SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon COTS Demo (C2+) PRE LAUNCH UPDATES (PART 2)

[Chris Bergin]

Peter King on profits.

"SpaceX as a business is very profitable. Free cash flow positive for many years.

"For a healthy business we'd like 30 percent gov, 30 percent commercial, 30 percent overseas. Falcon 9 also delievers satellites. US used to dominate lanches, we lost that but it's coming back and we're beating Arianespace on deals."

[ugordan]

Geez, I love it when reporters hijack the briefing to ask questions about commercial crew.

[Jason1701]

Geez, I love it when reporters hijack the briefing to ask questions about commercial crew.

And about the airmail analogy!

[Chris Bergin]

More money questions.

"Spent about 1.2b. NASA 390m. Elon 100m. Outside investors 120m. 300m from customers and then CCDev."

Compared to the Russians:

"SpaceX 140m per mission for seven astros, 20m a seat."

Phone bridge is broken

Young guy with talking space on commercial space.

"My personal feeling is I see the transition as ineventable. LEO will see a lot of activity. NASA's still got a lot of work to do with BEO. It's a good thing for everybody."

On bad weather. No problem, Ms Shotwell calls F9 a she

[Chris Bergin]

Ms Shotwell noted they signed a deal this week and will announce it soon. Notes a test launch for the Stratolaunch deal.

[Jason1701]

1860 employees.

[Chris Bergin]

Phones are working again.

Mark C on later launch dates.

"Great ops 22, 25, 29. Ops on 23 and 26, but they would require negotiations. Beat cut out after the 29th - last op. Late teens of June when it reopens."

[Jason1701]

"Mike Griffin was sneering" - awesome way to start a question.

Shotwell: "Easy to criticize, hard to solve."

[Chris Bergin]

On Weather rules, same for all vehicles on the lightning.

On the window, it's a couple of kgs of prop per second they are late on the window, which is why it's a near instant window. For this mission, they need all the prop they can save for the objectives.

French writer was busy tapping away and didn't pick up the phone

Reporter stating Mike Griffin negative comment about SpaceX.

Ms Shotwell says she doesn't concentrate on negative comments.

CRS-1 flight is next, later this year - early fall.

Dan Billows asking about money.

Ms Shotwell 680m on COTS to date.

Chance of getting into orbit tomorrow given F9 has only flown a few times.

Ms Shotwell "We haven't hit a T-0 at the first attempt yet, but we learn every day. Better than a 50/50 shot to launch tomorrow."

Notes that this is the same structure Dragon, but a greatly enhanced Dragon. Software is dramatically more advanced. Not single string, has redundacy. NASA wants a power increase to the cargo. LAS is next.

And that's over.

Very confident and professional from Ms Shotwell! The Griffin question sidestep was classy.

[Mapperuo]

Nice HD shot at the end there. Wonder if we'll get that rather than a rebroadcast of the SpaceX show on NASA TV.

[ugordan]

Nice HD shot at the end there. Wonder if we'll get that rather than a rebroadcast of the SpaceX show on NASA TV.

Someone on twitter said George Diller will be doing the launch commentary so I assume NASA will have its own feed, similar to the last launch. Hopefully with permission to use all the trackers and cameras this time.

[robertross]

Thanks for covering that Chris!

[psloss]

Nice HD shot at the end there. Wonder if we'll get that rather than a rebroadcast of the SpaceX show on NASA TV.

I would guess launch coverage will be similar to COTS 1, which I believe was not just a rebroadcast.  Additionally, they will be throwing to JSC for a status update after orbit insertion (given the differences between C1 and this flight) and then back to KSC for replays.

[oiorionsbelt]

Ms Shotwell referred to F9 Dragon as she and her.

[Chris Bergin]

Thanks for covering that Chris!

You bet! I do miss Mike Moses going 100mph, all the same!

[Chris Bergin]

Ms Shotwell referred to F9 Dragon as she and her.

Yeah! Arianespace do that with their Ariane 5 too.

Personally, only the orbiters are shes in my book.

(Whatever you do, don't ask Jim )

[ChrisC]

Not one to fly off the handle at Jay Barbee, but this line of questioning seems out of place at this time.

Speaking of flying off the handle, I'm frankly surprised that they still give Barbree media credentials following his incident a year or two ago.  His long line of questioning (essentially stealing time from everyone else in the room) was more of this.  Respect for seniority should only go so far.

You bet! I do miss Mike Moses going 100mph, all the same!

Awww, now that just makes me sad   I hope to see him pop up again someday soon.

Thanks Chris B. for the rundown.

[psloss]

Speaking of flying off the handle, I'm frankly surprised that they still give Barbree media credentials following his incident a year or two ago.  His long line of questioning (essentially stealing time from everyone else in the room) was more of this.  Respect for seniority should only go so far.

I can't imagine that happening, nor any good coming from that hypothetical.

[John44]

SpaceXFalcon 9 Dragon Pre-Launch Briefing
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7580

[psloss]

Bill Harwood has posted a timeline from liftoff to berthing:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/home/spacenews/files/spacex_cots2_timeline.html