LIVE: SpaceX Dragon COTS Demo (C2+) FD2 and FD3 UPDATES

[Rocket Science]

"GoogleSatTrack is temporary unavailable due to heavy traffic.
Please try again later"

Everyone get off for a second

I was trying to get it all day using IE and got the “heavy traffic” message. I just switched to Firefox, poof… magic… I’m in

[Hungry4info3]

I was trying to get it all day using IE and got the “heavy traffic” message. I just switched to Firefox, poof… magic… I’m in

Ahh. I'm on IE, too, at the moment. go figure...

[Lars_J]

I was trying to get it all day using IE and got the “heavy traffic” message. I just switched to Firefox, poof… magic… I’m in

Ahh. I'm on IE, too, at the moment. go figure...

A lot of your problems magically go away if you stop using IE. That has been my experience.  (sorry, won't post again about it here)

[Lars_J]

New SpaceX tweet: https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/205441084267044864

SpaceX ‏@SpaceX
Dragon Mission Update: First maneuver for fly under is predicted to be Thursday at approximately 1:00 am PT with crew ops occurring after.

[Retired Downrange]

Also as per above (via FB)

SpaceX
Dragon Mission Update: Dragon spent last night through today firing thrusters to catch up to the International Space Station. First maneuver for fly under is predicted to be Thursday at approximately 1:00 am PT with crew ops occurring after. Upcoming highlight is crew commanding Dragon's strobe light to show the vehicle can receive astronauts' commands.

[kevin-rf]

I don't think they have any optics on board that are powerful enough to image something of that size if it is 800km away. It must be closer.

Eye Ball v1.0 should be good enough... When you go out at night, it is often not hard to find and visually spot satellites that orbit that high. Now if they have a good pair of binoculars.

[corrodedNut]

SSRMS is inspecting the CBM hatch in preperation for Dragon berthing:

[tigerade]

Dragon less than 500KM distance from the ISS and approaching.  They are both at about 400KM altitude with Dragon of course slightly lower than ISS.

[Duck]

If I may ask a silly question - where are these screen caps being taken from? Any time I try NASA TV, I get recycled footage of robotics competitions.

-Iain

[tigerade]

If I may ask a silly question - where are these screen caps being taken from? Any time I try NASA TV, I get recycled footage of robotics competitions.

-Iain

http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

[Lars_J]

I don't think they have any optics on board that are powerful enough to image something of that size if it is 800km away. It must be closer.

Eye Ball v1.0 should be good enough... When you go out at night, it is often not hard to find and visually spot satellites that orbit that high. Now if they have a good pair of binoculars.

Well yes. I was more thinking about something capable of resolving more than a pixel.

[Chris Bergin]

We'll be sticking with this thread for the coverage:

NASA ‏@NASA
NASA TV coverage begins at 2:30amET as the @SpaceX #Dragon capsule performs its flyby of International Space Station:

[Duck]

If I may ask a silly question - where are these screen caps being taken from? Any time I try NASA TV, I get recycled footage of robotics competitions.

-Iain

http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

Sorry; our replies overlapped, I meant the shot of the CBM on the station. Where was it captured from? I'd like to watch that.

-Iain

[kevin-rf]

Eye Ball v1.0 should be good enough... When you go out at night, it is often not hard to find and visually spot satellites that orbit that high. Now if they have a good pair of binoculars.

Well yes. I was more thinking about something capable of resolving more than a pixel.

Don't you mean resolve better than a cone and rod or two Honestly, they don't really need to resolve better until it is up close and personal.

[corrodedNut]

Sorry; our replies overlapped, I meant the shot of the CBM on the station. Where was it captured from? I'd like to watch that.

-Iain

NTV has 4 channels: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

My still came from the ISS channel.

[rdale]

SpaceX: Dragon Mission Update: Upcoming highlight is crew commanding Dragon's strobe light  to show the vehicle can receive astronauts' commands

[SF Doug]

http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/home/spacenews/files/spacex_cots2_timeline.html

Can anyone explain what "CE1" is?

With that burn, this about wraps it up for Flight Day 1, right?

The "CE" in "CE1" stands for "co-elliptic" and names like "CE1" refer to the engine burns required to make course adjustments.

Here's a nice article in Wikipedia on the mission, which provides all the explanations you need:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COTS_Demo_Flight_2

May 23 (Flight day 2)
On flight day two, Dragon will begin a series of co-elliptic burns that will place the Dragon into a circular orbit.[24] Engine burns begin to be performed that will raise Dragon's altitude towards that of the ISS.[24]

Spaceflight 101 has a good overview and detailed schedule of Dragon C2/3.  I learned what HA and CE burns are from this

http://www.spaceflight101.com/dragon-c23-mission-timeline.html

[robertross]

CBM close-up

[Ronsmytheiii]

I believe the CBM inspection is standard procedure before any berthing ops, and was performed for MPLM arrivals so this would be a nominal procedure for any cargo mission.

[Ronsmytheiii]

waiting for Dragon to appear: