OMG it's the SpaceX Party Thread!

[Rocket Science]

Wow, spend a couple days doing yardwork and the spacex threads are so long that I am just gonna have to give up following them ;;-)

Funny story, my wife is really annoyed at my cell phone buzzing with constant mission updates. Personally, I think she's trying to make sure there isn't another woman. Little does she know it's a Dragon :-)

Dragon-Lady… 

[dragon44]

Do you know what particular flavor of Linux the Dragon runs on?

Best I could find was from a job posting: Our Flight Software Group currently has opportunities developing software for embedded flight hardware using Linux and VxWorks as well as ground simulation software using Linux.

Assuming a real-time Linux, there are only a handful of mature choices. Wind River (makers of the VxWorks OS mentioned above) have a real-time Linux. So them might be a top candidate. But that is just a guess.

[sanman]

Do you know what particular flavor of Linux the Dragon runs on?

Best I could find was from a job posting: Our Flight Software Group currently has opportunities developing software for embedded flight hardware using Linux and VxWorks as well as ground simulation software using Linux.

Assuming a real-time Linux, there are only a handful of mature choices. Wind River (makers of the VxWorks OS mentioned above) have a real-time Linux. So them might be a top candidate. But that is just a guess.

Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VxWorks

Spacecraft

Several spacecraft have used VxWorks as the onboard OS:

    The Deep Space Program Science Experiment (DSPSE) also known as Clementine (spacecraft)[15]
    The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter[16]
    The Phoenix Mars Lander[17]
    The Deep Impact space probe
    The James Webb Space Telescope (in development)
    The Sojourner Mars Pathfinder rover[18]
    The Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers[18][19]
    Stardust
    The Mars Science Laboratory (also known as the Curiosity rover)
    The SpaceX Dragon[20]
...
20. http://www.spacex.com/downloads/dragonlab-datasheet.pdf

[jongoff]

Wow, spend a couple days doing yardwork and the spacex threads are so long that I am just gonna have to give up following them ;;-)

Funny story, my wife is really annoyed at my cell phone buzzing with constant mission updates. Personally, I think she's trying to make sure there isn't another woman. Little does she know it's a Dragon :-)

Dragon-Lady… 

Hey, Gwynne did call the Dragon a "she"...

~Jon

[FinalFrontier]

I believe music is in order.

I think this is appropriate for the moment. Mentally heard this after berthing was complete, today was right up there with the moon landing and STS 1 for me. Another great moment in history.

[Jason1701]

I believe music is in order.

I think this is appropriate for the moment. Mentally heard this after berthing was complete, today was right up there with the moon landing and STS 1 for me. Another great moment in history.

inb4 Jim - "no it's nowhere near as important"

[rickl]

I believe music is in order.

I think this is appropriate for the moment. Mentally heard this after berthing was complete, today was right up there with the moon landing and STS 1 for me. Another great moment in history.

Did you see this, which was posted earlier?  It was apparently made by a SpaceX employee in the crowd behind MCC-X.  Listen around 0:56.

[Jim]

How is Spacex better?  And it is certainly not faster, considering all the delays in COTS.  So you can't pick all three.

[breadfan]

How is Spacex better?  And it is certainly not faster, considering all the delays in COTS.  So you can't pick all three.

Jim I really wish you'd post longer responses. You're clearly one of the most knowledgable people on here and you always have interesting things to say but I need to spend a lot of time reading tea leaves. Not so much this post but in general, comparing SpaceX fans to American Idol fans and things like that. Thanks anyway, back to lurking. 

[Jason1701]

How is Spacex better?  And it is certainly not faster, considering all the delays in COTS.  So you can't pick all three.

Compared to Constellation, the alternative.

[GBpatsfan]

Here's a cool video from inside SpaceX Mission Control (don't know if its been posted yet).

[blazotron]

...
Did you see this, which was posted earlier?  It was apparently made by a SpaceX employee in the crowd behind MCC-X.  Listen around 0:56.

It's actually from Steve Jurvetson's channel on Youtube, i.e. Draper Fisher Jurvetson--one of SpaceX's investors.

Edit: also GBpatsfan--it was already posted, literally four posts above yours.

[manboy]

Hmm, it seems to be the very top story in pride of place on http://CNN.com at the moment

Oh wow... it's the top story on the "international" side of CNN, but not on the U.S. regional section.... what the... -_-

The only thing I see on the international version is about Eurovision.

[Antares]

The place to check on how big of a deal it is will be

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/default.asp

 in a few hours.  Killer resource for big events.  Save the jpegs for later years.

[Dyna-Soar]

I think it would be awesome if Space X sent the Dragon on a cross-country tour following the flight.

[FinalFrontier]

I believe music is in order.

I think this is appropriate for the moment. Mentally heard this after berthing was complete, today was right up there with the moon landing and STS 1 for me. Another great moment in history.

Did you see this, which was posted earlier?  It was apparently made by a SpaceX employee in the crowd behind MCC-X.  Listen around 0:56.

Oho so I am not alone 

[blazotron]

How is Spacex better?  And it is certainly not faster, considering all the delays in COTS.  So you can't pick all three.

One of the things SpaceX is downright terrible at is making and keeping accurate schedules.  Whether that is from unrealistic optimism, an intentional desire to set aggressive goals to keep everyone (including employees?) motivated, or some other factor, I do not know.  However, I would argue that SpaceX is fast in its execution by any other metric but comparison to its own predictions.  Even though Falcon 9 and Dragon were delayed several years beyond their original schedules, they were built from scratch in a comparatively very short time by a very small team. 

On the subject of small teams, another thought: SpaceX has ~1900 people now, but the key point to remember is that a significant fraction of them are test engineers, launch engineers, non-technical employees (HR, legal, facilities) and craftspeople of various trades (machinists, welders, avionics assemblers, mechanical technicians, composites technicians, etc.).  The design team is bound to be less than half of the work force, and probably significantly less.  1900 sounds like a lot (and remember the work force has doubled over the last 1.5 or 2 years, which is after Falcon 9 and most of Dragon was designed), but when you compare that to a traditional systems integrator who outsources to other companies that employ most of the craftspeople (and also some of the engineers) the picture changes significantly. 

[majormajor42]

Very well done, SpaceX!

Does anyone else think Don Pettit's voice sounds like Crispin Glover in Back To The Future? "Now, Biff..."   

Don't mess with Don. He'll shove a Canadarm where the sun don't shine.

Watch some of his blog videos and be amazed by his fluids work and also the one about military outposts/forts being resupplied by private enterprise (the video that ends with calls for "fresh fruit")

Looking forward to Don returning to Hawthorne at some point so all these SpaceXers can shake his hand. A lot of pressure on him not to screw the pooch today.

Good call on the Strauss music. Maybe this trip's secret cargo isn't cheese (Don might eat it) but a monolith.

[manboy]

I've never seen Alan Lindenmoyer as happy as he was during that press conference.

[JBF]

I think we need more cameras at the hatch opening, I've counted 3 so far.