Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon 9 - CRS-8 Dragon - April 8, 2016 - UPDATES (Read 285579 times)

Antares · « **Reply #480 on:** 04/09/2016 03:59 am »

Here's my congratulatory post: I wonder what SpaceX could do with all of the money spent on SLS, ELC and government watchers.

ClayJar · « **Reply #481 on:** 04/09/2016 04:10 am »

Closed my office door and had three webcasts going at once for a fantastic launch and landing. Congrats, SpaceX!

Immediately after work, I had to go work on a relative's house. When I hit the road, what came on the radio but "Uprising" by Muse. Those of us who remember SpaceX's classic intro to reusability video will understand why the radio *had* to go to eleven today.

TheFallen · « **Reply #482 on:** 04/09/2016 04:28 am »

Congrats to SpaceX for such a historic achievement! I hope momentum finally turns in Falcon 9's favor and we celebrate like this more often in the future

Craftyatom · « **Reply #483 on:** 04/09/2016 04:29 am »

Quote from: ClayJar on 04/09/2016 04:10 am

Closed my office door and had three webcasts going at once for a fantastic launch and landing. Congrats, SpaceX!

Immediately after work, I had to go work on a relative's house. When I hit the road, what came on the radio but "Uprising" by Muse. Those of us who remember SpaceX's classic intro to reusability video will understand why the radio *had* to go to eleven today.

I wanted to agree, but as this is an update thread and I've already had my congratulatory post, I'm forced to provide an informative outside link. Oh well

Paul451 · « **Reply #484 on:** 04/09/2016 04:38 am »

Thanks to the NSF team, and those who live-feed these threads.

I often seem to miss the launches (work/sleep), and it's nice to be able to get on the computer afterwards, pointedly avoid news feeds, and load up this thread and read it through without spoilers. An accelerated, belated version of reality.

For this launch especially, thanks.

John44 · « **Reply #485 on:** 04/09/2016 05:05 am »

SpaceX CRS-8 Post-Launch News Conference
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9813

AndrewM · « **Reply #486 on:** 04/09/2016 05:14 am »

A little late but I have been pretty busy since the launch. A huge congratulations to SpaceX, NASA, Eastern Range, Bigelow and all involved parties for making today another picture perfect launch and a historical landing. Can't wait for ISS berthing on Sunday and the 1st stage to arrive in port.

meadows.st · « **Reply #487 on:** 04/09/2016 05:28 am »

I add my congratulations to SpaceX. We watched history today.

tyrred · « **Reply #488 on:** 04/09/2016 05:34 am »

Congratulations on a job well done, SpaceX... NASA... everybody here at NSF... anybody and everybody involved.

This is how rockets should launch... and land. This is SpaceX hard.

alang · « **Reply #489 on:** 04/09/2016 05:37 am »

Many congratulations to SpaceX.

After this I guess Elon Musk can be forgiven his Boris Karloff moment.

"they said I was mad. Look at me. Am I mad?"

kq6ea · « **Reply #490 on:** 04/09/2016 05:42 am »

Well done, SpaceX!

Halidon · « **Reply #491 on:** 04/09/2016 06:35 am »

After a crazy busy day I finally have time to give my congratulations to the whole SpaceX team (and the people outside SpaceX who also helped make this possible)! Well done each and every one, and Bravo Zulu to OCISLY for a great catch.

CJ · « **Reply #492 on:** 04/09/2016 06:58 am »

Congratulations, SpaceX, on a flawless mission as well as a spectacular landing!

Babbaloo · « **Reply #493 on:** 04/09/2016 07:13 am »

Watched the launch on the flight deck before departing to Sydney in the early hours of the morning. A passenger asked what all the excitement was about and I turned around with my iPad and shared the falcon 9 ASDS landing live with them.. They were amazed and requested for my landing to be as good.. It wasn't.😄😄

Thanks everyone at spacex for bringing such joy to us all.

jacqmans · « **Reply #494 on:** 04/09/2016 08:30 am »

April 08, 2016
RELEASE 16-043

NASA Cargo Headed to Space Station Includes Habitat Prototype, Medical Research

Tucked in the trunk of the latest commercial cargo spacecraft to head for the International Space Station is an expandable structure that has the potential to revolutionize work and life on the space station.

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is delivering almost 7,000 pounds of cargo, including the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), to the orbital laboratory following its launch on a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:43 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The mission is SpaceX’s eighth cargo delivery through NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. Dragon's cargo will support dozens of the more than 250 science and research investigations taking place on the space station during Expeditions 47 and 48.

“The cargo will allow investigators to use microgravity conditions to test the viability of expandable space habitats, assess the impact of antibodies on muscle wasting, use protein crystal growth to aid the design of new disease-fighting drugs and investigate how microbes could affect the health of the crew and their equipment over a long duration mission,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman.

Dragon will be grappled at 7 a.m. Sunday, April 10, by ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Tim Peake, using the station's Candarm2 robotic arm, with help from NASA astronaut Jeff Williams.

BEAM will arrive in Dragon’s unpressurized trunk and, after about five days, will be removed and attached to the station. Expansion is targeted for the end of May. The module will expand to roughly 10 feet in diameter and 13 feet long. During its two-year test mission, astronauts will enter the module for a few hours several times a year to retrieve sensor data and assess conditions. Expandable habitats are designed to take up less room on a rocket, but provide greater volume for living and working in space once expanded. This first in situ test of the module will allow investigators to gauge how well the habitat protects against solar radiation, space debris and contamination.

Crew members experience significant decreases in bone density and muscle mass during long-duration spaceflight without appropriate nutrition and exercise. One life science investigation on its way to the orbiting laboratory will assess myostatin inhibition as a means of preventing skeletal muscle atrophy and weakness in mice exposed to long-duration spaceflight. Drugs tested on the space station could progress to human clinical trials back on Earth to validate their effectiveness for future space missions.

Dragon also will deliver Microchannel Diffusion, a study of fluids at the nanoscale, or atomic, level. Nanofluidic sensors could measure the air in the space station, or be used to deliver drugs to specific places in the body. The laws that govern flow through nanoscale channels are not well understood, and this investigation simulates those interactions by studying them at the larger microscopic level. This type of research is possible only on the space station, where Earth’s gravity is not strong enough to interact with the molecules in a sample, so they behave more like they would at the nanoscale. Knowledge gleaned from the investigation may have implications for drug delivery and particle filtration, as well as future technological applications for space exploration.

Another experiment onboard Dragon is a protein crystal growth investigation focused on drug design and development. Growing protein crystals in microgravity can help researchers avoid some of the obstacles inherent to protein crystallization on Earth, such as sedimentation. One investigation will study the effect of microgravity on the co-crystallization of a membrane protein to determine its three-dimensional structure. This will enable scientists to chemically target and inhibit, with “designer” compounds, an important human biological pathway thought to be responsible for several types of cancer.

The spacecraft is scheduled to depart the space station May 11 for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, bringing almost 3,500 pounds of science, hardware and spacewalking tools back to Earth for further study, including biological samples from NASA’s one-year mission.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has been continuously occupied since November 2000. In that time, it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

For more information about SpaceX's mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacex

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #495 on:** 04/09/2016 08:44 am »

Don't think this has been posted. Pic released by NASA of F9 in flight

MP99 · « **Reply #496 on:** 04/09/2016 08:57 am »

Congrats to SpaceX for a first-time, on-time launch and drama-free delivery to orbit.

Thanks for providing copious drama with the landing, extending the envelope of payloads that can have the booster recovered.

Cheers, Martin

Lewis007 · « **Reply #497 on:** 04/09/2016 09:08 am »

More launch pix posted by NASA Kennedy on Flickr

Toastmastern · « **Reply #498 on:** 04/09/2016 09:16 am »

Big congratulations to SpaceX for a world changing event. You made me scream last night!

Star One · « **Reply #499 on:** 04/09/2016 09:29 am »

Belated congratulations to the team at Space X.