The SpaceNews article cites the Space Show interview, in which she does mention the Lunar mission. She even said it was a mission she would be interested in (unlike going to Mars). It is predicated on the crew missions and FH going well first, is all.
So after a search in this discussion, I don't see any reference to whether the Dragon would be able to do a Direct Return Burn as the Apollo was capable of doing. I know without adding extra fuel and motors it currently isn't able to but wouldn't this be critical?
Quote from: jak Kennedy on 06/28/2017 04:50 pmSo after a search in this discussion, I don't see any reference to whether the Dragon would be able to do a Direct Return Burn as the Apollo was capable of doing. I know without adding extra fuel and motors it currently isn't able to but wouldn't this be critical?Assuming the 2nd stage stays on the Dragon after the TLI burn, it could do a direct abort.
Quote from: jak Kennedy on 06/28/2017 04:50 pmSo after a search in this discussion, I don't see any reference to whether the Dragon would be able to do a Direct Return Burn as the Apollo was capable of doing. I know without adding extra fuel and motors it currently isn't able to but wouldn't this be critical?Apollo went into orbit around the Moon, then had to do a burn to go from lunar orbit back to Earth. This mission won't go into orbit around the Moon, so there's no need for a further burn. It will just be in an orbit around the Earth that is highly eccentric -- eccentric enough to go all the way around the Moon. It will come back to very near the Earth. A very small burn (or perhaps even a nudge from the Moon's gravity) will cause the orbit to intersect with Earth's atmosphere and it will reenter.
Quote from: whitelancer64 on 06/28/2017 05:10 pmQuote from: jak Kennedy on 06/28/2017 04:50 pmSo after a search in this discussion, I don't see any reference to whether the Dragon would be able to do a Direct Return Burn as the Apollo was capable of doing. I know without adding extra fuel and motors it currently isn't able to but wouldn't this be critical?Assuming the 2nd stage stays on the Dragon after the TLI burn, it could do a direct abort.Unless the second stage has a problem
In February, SpaceX announced that they would be flying two paying tourists around the Moon in 2018 (see also Wikipedia).I can't find it now, but I'm sure I read at the time that this the two participants would begin training around the end of this year (2017).Since the original announcement, I haven't seen anything at all. Chirping crickets, all quiet on the space front.But the community here is more in touch with space goings-on than anywhere else... any signs of life for this mission? Any chance it's still on target for launch a year from now?
Quote from: abaddon on 06/28/2017 04:41 pmThe SpaceNews article cites the Space Show interview, in which she does mention the Lunar mission. She even said it was a mission she would be interested in (unlike going to Mars). It is predicated on the crew missions and FH going well first, is all.The Dragon circumlunar flight is all the spaceflight I would ever need. Would that I could afford it!!
Quote from: MATTBLAK on 07/20/2017 06:12 amQuote from: abaddon on 06/28/2017 04:41 pmThe SpaceNews article cites the Space Show interview, in which she does mention the Lunar mission. She even said it was a mission she would be interested in (unlike going to Mars). It is predicated on the crew missions and FH going well first, is all.The Dragon circumlunar flight is all the spaceflight I would ever need. Would that I could afford it!! Perhaps you could start a thread for crowd funding Matt's circumlunar trip through NSF?
Quote from: jstrout on 11/14/2017 03:49 amIn February, SpaceX announced that they would be flying two paying tourists around the Moon in 2018 (see also Wikipedia).I can't find it now, but I'm sure I read at the time that this the two participants would begin training around the end of this year (2017).Since the original announcement, I haven't seen anything at all. Chirping crickets, all quiet on the space front.But the community here is more in touch with space goings-on than anywhere else... any signs of life for this mission? Any chance it's still on target for launch a year from now?SpaceX stated that the mission could fly as early as 2018. More specifically SpaceX noted a 2018 -2020 timeframe. Which means that the 2018 date was very much a NET: No Earlier Then. Which, in the case of SpaceX, automatically translates into: Probably Later Then.Also, this circumlunar mission will not fly until Crew Dragon has proven itself on both its demo missions and at least one operational mission. Given the current delays in CCP it is fairly safe to guesstimate that the circumlunar mission will not occur before 2019.Also: FH needs to be fully operational. That requires several launches.