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

[manboy]

It will be interesting to see how much the personalities contrast.

[Antares]

NASA managers, with at least 2+ notable exceptions, are not Elon sycophants.

[happyflower]

Will be kinda funny to see a billionaire sitting alongside NASA managers discussing the mission. I wonder how Mr. Musk will field in-depth technical questions, since most of the answers would be proprietary, I imagine.

I just hope it keeps the feel of Shuttle briefings (technical and informative), and doesn't become a "SpaceX is awesome" (fancy CGI and fluff) briefing.

Musk is no Gerstenmaier, but this isnt his first rodeo either. I am looking forward to see him talk tho. I suspect most questions will be directed at him, so he will probably be talking a lot more than anybody else on that panel. For my part I am looking forward to hear more about his claims that SpaceX has found ways to make things even cheaper, also hope he talks a little about reusable Falcon rockets.

[simonbp]

I wouldn't expect much of contrast. Musk seems extremely knowledgeable for a CEO (sometimes to his determent) and has always seemed very deferential and thankful to NASA in the context of COTS/CRS (i.e. watch his statements after COTS-1, where he went out of his way to thank NASA several times).

Really, I'd imagine the vibe will be more of excitement from all, for a new spacecraft visiting ISS and a new milestone in the post-Shuttle era.

[KSC Sage]

3 WDRs have been done, 1 with a dry Dragon. Test Fire should be the final thing after FRR.

Any idea when the test-fire (hotfire?) will be performed? I suppose I could always go look up the timeline for the COTS Demo 1 flight to get some idea of when it'll be, but whereas it would probably take me 30 minutes to find it, I'm sure some of you here know it off by heart

According to Chris/Will, a few days prior to launch.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/03/spacex-successful-falcon-9-wdr-dragons-iss-debut/

Hot fire test scheduled on April 25.

[Robotbeat]

3 WDRs have been done, 1 with a dry Dragon. Test Fire should be the final thing after FRR.

Any idea when the test-fire (hotfire?) will be performed? I suppose I could always go look up the timeline for the COTS Demo 1 flight to get some idea of when it'll be, but whereas it would probably take me 30 minutes to find it, I'm sure some of you here know it off by heart

According to Chris/Will, a few days prior to launch.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/03/spacex-successful-falcon-9-wdr-dragons-iss-debut/

Hot fire test scheduled on April 25.

Thanks.

[Chris Bergin]

I'm told there's 385 press credentials issued for the SpaceX launch. Wipes the floor with ELV, but not close to Shuttle.

Noting the deathwatch media that followed shuttle around, because this is unmanned, that's a good number.

[ugordan]

These NASA images appear to have slipped under the radar.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=58582
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=58583

I assume that's the late cargo loading setup we're seeing.

[psloss]

Thanks for spotting those...a few others from that period after the WDR appear to have gone up yesterday; they're indexed, too:
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=225

[Ben the Space Brit]

These NASA images appear to have slipped under the radar.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=58582
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=58583

I assume that's the late cargo loading setup we're seeing.

I don't know, it looks like just a roll-out or a roll-back to me.

[Jim]

These NASA images appear to have slipped under the radar.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=58582
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=58583

I assume that's the late cargo loading setup we're seeing.

that is what it is exactly, it is a white room and that is why the umbilical setup on the end of the erector got changed.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=23538.msg768536#msg768536

Also, it looks like all the umbilicals go to the trunk and not the capsule like flight 2 (which makes sense) and this is another (and maybe primary) reason the erector was changed.

[mmeijeri]

that is what it is exactly, it is a white room and that is why the umbilical setup on the end of the erector got changed.

Maybe that blast helped too?

[ugordan]

Maybe that blast helped too?

Unlikely. It was just some steel pointing more or less along the flow as opposed to gripper arms which presented themselves broadside to the exhaust with only a couple of smallish attachment points to hold them.

[mr. mark]

Thinking how the COTS 2 white room could be adapted for manned flight but this is the wrong forum so maybe that needs to get discussed on the SpaceX general forum. Maybe we could discuss it over there?
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28006.0
 

[wolfpack]

I'm told there's 385 press credentials issued for the SpaceX launch. Wipes the floor with ELV, but not close to Shuttle.

Noting the deathwatch media that followed shuttle around, because this is unmanned, that's a good number.

Yep. This is the big one for American spaceflight this year, IMO.

And I'd never have known about it, save for this site. Glad I found it in my STS-135 fever. It's why I re-upped for another year.

Keep up the good work, Chris, and let us Yanks get our space-faring butts in gear!

[beancounter]

I'm finding this really interesting and the photos are a great help.  SpaceX and NASA are clearly working the issues and developing solutions which look to be adding flexibility to the cargo capabilities of the Dragon.  All the better for ISS utilisation.  Great to see.  Wish them all the very best.

[Rahkashi]

Agree with Wolfpack - Going to be the American launch of the year.

How long is the Dragon supposed to docked? And also, is their a projected launch time yet?

[manboy]

Agree with Wolfpack - Going to be the American launch of the year.

How long is the Dragon supposed to docked? And also, is their a projected launch time yet?

Dragon will remain berthed for about 18 days, future missions will remain berthed for 30 days. Launch is planned for 12:22 PM EDT on April 30th.

Current schedule:
04/16/12 - Flight Readiness Review (FRR) followed by press conference
04/25/12 - Static fire of the Falcon 9
04/30/12 - Launch
05/02/12 - Dragon will approach ISS
05/03/12 - Dragon will be grappled by Canadarm2 and berthed to Harmony nadir
05/04/12 - The hatch to Dragon will be opened and the crew will enter the spacecraft
05/21/12 - Dragon will be unberthed, re-enter the atmosphere, splashdown in the Pacific and be recovered.

[Chris Bergin]

I'm told there's 385 press credentials issued for the SpaceX launch. Wipes the floor with ELV, but not close to Shuttle.

Noting the deathwatch media that followed shuttle around, because this is unmanned, that's a good number.

Yep. This is the big one for American spaceflight this year, IMO.

And I'd never have known about it, save for this site. Glad I found it in my STS-135 fever. It's why I re-upped for another year.

Keep up the good work, Chris, and let us Yanks get our space-faring butts in gear!

Good man! L2's strong on C2/C3 already so we'll be giving this the coverage it deserves via our usual route of adding something more to the table (cause a lot of sites are going to cover this), by turning around articles out of the L2 content....a bit like the shuttle days.

[e of pi]

Chris,

I realize that this isn't directly NSF related, but do you know if Max-Q Entertainment has any of those passes?