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

[Jim]

So ship the entire vehicle to Texas,

which requires much more harder permitting since:
a.  The vehicle is not a DOT approved vessel for transporting propellants
b. it crosses many state lines.

[Jim]

I hope this gives enough encouragement for NASA to pick SpaceX for transporting crews to the ISS. NASA can then buy a bigelow station, and use the CST 100 and Dragon to get to it.

Huh?  NASA has no need for a Bigelow station

[QuantumG]

Anyone actually know when/where the propellants will be offloaded?

Great speculation and all, but has anyone just asked?

[yg1968]

Sorry for the dumb question but is the circle in the middle of the hatch a window?

Answering my own question: there's images of the inside of the hatch on L2 and it is obvious that it is not a window on the inside of the hatch.

[Go4TLI]

Anyone actually know when/where the propellants will be offloaded?

Great speculation and all, but has anyone just asked?

Yeah, it's going to McGregor.

[Go4TLI]

So ship the entire vehicle to Texas,

which requires much more harder permitting since:
a.  The vehicle is not a DOT approved vessel for transporting propellants
b. it crosses many state lines.

Yet this is what has been done.

[Jim]

So ship the entire vehicle to Texas,

which requires much more harder permitting since:
a.  The vehicle is not a DOT approved vessel for transporting propellants
b. it crosses many state lines.

Yet this is what has been done.

What you mean "has been done"?  The mission isn't over.  C1 was offload in Long Beach.

[Go4TLI]

So ship the entire vehicle to Texas,

which requires much more harder permitting since:
a.  The vehicle is not a DOT approved vessel for transporting propellants
b. it crosses many state lines.

Yet this is what has been done.

What you mean "has been done"?  The mission isn't over.  C1 was offload in Long Beach.

Of course it is not over.  Nowhere did I imply such a thing.  I simply stated the DOT paperwork was filed for transport.

[Go4TLI]

It also wasn't clear how Dragon will be transported from California to Texas.

Truck

[MikeMi.]

Quick question - does SpaceX has some other alternative splashdown areas? Have they considered to splashdown in Atlantic (cargo Dragon)?

[Ben the Space Brit]

Quick question - does SpaceX has some other alternative splashdown areas? Have they considered to splashdown in Atlantic (cargo Dragon)?

Additional question: If they develop a coastal Texas launch site, would there be any reason why they couldn't splash Cargo Dragon and DragonLab dowin the Gulf?

[Jim]

So ship the entire vehicle to Texas,

which requires much more harder permitting since:
a.  The vehicle is not a DOT approved vessel for transporting propellants
b. it crosses many state lines.

Yet this is what has been done.

What you mean "has been done"?  The mission isn't over.  C1 was offload in Long Beach.

Of course it is not over.  Nowhere did I imply such a thing.  I simply stated the DOT paperwork was filed for transport.

you made no statement about any DOT paperwork and the fact of filing does not mean it is permitted.

[Silmfeanor]

Of course it is not over.  Nowhere did I imply such a thing.  I simply stated the DOT paperwork was filed for transport.

you made no statement about any DOT paperwork and the fact of filing does not mean it is permitted.

Will it be permitted / has it already been permitted? What does it take to get DOT paperwork approved? You have to show you're not a hazard, I guess - but to what extent?

[peter-b]

From what the NASA PAO said on the broadcast (something about "removing chemicals"), it sounds like prop unloading will be taking place at McGregor.

[elmarko]

This is a possibly stupid question but are we going to get any live pictures of splashdown ala Apollo? Is it being targetted that precisely or is it a Soyuz return style coverage where who knows where the craft will land?

[Ben the Space Brit]

This is a possibly stupid question but are we going to get any live pictures of splashdown ala Apollo? Is it being targetted that precisely or is it a Soyuz return style coverage where who knows where the craft will land?

Somewhere up-thread, there's a map showing the landing spot; it's off the coast of Mexico.

[Garrett]

This is a possibly stupid question but are we going to get any live pictures of splashdown ala Apollo? Is it being targetted that precisely or is it a Soyuz return style coverage where who knows where the craft will land?

Not a stupid question. All the answers I've seen from SpaceX on this have been a bit ambiguous. No assertions that video will be streamed live.

A little over 1 orbit left before the deorbit burn.

[beancounter]

Apologies if this has already been posted but does anyone have the timelines in GMT?   Many thanks.

[rdale]

Add 4 hours to the existing EDT timelines.

[Lurker Steve]

Quick question - does SpaceX has some other alternative splashdown areas? Have they considered to splashdown in Atlantic (cargo Dragon)?

Additional question: If they develop a coastal Texas launch site, would there be any reason why they couldn't splash Cargo Dragon and DragonLab dowin the Gulf?

Yes, there are operating Oil Platforms in the gulf that don't want space debris falling on them. We are trying to recover from the last oil platform disaster 2 years later.