Dragon 2 on display at Newseum in DC on Wed June 11, 2014

[Mongo62]

My question would be: is this the same Dragon that Elon had unveiled, or is it a different unit? They are both apparently "flight hardware", but we know that there must be at least two units being built, from what vtirag posted above.

This news implies that the ECLSS is already installed in this unit, but without views of the interior to compare with the first (possibly the same) Dragon, we do not know if the Dragon that Elon showed had the ECLSS already installed but hidden under the floor panels (or elsewhere, I suppose).

[inventodoc]

I was there when the display opened at 9am.  There was no line at all.   They were giving out the keychains, but no hats at that time (bummer).  Took some pictures, but others online here are better.    The SuperDraco looks real as far as I can tell.  It was groovy to see it in person.  Note the surface details in picture #2.

The hatch was closed and it was not possible to see past the gold reflective layer of the windows.

There was a large number of friendly security people on site - the one SpaceX person wasn't that inviting, though.

[Blackstar]

Went down there about 45 minutes ago. Got the keychain (hey, maybe I should sell that and the VIP pass on eBay?). DC is rather muggy right now. No alcohol or food today.

[rickyramjet]

This image has me a little concerned!  The top connector has no strain relief and the bottom connector is not fully engaged, it looks like it's about to fall off.  I hope this represents only a rushed crew prepping the Dragon for display and not a deeper quality issue!!

[Lars_J]

My question would be: is this the same Dragon that Elon had unveiled, or is it a different unit? They are both apparently "flight hardware", but we know that there must be at least two units being built, from what vtirag posted above.

It is the same one. Or do you have information indicating otherwise?

[Rocket Science]

Went down there about 45 minutes ago. Got the keychain (hey, maybe I should sell that and the VIP pass on eBay?). DC is rather muggy right now. No alcohol or food today.

Ignition key?

[Blackstar]

This is based on interviewing Musk last night:

http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/first-crewed-dragon-flight-to-orbit-will-carry-nasa-astronauts

[Rocket Science]

This image has me a little concerned!  The top connector has no strain relief and the bottom connector is not fully engaged, it looks like it's about to fall off.  I hope this represents only a rushed crew prepping the Dragon for display and not a deeper quality issue!!

No worries ricky, I got duct tape for that!

[Mongo62]

My question would be: is this the same Dragon that Elon had unveiled, or is it a different unit? They are both apparently "flight hardware", but we know that there must be at least two units being built, from what vtirag posted above.

It is the same one. Or do you have information indicating otherwise?

From vtirag's post:

"I got to talk to one of the SpaceXers present and got one new (I think) bit of information: He said the plumbing and SD mounting hardware and all will be stripped from this capsule shortly, and put on the abort test article for the pad abort test and, hopefully, for the in-flight abort test. He also told me that this capsule will eventually fly in space."

So the pad abort test Dragon is a different unit from the one on display today. I was wondering if the unit at Elon's unveiling was the unit on display today, or the pad abort test unit, or even a third unit.

[Lars_J]

It seems pretty clear that the unit on display is the same as the one that was unveiled at Hawthorne. Why would they fabricate two show units?

[mlindner]

This image has me a little concerned!  The top connector has no strain relief and the bottom connector is not fully engaged, it looks like it's about to fall off.  I hope this represents only a rushed crew prepping the Dragon for display and not a deeper quality issue!!

I saw that as well. The lack of strain relief was making me cringe. I'd guess its just a throwaway ground cable (I often used some really janky near-broken cables in test hardware.)

[jg]

This image has me a little concerned!  The top connector has no strain relief and the bottom connector is not fully engaged, it looks like it's about to fall off.  I hope this represents only a rushed crew prepping the Dragon for display and not a deeper quality issue!!

I saw that as well. The lack of strain relief was making me cringe. I'd guess its just a throwaway ground cable (I often used some really janky near-broken cables in test hardware.)

I expect so.

I remember building some equipment using mil-spec connectors as an undergraduate.  A friend first put the connector together, but forgot the strain relief.  Then he mirror imaged the connector while wiring it. He then handed it to me, disgusted. 

I proceeded to wire the connector correctly, but forgot the strain relief.  The fourth time (second for me), I finally wired the cable correctly...

[savuporo]

It seems pretty clear that the unit on display is the same as the one that was unveiled at Hawthorne. Why would they fabricate two show units?

Anyone get the VIN ?

( but as was stated, what's on display is not a show unit )

[Helodriver]

This is the same exact vehicle that was displayed in Hawthorne, not a second one. The external power connector panel has the same horizontal paint smudge artifact just above the top connector that is visible on Blackstar's photos. This can be seen in my closeup as well.

[grythumn]

Confirmed this one is due to go to orbit, not pad abort. Same unit as California unveiling. Feet are not replaced; if necessary can be sanded down multiple times. Pics to follow once I get back to computer.

[Rocket Science]

It seems pretty clear that the unit on display is the same as the one that was unveiled at Hawthorne. Why would they fabricate two show units?

Anyone get the VIN ?

( but as was stated, what's on display is not a show unit )

#001

[cscott]

I saw that as well. The lack of strain relief was making me cringe. I'd guess its just a throwaway ground cable (I often used some really janky near-broken cables in test hardware.)

I'd be willing to bet that their "real" umbilicals are hard-wired in the shop (with good connectors) and that this was just a cable someone threw together as a last-minute kludge to get the Dragon v2 interior lighting to run on mains power.

[vtirag]

I forgot to mention this in my previous posts, but I asked about the large hatch opening to the outside. Turns out it was designed (at least partly) to allow for EVAs.

[sghill]

I noticed from the images that the landing legs differ in length from the front to the back.  Look at images 13 and 35 here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h0aq4cpsvno53hi/AACq63OMC3mmCY9YMctRUhGFa

The rear leg in image 13 is up on blocks compared to the front leg in image 35 (you can still see the rear leg in the background).  In normal operations, the capsule would rest at an angle towards the rear.

I'm thinking this makes sense because we already know the capsule will descend at a rearwards angle to improve water landing smoothness.  Having shorter rear legs means that all 4 legs will touch down with the same approximate force at the same time instead of the rear legs banging down harder than the front legs.

Should we rightly call this a spacecraft and not a capsule (said with a snide German accent) since it is self-powered? 

[moralec]

I found this very strange... I always assumed that the lenght of each leg was adjustable, but that may not be the case....