SpaceX Falcon 9 / Dragon 2 : SpX-DM2 : May 27, 2020 : DISCUSSION

[Rondaz]

Less than 10 days until SpaceX Demo-2.

https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/1262128049824264193

[DecoLV]

Miles O'Brien Twitter DM response to me:
I am preparing a report right now for the PBS NewsHour. And we will be streaming live on launch day. Stay tuned for details

-----

@milesobrien will you be involved in covering the SpaceX DM-2 flight on May 27? For PBS or CNN or anybody else?

[Rondaz]

Crew Dragon Spacecraft Arrives at Launch Complex for NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2

Anna Heiney Posted on May 18, 2020

The pace of prelaunch activities continues to pick up at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as teams prepare for the upcoming launch of the agency’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission — the first launch of astronauts from America’s premier multi-user spaceport in nearly a decade.

On the Demo-2 flight test, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will fly to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft launched by a Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A is scheduled for Wednesday, May 27, at 4:33 p.m. EDT.

Late Friday night, May 15, the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft arrived at Launch Complex 39A after making the trek from its processing facility at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

This Wednesday, Behnken and Hurley will fly from their home base at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to the Florida spaceport. The agency Flight Readiness Review begins at Kennedy the following day.

Demo-2 will serve as an end-to-end flight test to validate the SpaceX crew transportation system, and is the final flight test for the system to be certified for regular crew flights to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. This will be the first launch of American astronauts on an American rocket from American soil to the International Space Station since the final flight of the space shuttle in 2011.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2020/05/18/crew-dragon-spacecraft-arrives-at-launch-complex-for-nasas-spacex-demo-2/

[Rondaz]

The Crew Dragon has arrived to Launch Complex 39A! Dragon

This spacecraft will carry @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug to the @Space_Station when it launches atop a @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on May 27, at 4:33 p.m. ET:

https://twitter.com/NASAKennedy/status/1262471859028856832

[Lars-J]

The Crew Dragon has arrived to Launch Complex 39A! Dragon

This spacecraft will carry @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug to the @Space_Station when it launches atop a @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on May 27, at 4:33 p.m. ET:

https://twitter.com/NASAKennedy/status/1262471859028856832

For some reason I thought the side windows were going to be open for DM-2. Or was that for the next mission?

Or have the side windows been de-scoped from the design?

[quasarquantum]

The SpaceX website shows Crew Dragon with 2 Windows and two covered oval shapes.  You can see one of the windows in the tweet picture, its under the orange cover.

[Lars-J]

The SpaceX website shows Crew Dragon with 2 Windows and two covered oval shapes.  You can see one of the windows in the tweet picture, its under the orange cover.

You misunderstand. I mean the window between the SuperDracos. And the SpaceX home page image is just a photo of the DM-1 Dragon.

[quasarquantum]

The SpaceX website shows Crew Dragon with 2 Windows and two covered oval shapes.  You can see one of the windows in the tweet picture, its under the orange cover.

You misunderstand. I mean the window between the SuperDracos. And the SpaceX home page image is just a photo of the DM-1 Dragon.

The windows between the SuperDracos seem to be permanently covered. I was referring to the animation on https://www.spacex.com/dragon, next to the Overview section, it shows the spacecraft rotating.

[woods170]

The SpaceX website shows Crew Dragon with 2 Windows and two covered oval shapes.  You can see one of the windows in the tweet picture, its under the orange cover.

You misunderstand. I mean the window between the SuperDracos. And the SpaceX home page image is just a photo of the DM-1 Dragon.

The side windows were originally in scope for DM-2 and subsequent missions. On NASA's request the side windows have been descoped entirely.
However, that happened when the tooling for the pressure vessel and outer panels was fully done. The resulting original openings in the pressure vessel and outer panels (as well as the in-between insulation) remain. For the pressure vessel the openings for the side windows are covered with pressure plates. Filler plates are applied for the openings in the outer panels and in-between insulation.
Even the openings for the side windows in the interior panels are still there. Like DM-1 those are back-covered with a simple panel.
What this does is that it allows SpaceX to fit actual windows in the side window openings when the former CCP capsules get to be reused for purely commercial manned missions.

[southcounty253]

Random question, anyone know what TV stations (if any) are covering DM-2? Long story short, out on deployment (Navy) and our ship has your typical major TV news channels, but definitely will have no capability of a web stream.

[MATTBLAK]

So... How many windows do they have left?!

[Vettedrmr]

Random question, anyone know what TV stations (if any) are covering DM-2? Long story short, out on deployment (Navy) and our ship has your typical major TV news channels, but definitely will have no capability of a web stream.

For this launch I expect all the majors to cover it.  Always NASA channel, and for local coverage try anything out of Orlando.

HTH, have a good one, and thanks for your service.

Mike

[Arb]

...
On NASA's request the side windows have been descoped entirely.
...

Is it known why?

[Robotbeat]

...
On NASA's request the side windows have been descoped entirely.
...

Is it known why?

I would suspect MMOD risk. At one point, it looked questionable whether Dragon would meet loss of mission requirements due to MMOD risk while docked for long periods. Can anyone confirm?

[eric z]

  Sorry to hear about Mrs.Glenn passing away at 100. It's a shame there are no Mercury astronauts still alive to help celebrate the new era of space exploration we are entering. I like to think they would be thrilled at what is about to happen, and maybe a little miffed it took so long!

[Lars-J]

So... How many windows do they have left?!

Two. One on each side of the front hatch.

[woods170]

So... How many windows do they have left?!

Two. One on each side of the front hatch.

Exactly. The hatch window never was a serious feature, regardless of it being present on the Crew Dragon reveal mockup.
The two side windows were deleted on NASA's request. That leaves only the two windows on each side of the front hatch.

[woods170]

...
On NASA's request the side windows have been descoped entirely.
...

Is it known why?

I would suspect MMOD risk. At one point, it looked questionable whether Dragon would meet loss of mission requirements due to MMOD risk while docked for long periods. Can anyone confirm?

MMOD was one consideration. But what I've understood from sources since then is that thermal concerns in orbit were also a thing. As well as the fact that the side windows MIGHT - in off-nominal reentry situations - be subjected to excessive coating from ablated primary heatshield material. That in turn MIGHT cause thermal issues with the windows during such a off-nominal reentry. Beyond those three there were even more reasons. I didn't get to hear all of them.

NASA, being highly risk-averse, considering all of the above reasons, requested the side windows to be not installed.

[Rondaz]

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Astronauts to Arrive at Kennedy on Wednesday

Anna Heiney Posted on May 19, 2020

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are set to arrive at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, one week before the pair’s scheduled launch to the International Space Station on the SpaceX Demo-2 mission.

Tomorrow’s schedule calls for the astronauts to depart from Ellington Field in Houston, Texas, near NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and fly to Kennedy aboard an agency Gulfstream aircraft. They’re expected to arrive at the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy at approximately noon EDT. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Center Director Bob Cabana will greet the crew, followed by a news conference at the runway. These events will be broadcast live on NASA Television and online at www.nasa.gov/live.

Behnken and Hurley will fly to the station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy’s historic Launch Complex 39A. The Demo-2 mission will serve as an end-to-end flight test to validate the SpaceX crew transportation system, from launch to docking to splashdown. It is the final flight test for the system to be certified for regular crew flights to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff is slated for Wednesday, May 27, at 4:33 p.m. EDT.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy/2020/05/19/nasas-spacex-demo-2-astronauts-to-arrive-at-kennedy-on-wednesday/

[jpo234]

Eric Berger will have a live talk with Karen Nyberg (retired astronaut and Doug Hurley's wife) about DM-2.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/05/whats-traveling-to-the-iss-like-ask-an-astronaut-thursday-in-ars-next-live-chat/