SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon COTS Demo (C2+) GENERAL DISCUSSION

[oiorionsbelt]

Thanks jabe, colored arrows

[belegor]

they little red and blue lights point to where the strobes are... just below dragon

Just to clarify:
The red and blue lights would be called navigation lights in aviation terminology. Are the strobes additional (white) lights at the same place as the nav lights are, or are the nav lights of dragon actually called strobes?

[aquanaut99]

Don't know if this has been posted yet, but I just heard that the ashes of Gordo Cooper (Faith 7) and James Doohan (Scotty) are going up as well with the upcoming launch...

http://gma.yahoo.com/secret-celebrities-launched-spacex-falcon-rocket-232550714--abc-news-tv.html

[corrodedNut]

Looks like SpaceX has put in some new tracking assets at LC-40:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.131474330255308.25052.123621931040548&type=3#/photo.php?fbid=334880546581351&set=a.131474330255308.25052.123621931040548&type=3&theater

Anyone care to elaborate?

Bump. I'm pretty sure they weren't there for the last flight.

[Retired Downrange]

Looks like SpaceX has put in some new tracking assets at LC-40:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.131474330255308.25052.123621931040548&type=3#/photo.php?fbid=334880546581351&set=a.131474330255308.25052.123621931040548&type=3&theater

Anyone care to elaborate?

Bump. I'm pretty sure they weren't there for the last flight.

Speculation:
Possibly high gain antenna for telemetry link?

[catdlr]

Published on May 18, 2012 by NASA AMES

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is preparing for its second Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, demonstration to show that private industry can build and launch spacecraft on regular cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station.

The Dragon capsule is carrying with 1,000 pounds of cargo for the six-man crew aboard the ISS. After spending three weeks in space, Dragon will undock and reenter the Earth's atmosphere. Unlike other unmanned missions to the station, Dragon is equipped with a heat shield to survive the fiery plunge.

NASA Ames Research Center used it's expertise and unique Arc Jet facilities to help design and develop PICA-X, the lightweight heat shield material aboard Dragon.

[oiorionsbelt]

Thanks for that video catdlr.
PICAX is on MSL not PICA! 
SpaceX to Mars 

[Norm Hartnett]

SpaceFlightNow has some pictures of the rollout.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/003/120518rollout/

Looks considerably cheaper than most but lovely just the same.

Their Mission Status page has a live stream of the rocket at long distance.

[JMS]

Just to clarify:
The red and blue lights would be called navigation lights in aviation terminology.

Nav lights in aviation are red and green, not blue. Red= left (port), green= right(starboard)... from the nautical tradition.

[belegor]

Just to clarify:
The red and blue lights would be called navigation lights in aviation terminology.

Nav lights in aviation are red and green, not blue. Red= left (port), green= right(starboard)... from the nautical tradition.

You're right of course.
But my question is still: Are there (white) strobe lights in addition to nav lights or are the red/blue lights the actual strobes?

[Norm Hartnett]

Eight hours...

not that anyone is counting.

[FinalFrontier]

* T minus 8 hours.


Personally, I have not been this excited about a launch since the final shuttle mission.

Really looking forward to this mission.

[dcbecker]

Really fantastic article, William. Congratulations. It answered the first question I had, which was how do they plan on removing gear from the unpressurized trunk. the next question is how do they plan on getting it into the ISS (for those things that do need to come in.) or do they only ship things that get mounted outside the ISS? Would they have to spacewalk to get it inside, or could they bring small items in thru the Japanese airlock?

Dan

[dcporter]

I don't believe trunk items are headed indoors at all.

[SpacexULA]

I don't believe trunk items are headed indoors at all.

Correct no cargo in trunk, they are just going to do a try run with the Dextre to make sure that it could recover payload/load trash into the trunk.

[manboy]

So when are they going to remove the coverings from the Dragon capsule?

[Jason1701]

Are you referring to the thruster coverings? Perhaps they rip off during flight like Shuttle's.

[Lars_J]

I don't think they have to remove anything else. The thruster coverings are thin ones (like ones that covered Shuttle thrusters) that will blow off during ascent or first firing.

The COTS1 Dragon thrusters also had white covers like that during launch.

[Geron]

How much longer till launch?

[Jason1701]

How much longer till launch?

Four hours, twenty-three minutes.