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

[Antares]

SpaceX FD Couluris is a quote machine, very good answers.

Most of the SpaceX crew are.  SpaceX is confident and knows its hardware.  Such expertise lends itself to being succinct.  Couluris came from JetBlue, IIRC.  SpaceX has an interesting mix of prior experience.

[corrodedNut]

Dragon's eye view of ISS:

[peter-b]

Doesnt work in safari or firefox for me. Missed it live bummer. Liked to have seen it. Oh well

It'll probably turn up on YouTube at some point, so don't worry.

[FinalFrontier]

Alright thank you for the update, but I have some time confusion here.

I have seen this particular part of the schedule mentioned on NASA.gov and elsewhere and it is confusing.

Grapple is supposed to occur sometime around 8:00 am CST. But in the very same schedule as posted above they say that the procedure to open the hatch will begin around 4:00 am CST without stating whether or not that's on the same day or what.


So I am quite a bit confused at when the actual grapple (IE arrival) is supposed to take place.

(EDIT: Release has been corrected)

[wechose]

Thanks John44 link works fine for me too.
SpaceX getting all the PR stuff right on this flight,but somebody needs to tell Holly not to call the ISS crew 'consumables',they might not like it

[Chris Bergin]

SpaceX release has been corrected (resent);

SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft Completes Key Tests In Quest to Visit Space Station

Most Difficult Challenges Still Ahead

 

Hawthorne, CA – Today, Space Exploration Technologies’ (SpaceX) Dragon spacecraft completed key on-orbit tests as part of a historic attempt to be the first commercial company in history to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station.

 

In the days since SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the vehicle has steadily completed one task after another as it prepares to berth with the International Space Station. Only minutes after the spacecraft separated from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage, its solar arrays successfully deployed, providing power to the spacecraft.  The door that had been covering sensors needed for proximity operations opened successfully. 

 

On Tuesday and Wednesday Dragon traveled in orbit, firing its thrusters to catch up to the space station. During that time, the vehicle hit a series of milestones.  Dragon showed its Absolute Global Positioning System (GPS) is in good working order.  The vehicle demonstrated both a pulsed and a full abort.  It also demonstrated free drift, floating freely in orbit as it will when grappled by the space station’s robotic arm. And its proximity operations sensors and SpaceX’s COTS UHF Communication Unit (CUCU) are up and running.

 

Early this morning, Dragon’s thrusters fired, bringing the vehicle 2.4 kilometers below the International Space Station.  The vehicle completed two key tests at that distance. Dragon demonstrated its Relative GPS and established a communications link with the International Space Station using CUCU.  Astronauts commanded on Dragon’s strobe light to confirm the link worked.  A video of Dragon as seen by the space station is available at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=144472261

 

With these tests complete, Dragon has started the trip flying around the space station, returning the spacecraft to its original approach location. 

 

Dragon has been performing well, but the most difficult aspects of the mission are still ahead.

 

FRIDAY MORNING – Final Approach, Dragon Grapple

 

Around 2:00 AM Pacific/5:00 AM Eastern NASA will decide if Dragon is GO to move into the approach ellipsoid 1.4 kilometers around the space station. If Dragon is GO, after approximately one hour Dragon will move to a location 250 meters directly below the station.  Dragon will then perform a series of maneuvers to show systems are operating as expected.  If NASA is satisfied with the results of these many tests, Dragon will be allowed to perform the final approach to the space station. 

 

Sometime around 6:00 AM Pacific/9:00 AM Eastern, astronauts on the space station will grapple Dragon with the space station’s robotic arm and the spacecraft will attach to the station.

 

SATURDAY MORNING – Hatch Opening

 

If all goes well, at approximately 2:00 AM Pacific/5:00 AM Eastern, the crew will start procedures to open Dragon’s hatch.  It will take around 2 hours to complete all operations leading to the hatch opening.  Once the hatch is opened, astronauts will enter Dragon for the first time in space.

                                                                                                                                           

All dates and times are approximate and could easily change.

 

This is SpaceX's second demonstration flight under a 2006 Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with NASA to develop the capability to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station. Demonstration launches are conducted to determine potential issues so that they might be addressed; by their very nature, they carry a significant risk. If any aspect of the mission is not successful, SpaceX will learn from the experience and try again.

 

For More on SpaceX’s Mission to the Space Station

Launch Press Kit: http://www.spacex.com/downloads/COTS-2-Press-Kit-5-14-12.pdf

Twitter: http://twitter.com/spacex/elonmusk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/spacex/SpaceX

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SpaceX

[Chris-A]

Corrected? Ops, the Twitter links are broken.

[rdale]

Grapple is supposed to occur sometime around 8:00 am CST.

Your confusion begins by not living in the US and understanding our timezones We are on Daylight Saving Time, so in Houston it is CDT (one hour ahead of CST.)

[wechose]

Just to add that the NTV guide appears in the local timezone around the World,of course NSF is the only place to go to see if there has been any major changes to planned timeline.

[MP99]

Thanks John44 link works fine for me too.
SpaceX getting all the PR stuff right on this flight,but somebody needs to tell Holly not to call the ISS crew 'consumables',they might not like it

Commentator said "Shuttle" instead of "Dragon" at one point. Understandable, I guess.

cheers, Martin

[b ramsey]

I hate to be anoying here, but this video wont play " says private" all the other embeds play fine for me on this tread. Any one else having this problem.

[rdale]

PAO privatized it for some reason.

[Pheogh]

Is there anyway to find out if they are going to be filming the rendezvous/grapple in HD video like they did for the HTV visit. If you haven't seen that video from the Cupola it is one of the most spectacular piece of space footage ever shot.?

Woud love to know if they will do the same here.

[MP99]

SpaceX release has been corrected (resent);

Only differences are that "on Friday" was removed from the para titled "SATURDAY MORNING – Hatch Opening", and the original text ended after "All dates and times are approximate and could easily change.", ie added reminder re "demo" and some URLs:-

This is SpaceX's second demonstration flight under a 2006 Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with NASA to develop the capability to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station. Demonstration launches are conducted to determine potential issues so that they might be addressed; by their very nature, they carry a significant risk. If any aspect of the mission is not successful, SpaceX will learn from the experience and try again.

 

For More on SpaceX’s Mission to the Space Station

Launch Press Kit: http://www.spacex.com/downloads/COTS-2-Press-Kit-5-14-12.pdf

Twitter: http://twitter.com/spacex/elonmusk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/spacex/SpaceX

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SpaceX

Seems uncontentious, and no change to any of the statements within the original release.

cheers, Martin

[starsilk]

CNet http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57440939-76/spacex-dragon-capsule-breezes-through-station-flyby-tests/
has this:

There were no technical problems of any significance, engineers said. One thruster briefly "failed off," but it later was deemed a momentary glitch and restored to normal operation. Another issue with an inertial measurement unit was cleared up with a navigation update.

I haven't seen any details of the 'issues' they've had in this forum yet..

[Lars_J]

Elon Musk tweets: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/205713390335827969

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk
The head of the Russian Space Agency and some Russian diplomats are visiting @SpaceX today. Looking forward to meeting.

[lcs]

PAO privatized it for some reason.

Here's a link the PAO can't privatize:

http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7601:spacexdragon-mission-status-briefing-may-24&catid=1:latest

[Space Pete]

Wooo, this mission is going swell!

I've waited so long to see Dragon from an ISS camera. Imagine if they'd gone with the original C2 mission (no C3) - watching a perfectly good Dragon fly away from ISS without berthing would have been hard, knowing it'd be months before another one was back.

If you haven't seen that video from the Cupola it is one of the most spectacular piece of space footage ever shot.?

I heard Joe Acaba will be hanging around the Cupola during the capture - so hopefully he'll have a camera in hand.

And this seems like the perfect time to post said HTV-2 video - this is almost exactly what will occur inside the Cupola tomorrow, only with Dragon outside the windows instead of HTV, and with Don & Andre instead of Paolo & Cady.

Crank up the volume, put it in full HD, fullscreen it, and just go there for 10 mins.

[Space Pete]

In the video below, the astronauts remark how stable HTV is while holding attitude with the ISS. Dragon, however, may be a little bit less stable - here's a quote from astronaut Joe Acaba from a pre-flight interview with NASASpaceflight's Philip Sloss:

"There’s unknowns with these new vehicles [because] they haven’t been there [ISS] before, and from the past experience we know HTV has been very very solid, which made it relatively easy to capture. These others [commercial vehicles], they’re a little bit lighter with some bigger thrusters, so there may be more motion that we might see, so they may be a little bit more challenging."

[rdale]

PAO privatized it for some reason.

Here's a link the PAO can't privatize:

http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7601:spacexdragon-mission-status-briefing-may-24&catid=1:latest

That's the same one as before Never hurts to scroll up a few inches and doublecheck before posting.