SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon CRS SpX-1 PROCESSING/Pre-LAUNCH UPDATES

[Jason1701]

Better video (I hope its okay with Chris)

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012120823026

His speech in the SpaceX processing facility is heavily edited though, and notably excludes the mention of Dragon.

But the article says:

Bolden spoke today in front of the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule slated to fly the next mission under the Commercial Resupply Services contract.

[manboy]

There's some more images at http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov

[Jason1701]

There's some more images at http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov

Thanks. I suspect the photographers might have been ordered not to get anything but the first stage.

[skymech231]

Someone sure went nutz with the Yellow tape.

Nylon straps to pull hanger door up and open.

[ugordan]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1208/24cots/

The Dragon spacecraft for the mission arrived at the launch site Aug. 14.

[Rocket Guy]

I'll throw in some additional details via the L2 SpaceX Section: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=tags&tags=SpaceX

The Oct 8 launch date is documented as an 8:12pm T-0, with a WDR as early as August 31 (documented).

Thanks for the confirmation. That makes Oct. 8 nighttime, Oct 9 and 10 twilight (9th still pretty dark), and then getting into daytime. Sunset comes at 7:00pm Oct 8.

[Orbiter]

Falcon 9 was rolled out to SLC-41 for a wet dress rehearsal.

[Chris Bergin]

SpaceX confirm to us that the WDR has been completed and we'll have a statement shortly. So I'll write an article (I would assume they'll put the statement on their site, but I appreciate them responding to me

[Longhorn John]

Were the engines fired, or is that another WDR to come?

[Lee Jay]

Were the engines fired, or is that another WDR to come?

That's called a "hot fire".

[zt]

SpaceX completed a successful wet dress rehearsal today, a launch readiness test which simulates the actual countdown of the Falcon 9 rocket, in preparation for its first official cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. This mission is targeted to launch in early October.

https://plus.google.com/104512038508075599339/posts/JGQVHKdq8rU

Completed successful wet dress rehearsal today, in preparation for cargo resupply mission to space station.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/241686491108085761/

[Chris Bergin]

Article for the WDR, including some countdown info from William Graham.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/08/spacex-conduct-successful-wdr-falcon-9/

[tigerade]

Article for the WDR, including some countdown info from William Graham.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/08/spacex-conduct-successful-wdr-falcon-9/

Great article.  That last picture, is that a pic of the solar arrays for the CRS1 Dragon?

[Prober]

Article for the WDR, including some countdown info from William Graham.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/08/spacex-conduct-successful-wdr-falcon-9/

very good, even got a question of mine answered.

[Chris-A]

Article for the WDR, including some countdown info from William Graham.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/08/spacex-conduct-successful-wdr-falcon-9/

Great article.  That last picture, is that a pic of the solar arrays for the CRS1 Dragon?

Might be ORBCOMM, as the last sentience states the image credits.

[manboy]

Article for the WDR, including some countdown info from William Graham.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/08/spacex-conduct-successful-wdr-falcon-9/

Great article.  That last picture, is that a pic of the solar arrays for the CRS1 Dragon?

Might be ORBCOMM, as the last sentience states the image credits.

Yep. "A technician prepares the OG2 satellite for Electro-Magnetic Compatibility testing". But I don't think its the 150 kg prototype that will fly on that will fly on SpX-1 (it looks too big to me but someone else might know better). Anyway, here's a link to the OG2 image gallery. 

http://www.orbcomm.com/sats.htm

[Prober]

this is interesting so we can follow along......

[Comga]

A good article.

Question: The article says "The realigned launch schedule will see a prototype second-generation Orbcomm spacecraft launch with the Falcon 9 in October, with the remaining 17 satellites – each with a mass of only 155 kilograms – to be launched on an undetermined number of Falcon 9 missions scheduled to occur by late 2014."

I thought it was announced that the number of F9 launches had been reduced from eight to seven, although that reduction has never  been reflected in the SpaceX manifest.  Is this not the current understanding?

[Comga]

this is interesting so we can follow along......

What is the source of this document?
It appears to be from several months back.
It has NET 10/5 but anik has NET 10/8
FWIW "Light Intensification Detection and Ranging" is a bactronym for LIDAR.  That is, the word "intensification" was found to fit the letter "I" from "light" added to LDaR to make it pronouncable. The DragonEye doesn't really "intensify" the image. It's just reasonably sensitive.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

this is interesting so we can follow along......

What is the source of this document?
It appears to be from several months back.
It has NET 10/5 but anik has NET 10/8
FWIW "Light Intensification Detection and Ranging" is a bactronym for LIDAR.  That is, the word "intensification" was found to fit the letter "I" from "light" added to LDaR to make it pronouncable. The DragonEye doesn't really "intensify" the image. It's just reasonably sensitive.

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/672214main_1-Hartman_July12_NAC_Final_508.pdf

Note that the document is from July. Since then Delta IV / GPS IIF-3 has taken 10/4 and Dragon has taken 10/8.

Also note that Dragon SpX-2 has already slipped to January 2013 in this document.