SpaceX F9 / Crew Dragon : Crew-2 : 22 April 2021 - DISCUSSION

[joncz]

Current approach plan

As someone who reads left-to-right, it took me several tries to understand the approach graphic.

It doesn't help that the top one (in the quoted message) goes right-to-left and the bottom left-to-right

[Jansen]

It makes more sense as part of the animated illustration.

[Llian Rhydderch]

Where is the Crew-2 update thread?  It seems to be missing in this section of the forums, and I'd like to just catch the highlights rather than the detailed discussion.

[Overcast]

Where is the Crew-2 update thread?  It seems to be missing in this section of the forums, and I'd like to just catch the highlights rather than the detailed discussion.

It's been pinned so appears at the top of the list, took me a while to find as well

[freddo411]

The the contract between NASA and SX for Dragon2 is for 2.7 billion dollars total.   That included all development, and 6 operational flights.   (I believe this is the second operational flight, 4 more to go).

Questions: 

Has SX received all 2.7 billion already?

Does SX receive a specific payment for each of these six flights?

[Orbiter]

My shot of this mornings launch!

[mandrewa]

The the contract between NASA and SX for Dragon2 is for 2.7 billion dollars total.   That included all development, and 6 operational flights.   (I believe this is the second operational flight, 4 more to go).

Questions: 

Has SX received all 2.7 billion already?

Does SX receive a specific payment for each of these six flights?

SpaceX is paid for milestones achieved during development and for each operational flight as it occurs.  The payment per flight is $220 million.  So SpaceX still has $880 million to go (4 more flights) before it reaches the agreed $2.7 billion.

Or at least that is my understanding.

[ZachS09]

https://twitter.com/zachsellinger/status/1385625731586269186?s=21

This was my shot of the Crew-2 launch, and it was only the third twilight launch I saw. The other two were the Starliner OFT-1 and NROL-101 launches (both on Atlas V).

[Bob Shaw]

The the contract between NASA and SX for Dragon2 is for 2.7 billion dollars total.   That included all development, and 6 operational flights.   (I believe this is the second operational flight, 4 more to go).

Questions: 

Has SX received all 2.7 billion already?

Does SX receive a specific payment for each of these six flights?

SpaceX is paid for milestones achieved during development and for each operational flight as it occurs.  The payment per flight is $220 million.  So SpaceX still has $880 million to go (4 more flights) before it reaches the agreed $2.7 billion.

Or at least that is my understanding.

I think it is a bit more complicated than that.

[otisbow]

Has anybody found the NASA Media Channel coverage of this morning Crew Dragon-2 launch on You Tube. This NASA channel has NO commentary or interviews just LIVE mission coverage.  It is so KOOL to watch space stuff with just mission control announcements.

[mn]

Crew being notified of a possible close conjunction at 17:43 and being asked to don suits for sake of caution.

Is this something that was discovered after launch? Or they knew but elected to launch anyway (knowing they can maneuver around it if required)?

What's the usual process for these things?

[haywoodfloyd]

What safeguards are built-in to the Control Touch Panel to prevent one of the astronauts from accidentally hitting the wrong touchscreen button at the wrong time with an elbow or such. Sort of like they have on StarTrek NG (apparently) where you have to enter a security code before any command will work?
The Apollo capsules had "covered" or "guarded" switches (not all of  them, just the critical ones).

[Andy_Small]

What safeguards are built-in to the Control Touch Panel to prevent one of the astronauts from accidentally hitting the wrong touchscreen button at the wrong time with an elbow or such. Sort of like they have on StarTrek NG (apparently) where you have to enter a security code before any command will work?
The Apollo capsules had "covered" or "guarded" switches (not all of  them, just the critical ones).

I just tested with my iPad and touched the screen with my elbow and it did not engage the screen.

[abaddon]

Crew being notified of a possible close conjunction at 17:43 and being asked to don suits for sake of caution.

Is this something that was discovered after launch? Or they knew but elected to launch anyway (knowing they can maneuver around it if required)?

My impression is it was discovered only moments before the announcement to the crew.  Presumably with such a short projected encounter time, they didn't want to waste any time getting the Crew safely in their suits.

[abaddon]

What safeguards are built-in to the Control Touch Panel to prevent one of the astronauts from accidentally hitting the wrong touchscreen button at the wrong time with an elbow or such. Sort of like they have on StarTrek NG (apparently) where you have to enter a security code before any command will work?
The Apollo capsules had "covered" or "guarded" switches (not all of  them, just the critical ones).

Dragon does have some guarded switches.  I would imagine that "actionable" touch-screen buttons, e.g. for flying the vehicle manually, would have to be engaged with a multi-touch input or something similar.  But I'm just guessing.  Would be interesting to know!

[VulcanCafe]

Decently in depth article on the touch screens and back up manual switches (with covers) from mid 2020 here: https://medium.com/swlh/the-touchscreens-controlling-spacex-dragon-on-its-historic-mission-b0546d26053c

And a link to a SpaceX ISS Docking Simulator made by SpaceX: https://iss-sim.spacex.com/

[Tweedster99]

Can I ask about the bracelets the crew are wearing? They look like hospital bracelets but I’m not sure, the previous crew also wore them? But soyuz crews don’t? Does anyone know why they are worn?

[Semmel]

Crew being notified of a possible close conjunction at 17:43 and being asked to don suits for sake of caution.

Is this something that was discovered after launch? Or they knew but elected to launch anyway (knowing they can maneuver around it if required)?

What's the usual process for these things?

If that was known before launch I am pretty certain they would not have launched on this trajectory or postponed the launch.

[Semmel]

Crew being notified of a possible close conjunction at 17:43 and being asked to don suits for sake of caution.

Are they working on identifying what it was? Its rare to encounter anything this close in the atmosphere. Must have been recent or on a hyperbolic trajectory. Any indication of size, orbital parameters, anything?

[Lee Jay]

I'm watching a replay and, during the lead-up to the launch, the commentators got all excited about a highly magnified view of "the space station".  Here's an enhanced version of that shot.

Ummmm...the station looks a lot like Jupiter to me.