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

[Barley]

A touch screen can only be so far from the seats.  Unless you're GM and figure that people who buy bigger cars have longer arms.

[butters]

Do the displays still move?  I thought that changed.

Looks like you're right, I forgot they did that.  But it is tucked back now a lot more than when it flipped down, so when they're out of their seats, they'll have plenty of room.

The seats rotate up and down instead. So after the orbital insertion is complete, they'll lower the seats away from the control console to open up the cabin volume for on-orbit operations.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

In a CNN Starship interview last night Elon said he expects SpaceX to by flying people to the ISS in 3 to 4 months. Video at:

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/29/business/elon-musk-spacex-mars-starship-cost/index.html

[DigitalMan]

In a CNN Starship interview last night Elon said he expects SpaceX to by flying people to the ISS in 3 to 4 months. Video at:

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/29/business/elon-musk-spacex-mars-starship-cost/index.html

Also, that segment indicates IFA Dragon at KSC in October, DM-2 at KSC in November.

[crandles57]

Elon said 3 or 4 months to CNN on Sept 28th. It may well be very likely to launch in 2020. However have we got something more definitive? 3 months lower limit seems to suggest it could still be as early Dec 28.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=8184.2500 has NET Dec 30 2019.

[woods170]

Elon said 3 or 4 months to CNN on Sept 28th. It may well be very likely to launch in 2020. However have we got something more definitive? 3 months lower limit seems to suggest it could still be as early Dec 28.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=8184.2500 has NET Dec 30 2019.

Rest assured: DM-2 is firmly in 2020. It stands a snowball's chance in hell of being launched in 2019.

[vaporcobra]

Personally, the much more interesting Elon comment from the CNN interview was his estimate that the IFA Crew Dragon (C203) and Demo-2 Crew Dragon (C204) will be shipped to Florida as early as October and November, respectively.

C201 is probably not the best point of comparison as the first ever Crew Dragon hardware to prepare for flight but that capsule arrived in July 2018, almost 9 months before NASA eventually gave the go-ahead.

[yg1968]

Bridenstine replies to Musk:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/30/tech/elon-musk-spacex-crew-dragon-nasa-timeline/index.html

https://twitter.com/jackiewattles/status/1178800290599972865

[yg1968]

Elon said 3 or 4 months to CNN on Sept 28th. It may well be very likely to launch in 2020. However have we got something more definitive? 3 months lower limit seems to suggest it could still be as early Dec 28.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=8184.2500 has NET Dec 30 2019.

Rest assured: DM-2 is firmly in 2020. It stands a snowball's chance in hell of being launched in 2019.

That's exactly what Bridenstine said:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/10/elon-musk-jim-bridenstine-starship-commercial-crew/599218/

[Rondaz]

NASA may ask SpaceX to extend duration of Crew Dragon test flight.

October 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/10/07/nasa-may-ask-spacex-to-extend-duration-of-crew-dragon-test-flight/

[NX-0]

Would a mission extension include an increase in the size of the crew?

[ZachS09]

Would a mission extension include an increase in the size of the crew?

When Starliner CFT was extended, the crew size remained the same with three astronauts. I can't see a third crew member aboard Crew Dragon for the DM-2 mission.

[woods170]

Would a mission extension include an increase in the size of the crew?

Negative. The only thing that would change is the launchdate (shift to right) to accomodate a longer crew training regime.
Should NASA formally request SpaceX to turn DM-2 into a long duration mission, than it will be launched almost certainly after Boeing's CFT has launched.
Currently Behnken and Hurley lack the necessary training for a longer duration mission.

[Alexphysics]

Would a mission extension include an increase in the size of the crew?

Negative. The only thing that would change is the launchdate (shift to right) to accomodate a longer crew training regime.
Should NASA formally request SpaceX to turn DM-2 into a long duration mission than it will be launched almost certainly after Boeing's CFT has launched.
Currently Behnken and Hurley lack the necessary training for a longer duration mission.

Ok so then DM-2 will fly by the end of the summer of 2020 because at this rate CFT won't fly until spring 2020...

[woods170]

Would a mission extension include an increase in the size of the crew?

Negative. The only thing that would change is the launchdate (shift to right) to accomodate a longer crew training regime.
Should NASA formally request SpaceX to turn DM-2 into a long duration mission than it will be launched almost certainly after Boeing's CFT has launched.
Currently Behnken and Hurley lack the necessary training for a longer duration mission.

Ok so then DM-2 will fly by the end of the summer of 2020 because at this rate CFT won't fly until spring 2020...

Correct. BUT only if and when DM-2 is turned into a longer duration mission. Right now that is NOT a given.

Benhken and Hurley will require several months of additional training. That is why (if DM-2 is turned into a longer duration mission) the launch date will shift dramatically to the right.

CFT doesn't suffer from that same effect because that one was turned into a longer duration mission six months ago. Accomodating the required longer crew training period is much less of a problem because of that.

[gongora]

~10 weeks says Elon

NET 10 weeks on current SpaceX readiness schedule, which doesn't mean it will fly in 10 weeks.

[Olaf]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/10/spacex-targeting-abort-test-late-this-year-crew-flight-soon-after/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_source=twitter&utm_social-type=owned&utm_medium=social

If this is the case, the ball would move to NASA's court to review all of the company's paperwork and procedures and sign off on a crewed mission. One source said it was possible this could be done in time to support a flight early in the spring of 2020

If I read this correct, DM-2 will be not earlier then end of March.

If this is correct, is the time until March sufficent for the additional training?

[Norm38]

This may be a dumb question, but why does a longer duration mission require more crew training?  What would they be doing on a longer mission they're not doing on a shorter mission, besides float around?

The crew are SpaceX, not NASA.  They're not training for spacewalks.  Tending some experiment?  Train them on orbit, they'll have time.

[gongora]

This may be a dumb question, but why does a longer duration mission require more crew training?  What would they be doing on a longer mission they're not doing on a shorter mission, besides float around?

The crew are SpaceX, not NASA.  They're not training for spacewalks.  Tending some experiment?  Train them on orbit, they'll have time.

The crew are NASA.  Training for spacewalks is exactly the sort of thing they could do in extended training.

[Yellowstone10]

The crew are SpaceX, not NASA.

That's not quite right. SpaceX is not flying any of their own personnel on DM-2. Behnken and Hurley are both NASA astronauts. You may be thinking of Christopher Ferguson, on Boe-CFT, who is in fact a Boeing astronaut. Boeing elected to fly an in-house test pilot on their crewed test, while SpaceX did not; I'm guessing that's down to corporate cultural differences, given that Boeing's main business is in crewed aircraft while SpaceX flies uncrewed/automated spacecraft.

I'm definitely curious what Ferguson will do on orbit for six months, though!