LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 - CRS-8 Dragon - April 8, 2016 - UPDATES

[Chris Bergin]

UPDATE ONLY CRS-8 Thread. This is Dragon's first launch on the upgraded F9.

April 8 - Subject To Change.

CRS-8 Related News Articles:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?s=CRS-8

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CRS-8 Discussion Thread:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39350.0

CRS-8 Party Thread -
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39538.0

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Resources:

SpaceX News Articles from 2006 (Including numerous exclusive Elon interviews):
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=21862.0

SpaceX News Articles (Recent):
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/spacex/

SpaceX Dragon Articles:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/dragon/

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Pre-Launch:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/03/spacex-prepares-two-missions-mcgregor/

Static Fire:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/04/spacex-falcon-9-static-fire-crs-8-mission/

Main Launch Preview:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/04/spacex-dragon-rtf-falcon9-launch/

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L2 SpaceX Section:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=24469.0

L2 CRS-8 Section:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39521.0

[Chris Bergin]

And for Dragon's return:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/02/spacex-prepares-ses-9-mission-dragons-return/

(Current schedule situation)

[Chris Bergin]

Update of status:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39350.msg1490190#msg1490190 - posted in there as it initially wasn't good enough for the update thread.

[feynmanrules]

user targeter posted this officially unofficial launch schedule from range for ses, but it also shows a pending march29th launch date scheduled for CRS8 at 8:38pm local time.

via https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153545621417017&set=gm.10154007530706318&type=3&theater

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39348.msg1496512#msg1496512

[AnalogMan]

Status from NAC meeting.

[ChrisC]

Stephen Clark / SFN is reporting April 4th now.

https://twitter.com/StephenClark1/status/707359291074867200

[jacqmans]

[Chris Bergin]

Dragon's also on EMU duty again.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/03/nasa-making-progress-on-eva-35-water-leak-incident/

[Chris Bergin]

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch with the CRS-8 Dragon has an *unofficial* planning date of April 8 (16:43 Eastern - instantaneous window) on the L2 Cape schedule info. It was tagged as pending approval and CRS missions not only have the Range to approve, but ISSP on the Visiting Vehicle side.

So very much just a planning date, but as always we turnaround that info into the public threads ASAP for people who may be looking at flights and hotels to watch the launch. However, remember there's no official date at this time and I'm not going to add a "NET" to this one because of that. When a date becomes official it'll be tagged as such at that time.

[AnalogMan]

SpaceX-8 Experiments to Cover Habitat, Drug Research
March 18, 2016 - Steven Siceloff

SpaceX plans to launch its Dragon spacecraft into orbit in early April, the company’s eighth mission under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract, CRS-8. The flight will deliver research experiments to the International Space Station that will help investigators test the use of an expandable space habitat in microgravity, assess the impact of antibodies on muscle wasting in a microgravity environment, use microgravity to seek insight into the interactions of particle flows at the nanoscale level and use protein crystal growth in microgravity to help in the design of new drugs to fight disease. Investigations like these demonstrate how the orbiting laboratory helps advance NASA’s journey to Mars while making discoveries off the Earth that can benefit life on Earth.

Future space habitats for low-Earth orbit or in deep space should be lightweight and relatively simple to construct. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental expandable capsule that attaches to the space station. After installation, the BEAM expands to roughly 13-feet-long and 10.5 feet in diameter to provide a large volume, where a crew member can enter. During the two-year test mission, astronauts will enter the module for a few hours three-to-four times a year to retrieve sensor data and conduct assessments of the module’s condition. There’s a lot more to the research story of CRS-8, and you can read it at http://go.nasa.gov/22riUPJ

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2016/03/18/spacex-8-experiments-to-cover-habitat-drug-research/

[Chris Bergin]

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch with the CRS-8 Dragon has an *unofficial* planning date of April 8 (16:43 Eastern - instantaneous window) on the L2 Cape schedule info. It was tagged as pending approval and CRS missions not only have the Range to approve, but ISSP on the Visiting Vehicle side.

And that's now official via NASA:

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft is targeted for launch at 4:43 p.m. EDT Friday, April 8.

The Dragon capsule will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida, carrying science research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory in support of the Expedition 47 and 48 crews. The flight also includes the Bigelow Aerospace expandable habitat module that will be attached to the space station for testing. In its scheduled return to Earth in May, the Dragon capsule will bring back biological samples from astronauts, including those collected during NASA’s one-year mission. This launch is the eighth contracted mission by SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

[Space Pete]

Good article on BEAM in this month's Boeing magazine:

http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2016/march/#/24/

Per the article, it is now planned to inflate BEAM using the station's own air supply, rather than a bottled air supply provided with BEAM.

[tleski]

Landing on a barge instead of RTLS

James Stewart  ‏@JamesStewart97  2h2 hours ago United Kingdom
@lorengrush have @SpaceX confirmed that they're going for a first stage drone ship landing rather than a RTLS?

‏@lorengrush
@JamesStewart97 Yep! Got confirmation this morning

https://twitter.com/lorengrush/status/710859540250628096

[jacqmans]

March 18, 2016
MEDIA ADVISORY M16-025

NASA Targets Early April for Eighth SpaceX Cargo Launch

Media accreditation now is open for the April launch of a cargo resupply service mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft is targeted for launch at 4:43 p.m. EDT Friday, April 8.

The Dragon capsule will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida, carrying science research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory in support of the Expedition 47 and 48 crews. The flight also includes the Bigelow Aerospace expandable habitat module that will be attached to the space station for testing. In its scheduled return to Earth in May, the Dragon capsule will bring back biological samples from astronauts, including those collected during NASA’s one-year mission. This launch is the eighth contracted mission by SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

Media prelaunch and launch activities will take place at CCAFS and at nearby NASA Kennedy Space Center. The deadline to apply for media access to Kennedy is 5 p.m., March 24 for non-citizens and 5 p.m. March 31 for U.S. citizens. The registration deadline for international media access to the Air Force station has passed for this event.

All media accreditation requests must be submitted online. International media are required to upload a scanned copy of their visa and passport or green card when submitting their online accreditation request. To apply for media accreditation, visit:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

Media must present two forms of unexpired legal, government identification to access Kennedy. One form must include a photo, such as a passport or driver’s license. Questions about accreditation should be directed to Jennifer Horner at [email protected] or 321-867-6598. For other questions or additional information, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468.

For launch countdown coverage, NASA’s launch blog, and more information about commercial cargo resupply missions, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialresupply

[Ronsmytheiii]

Here is a picture of the First stage undergoing testing at McGregor back on Feb 21:

http://www.gramfeed.com/oceanmahalo

[Ronsmytheiii]

"Members of the Dragon Integration crew pose with Dragon 10 before shipment to Cape Canaveral for CRS-8. Launch will take place April 8 at 4:43 EDT."

http://www.gramfeed.com/spacex_fanz

[Chris Bergin]

McGregor leg article for the next two missions, including CRS-8:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/03/spacex-prepares-two-missions-mcgregor/

(Quote and discuss on the CRS-8 discussion thread to keep this thread purely on updates).

[psloss]

Apologies if I'm duplicating:
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/713073906605658112

Expandable @BigelowSpace habitat being lifted into Dragon's trunk for a ride to the space station early next month

[Space Pete]

Hi-res version of that BEAM photo from SpaceX's Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/25916886442/in/contacts/

And here's the BEAM installation animation posted below (the original link seems to have been removed):

[Ronsmytheiii]

When you're late for work because @spacex left a falcon 9 rocket in the road.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDYOzR7oOHH/