SpaceX Dragon 2 Updates and Discussion - Thread 3

[Slarty1080]

A short description of the Soyuz T10 mission back in the early eighties might be of interest. It lasted less time than it will take you to read this.

The countdown had proceeded normally until T-25 seconds when a small fire started on the pad. A valve was stuck open on the A2 rocket and it started to spread rapidly. At T-20 seconds the emergency LES should have fired to free the Soyuz but it didn’t work. The ground controllers realised that the fire must have cut the wiring that would activate the escape tower.

The fire was now well out of control and there was only one option to save the crew and it was slow and clumsy. It involved two controllers counting down simultaneously in two separate rooms and simultaneously ordering a radio controlled escape and it would take a full ten seconds!

Dyehssyat…dyevyaht…vossyeem…syelum…shehst…pyaht…tvah…odin… a giant fireball engulfed the whole launch site and flaming debris shot in all directions into the night sky. Above the huge billowing smoke cloud the controllers briefly saw a pinprick of light trailing tiny flames before it was lost in the cloudy night sky. The escape system only fired for 5 seconds, but it was enough – just.
 
The orbital module was pulled free by the escape tower and the equipment module was released by explosive bolts. The heat shield was jettisoned and the air pressure system registered low altitude and fired the cap off of the parachutes, but already at less than 1000m the chutes only got 5 seconds worth of air in them before impact.

Despite cushioning by the Soyuz landing rockets it hit the ground very hard. The escape system was designed to be survivable not for comfort. Both Titov and Strekhalov survived but were bruised all over and were too shaken to talk initially. Their flight lasted 20 seconds and they landed 4000m down range. The launch pad was utterly wrecked.

(Race into Space – the soviet space programme by Brian Harvey p311)

[clongton]

... Soyuz T10 ...

That was 34 years ago, back when Pac Man was the most popular video game on the planet.
If your intent was to show that something unforeseen could happen you might as well have cited Charles Lindbergh running out of gas.

Can we please stop beating this dead horse? It's carcass is so badly bloodied that it's hard to tell if it's a horse or a fox.

[Slarty1080]

... Soyuz T10 ...

That was 34 years ago, back when Pac Man was the most popular video game on the planet.
If your intent was to show that something unforeseen could happen you might as well have cited Charles Lindbergh running out of gas.

Can we please stop beating this dead horse? It's carcass is so badly bloodied that it's hard to tell if it's a horse or a fox.

Not sure I was beating anything? Just saw a lot of posting about LES and thought it might be of interest...

[grythumn]

Are you saying it's like those "close door" buttons in a lift (elevator) - ie it doesn't actually do anything, apart from providing the occupant with something to do, so they feel involved?

They usually don't do anything in normal operating mode. Close door generally does work as advertised in fire service mode[0], attendant mode, and independent mode.

There's a metaphor here somewhere about experts needing to have overrides in certain situations...

-R C
[0] http://elevation.wikia.com/wiki/Fire_service_mode_(EFS)
http://elevation.wikia.com/wiki/Attendant_service_(AS)
http://elevation.wikia.com/wiki/Independent_service_(ISC)

PS: Don't know why I'm so surprised that there is an elevator wiki...

[Rondaz]

Astronauts Tour SpaceX Rocket Facility in Texas

Marie Lewis Posted on November 19, 2018

NASA astronauts who will be the first humans to fly aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft recently toured the company’s Rocket Development Test Facility in McGregor, Texas.

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are set to crew SpaceX’s Demo-2 flight test in June 2019, which will be the first flight of Crew Dragon with people onboard.

NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins will crew SpaceX’s first regular mission to the International Space Station, following Demo-2 and NASA’s certification of SpaceX commercial crew systems.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with SpaceX and with Boeing to return human spaceflight launch capability from the United States.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/11/19/astronauts-tour-spacex-rocket-facility-in-texas/

[philw1776]

Word on Twitter is that NASA has ordered a full safety audit of SpaceX & Boeing Commercial Crew.  Employees to be interviewed in detail. 
Here it is...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/11/20/nasa-launch-safety-review-spacex-boeing-after-video-elon-musk-smoking-pot-rankled-agency-leaders/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.48cea0b083e1

NASA has ordered a safety review of the two companies it has hired to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, a months-long assessment that would involve hundreds of interviews designed to evaluate the culture of the workplaces, the agency said.

"NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs declined to comment on what prompted the review. But in a statement, he said it would “ensure the companies are meeting NASA’s requirements for workplace safety, including the adherence to a drug-free environment.”

Sounds like technicals issues aren't slowing down the program so it's on to "cultural issues" under the guise of safety.

[AnalogMan]

We have a dedicated thread to discuss the safety review:

NASA to launch safety review of SpaceX and Boeing after video of Elon Musk...
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=46837.0

[IntoTheVoid]

https://twitter.com/AstroHardin/status/1064849651466162177

I presume that this is simply late reporting of last weeks activity given the identical wording?

SpaceX rehearses helicopter landing and patient loading on its recovery ship, GO Searcher, practicing how the aircraft will pick up astronauts and fly them to a nearby hospital in the unlikely event of a medical emergency. The company outfitted the ship with a medical treatment facility and a helipad in the center of the vessel. When astronauts splash down into the ocean after their journey to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, NASA and SpaceX doctors will work together to evaluate the crew onboard the vessel. Should astronauts need to be airlifted to a hospital, the helicopter also will pick up paramedics and doctors from the ship who will care for the astronauts in-flight.

Photo credit: SpaceX

[woods170]

I presume that this is simply late reporting of last weeks activity given the identical wording?

Yes it is. Very late reporting in fact.

[Rondaz]

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Target Test Flight Dates

Marie Lewis Posted on November 21, 2018

The next generation of American spacecraft and rockets that will launch astronauts to the International Space Station are nearing the final stages of development and evaluation. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program will return human spaceflight launches to U.S. soil, providing safe, reliable and cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit on systems that meet our safety and mission requirements.

To meet NASA’s requirements, the commercial providers must demonstrate that their systems are ready to begin regular flights to the space station. Two of those demonstrations are uncrewed flight tests, known as Orbital Flight Test for Boeing, and Demo-1 for SpaceX. After the uncrewed flight tests, both companies will carry out spacecraft abort tests to demonstrate their crew escape capability during an actual on-pad, or ascent emergency. The final test flights for each company will be crew flight tests to the space station prior to being certified by NASA for crew rotation missions. The following target dates reflect the current schedule as of Tuesday, Nov. 20.

Test Flight Planning Dates:
Boeing Orbital Flight Test (uncrewed): March 2019
Boeing Pad Abort Test: Between OFT and CFT
Boeing Crew Flight Test (crewed): August 2019
SpaceX Demo-1 (uncrewed): January 7, 2019
SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test: Between Demo-1 and Demo-2
SpaceX Demo-2 (crewed): June 2019

SpaceX also completed a pad abort test in 2015. Following the test flights, NASA will review the performance data and resolve issues as necessary to certify the systems for operational missions.  Boeing, SpaceX and the Commercial Crew Program are actively working to be ready for the operational missions; however, as with all human spaceflight development, learning from each test and adjusting as necessary to reduce risk to the crew may override planning dates.

Anticipated Readiness Dates for Operational Missions:
First operational mission: August 2019
Second operational mission: December 2019

https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/11/21/nasas-commercial-crew-program-target-test-flight-dates-5/

[Slarty1080]

"The final test flights for each company will be crew flight tests to the space station prior to being certified by NASA for crew rotation missions." What a waste of money. Fly the crew to outside the ISS so that NASA can tick a box. Send them home then repeat and allow them to board the station. Lets hope they don't introduce another step - dock to the ISS without going in tick another box send them home then try again.

[envy887]

"The final test flights for each company will be crew flight tests to the space station prior to being certified by NASA for crew rotation missions." What a waste of money. Fly the crew to outside the ISS so that NASA can tick a box. Send them home then repeat and allow them to board the station. Lets hope they don't introduce another step - dock to the ISS without going in tick another box send them home then try again.

The crewed test flights will dock to the station and stay there for a while, as also bring some cargo up and down. They aren't being wasted. Boeing's crewed test flight is likely going to be converted to a 6 month operational mission.

Even the uncrewed test flights will dock with the station and be used for cargo up and down.

[Joffan]

"The final test flights for each company will be crew flight tests to the space station prior to being certified by NASA for crew rotation missions." What a waste of money. Fly the crew to outside the ISS so that NASA can tick a box. Send them home then repeat and allow them to board the station. Lets hope they don't introduce another step - dock to the ISS without going in tick another box send them home then try again.

I'm almost certain that the crew on these demo missions will indeed join the ISS crew for the duration of their stay. It's not like the Shuttle-to-Mir close approach mission (STS-63). It's just that they won't be a "rotation" in the sense of staying on while the existing crew leave.

[Nydoc]

FAA.GOV
Draft Environmental Assessment for Issuing SpaceX a Launch License for an In-flight Dragon Abort Test, Kennedy Space Center, Brevard County, Florida

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/environmental/nepa_docs/review/launch/media/Draft_EA_for_SpaceX_In-flight_Dragon_Abort_508.pdf

[gongora]

Haven't see this posted yet.

If you read the comments you might notice that the Reddit poster saw it on NSF    I'm sure it's also been posted on Reddit before since the video was from the end of August.

Recent NSF post: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36966.msg1882364#msg1882364
older NSF post of video: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35717.1280

[kevinof]

Thanks. I removed it as it would probably create a whole swam of posts all saying the same thing. 

Haven't see this posted yet.

If you read the comments you might notice that the Reddit poster saw it on NSF    I'm sure it's also been posted on Reddit before since the video was from the end of August.

Recent NSF post: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36966.msg1882364#msg1882364
older NSF post of video: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35717.1280

[jacqmans]

NASA astronauts who will be the first humans to fly aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft recently toured the company's Rocket Development Test Facility in McGregor, Texas, on Oct. 16, 2018.

 Photo credit: SpaceX

[jacqmans]

[jacqmans]

[Comga]

In these photos, the astronauts are in sharp focus while the hardware is out of focus.
Just saying......