more ambitious than the predictions...

Offline shooter6947

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #9 on: 02/27/2017 08:35 pm »
Sounds like a free-return trajectory, presumably, without a SM for a lunar orbit insertion burn and later trans-Earth injection?

Offline CraigLieb

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #10 on: 02/27/2017 08:36 pm »
Apollo 8!!!  so much for the suits!
« Last Edit: 02/27/2017 08:38 pm by CraigLieb »
On the ground floor of the National Space Foundation... Colonize Mars!

Offline First Mate Rummey

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Offline clongton

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #12 on: 02/27/2017 08:37 pm »
I'm a happy camper. This is wonderful news. :)
Chuck - DIRECT co-founder
I started my career on the Saturn-V F-1A engine

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #13 on: 02/27/2017 08:39 pm »
Quote
Here is @elonmusk's full quote when asked the implications of this flight with regard to first SLS/Orion crewed mission. Interesting.

https://twitter.com/sciguyspace/status/836329155973230592

Offline clongton

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #14 on: 02/27/2017 08:40 pm »
Apollo 8!!!  so much for the suits!

Not quite. Apollo 8 actually entered lunar orbit. This mission would not do that but swing around the far side of the moon on a free return trajectory without entering lunar orbit.
Chuck - DIRECT co-founder
I started my career on the Saturn-V F-1A engine

Offline matthewkantar

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #15 on: 02/27/2017 08:41 pm »
Space tourism is a side show. I hope these stunt persons paid full price for this. Seems to have little upside and many possible pitfalls. This make SpaceX seem less serious.

Matthew


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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #16 on: 02/27/2017 08:42 pm »
Apollo 8!!!  so much for the suits!
Apollo 8 was lunar-orbital, not circumlunar. Think Apollo 13 instead and the Soviet Zond missions.
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Offline jpo234

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #17 on: 02/27/2017 08:42 pm »
Apollo 8!!!  so much for the suits!

Not quite. Apollo 8 actually entered lunar orbit. This mission would not do that but swing around the far side of the moon on a free return trajectory without entering lunar orbit.
Apollo 13 then, hopefully without the drama.
You want to be inspired by things. You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great. That's what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It's about believing in the future and believing the future will be better than the past. And I can't think of anything more exciting than being out there among the stars.

Offline Jet Black

Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #18 on: 02/27/2017 08:42 pm »
I wonder if this is the real reason red dragon was delayed
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard Feynman

Offline Welsh Dragon

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Re: SpaceX Crewed Circumlunar Mission - 2018
« Reply #19 on: 02/27/2017 08:44 pm »
Space tourism is a side show. I hope these stunt persons paid full price for this. Seems to have little upside and many possible pitfalls. This make SpaceX seem less serious.

Matthew
It provides them with 'deep' space tracking and control experience, long-ish term ECLSS experience, BEO reentry experience and brings in hard cash. Can't see how this is anything but a win-win-win-win situation.

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