Quote from: vaporcobra on 07/04/2019 08:06 amQuote from: Steven Pietrobon on 07/04/2019 07:22 amIf I squint really hard, the number looks closer to 47 than to 56!Yeah, it's definitely not a B105X booster but the second digit could be a 7 or 9. Does look like the transporter turned around and was backing into the 39A hangar, which is the correct orientation. If I had to guess, SpaceX is just making use of the available space to refurb or store a booster while 39A is inactive, on top of whichever booster was in the hangar as of late June.I thought they planned on using B1056 from the start.
Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 07/04/2019 07:22 amIf I squint really hard, the number looks closer to 47 than to 56!Yeah, it's definitely not a B105X booster but the second digit could be a 7 or 9. Does look like the transporter turned around and was backing into the 39A hangar, which is the correct orientation. If I had to guess, SpaceX is just making use of the available space to refurb or store a booster while 39A is inactive, on top of whichever booster was in the hangar as of late June.
If I squint really hard, the number looks closer to 47 than to 56!
Which EMU unit will be up, which one will be down?
Thanks catdir, but you don't need a Twitter account to click on and see things from Twitter if the account is public, only to post or respond or follow people. I manually followed lots of Twitter accounts using bookmarks like for a website for a couple of years before I ever actually made an account on Twitter. Used to check Elon for example and read all the comments too. No account needed. For this NasaSpaceFlight.com site too, if all you do is look and read. Lurked on here for years before making an account. To enter Twitter just click on the body of any tweet shown (NOT the video or picture part or link parts) and it opens the twitter page in a new tab or window. Then the video interface is the same as your used to. One extra click. If your internet connection is slow you may have to wait a second or two. Sorry for the non-update post.
Quote from: ddspaceman on 07/09/2019 05:04 amThanks catdir, but you don't need a Twitter account to click on and see things from Twitter if the account is public, only to post or respond or follow people. I manually followed lots of Twitter accounts using bookmarks like for a website for a couple of years before I ever actually made an account on Twitter. Used to check Elon for example and read all the comments too. No account needed. For this NasaSpaceFlight.com site too, if all you do is look and read. Lurked on here for years before making an account. To enter Twitter just click on the body of any tweet shown (NOT the video or picture part or link parts) and it opens the twitter page in a new tab or window. Then the video interface is the same as your used to. One extra click. If your internet connection is slow you may have to wait a second or two. Sorry for the non-update post.Not totally true: Twitter often blocks pages when I try to access them, especially from my phone, with a text saying "you are rate limited". It is a twitter block, not a block from my service provider-
SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon to Deliver New Space Station Docking Adapter for Commercial Crew SpacecraftAuthor Danielle SempsrottPosted on July 12, 2019Categories Commercial Crew Program, Commercial Resupply, International Space Station, KennedyA new International Docking Adapter, called IDA-3, is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station this July aboard SpaceX’s 18th cargo resupply mission to the microgravity laboratory. When installed on the space station, the one-of-a-kind outpost will have two common ports enabling expanded opportunities for visiting vehicles, including new spacecraft designed to carry humans for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.The docking adapters are the physical connections spacecraft like Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and future, yet-to-be designed international spacecraft will use to autonomously attach to station. The adapters are important because the plans are readily available for spacecraft builders and standardize a host of docking requirements. Currently stowed in the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft, the IDA-3 was assembled at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and comprises of a number of sensors that spacecraft will communicate with and connect to through use of onboard computers and navigation systems. Docking requires no crew assistance and can be completed much more quickly than the berthing process often used for cargo spacecraft today, which may involve astronauts aboard the station manually capturing spacecraft using a robotic arm then maneuvering the craft to attach to a common hatch mechanism.IDA-3 is one of the primary payloads on the SpaceX resupply mission and is identical to the International Docking Adapter-2, IDA-2, installed in the summer of 2016. IDA-2 was used by SpaceX during the company’s first uncrewed flight test, called Demo-1, for commercial crew. Both docking adapters were built by Boeing.Once at the space station, flight controllers will use the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to remove the IDA-3 from Dragon’s trunk and place it over a Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA-3) on the station’s Harmony module, or Node 2. Later this summer, two Expedition 60 crew members will perform a spacewalk to permanently install the IDA-3 to PMA-3.The SpaceX CRS-18 mission is scheduled to launch at 7:35 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 21, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. After its arrival, the Dragon cargo spacecraft will remain at the space station for about a month.
The International Docking Adapter 3, a critical component for future crewed missions to the International Space Station, is carefully packed away in the unpressurized “trunk” section of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at the SpaceX facility on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 19. Photo credit: NASA/Isaac Watson
The International Docking Adapter 3, a critical component for future crewed missions to the International Space Station, is carefully packed away in the unpressurized “trunk” section of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at the SpaceX facility on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 19. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
SpX-18 is sporting a different paint scheme. The grey paint on the second stage is being trialled to presumably lower boiloff and heating of the propellants. The first stage also looks different to me, having a more silver colour.https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48554.msg1966920#msg1966920
Other way 'round, I think: a darker paint would absorb slightly more heat, preventing fuel from getting too cold during long coast. That is, goal is keeping things warm, not keeping them cold.
