SpaceX F9 / Crew Dragon : Crew-1 - LAUNCH - RNDZ - DOCKING: Nov. 15/17 - UPDATES

[John44]

SpaceX Crew-1 - Post-Docking News Conference
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=103

[FutureSpaceTourist]

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Some photos from NASA

[yg1968]

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



Part 4:

[vaporcobra]

A photo of Crew Dragon docked at the ISS from Sergey Kud-Sverchkov.

The @Space_Station got reinforcements! In the morning today the #CrewDragon docked to the ISS adding 4 crew members: @Astro_illini , @AstroVicGlover , @Astro_Soichi and Shannon Walker. Of course, I wanted to see the docking, but it is important to keep regular hours before the EVA.

https://twitter.com/KudSverchkov/status/1328756438785724416

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasa/status/1329431229494595590

TODAY: Just a few days after the arrival of NASA's @SpaceX Crew-1 mission, @Astro_Illini, @AstroVicGlover, Shannon Walker, Kate Rubins & @Astro_Soichi participate in a live Q&A from the @Space_Station. Tune in starting at 9:55am ET: nasa.gov/live

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1329442341011288067

Victor Glover talking about the Falcon 9 launch experience. Says the G forces wasn't the highest he's ever experienced but was for the longest period of time.

Kate nodding, as that's the same with all vehicles. Astros say most Gs come late into powered flight.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1329444970932162562

Per @Astro_Soichi, the main difference between Shuttle and Soyuz is being onboard and feeling/hearing the vehicle is being prop loaded (the other two are fueled ahead of ingress). Also, Draco RCS firing next to his head.

"Feels like you're actually inside a Dragon". 🐲+🧑‍🚀

[Chris Bergin]

A placeholder.

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1329449483713859591



Most posts will go here:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=50525.msg2155976#msg2155976

[FutureSpaceTourist]

[otter]

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1329465952296046592

[FST Edit: added photo]

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1329494213680050178

JAXA astronaut @Astro_Soichi, who previously flew on NASA's Space Shuttle and on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, says SpaceX's "Dragon is the best" spacecraft he's launched on:

"It's fun to ride and two days in Dragon [created] really remarkable memories"

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1329570106486099968

View from the @space_station of Dragon‘s approach

[yg1968]

NASA's archived video of the crew interview:

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Photo released by NASA with Resilience in the background

https://flic.kr/p/2k8gkX9

[Targeteer]

https://www.ang.af.mil/Media/Article-Display/Article/2422313/cargo-aircraft-turned-rescue-platform-for-astronaut-recovery/fbclid/IwAR3hchkeV14yq-BnzxDIUR3-hd6V49l6rT9S77VW2XmTKdz3Gr-CkjgqkvA/

Cargo aircraft turned rescue platform for astronaut recovery


JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii – It’s Nov. 13, two days before a historic rocket launch, and a helicopter pilot approaches a cargo jet on a clear morning at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. He is carrying a black box and surrounded by movement; truckloads of rescue crafts and personnel are loaded onto the airframe, prepping the jet to save astronauts in the event of a premature water landing.

U.S. Space Force Capt. Richard Burges, an HH-60 Pave Hawk pilot, steps onto the C-17 Globemaster III, cracks open the case and connects an apparatus to a side-panel near the door. This roll-on equipment adds the search and rescue capability to the C-17, which was not intended for the aircraft’s original design.

The Lightweight Airborne Radio System (LARS) is a communication device built into modern rescue airframes such as the HH-60. In the same way that rescue Airmen use the radio to locate and recover personnel in denied territory, the externally set up LARS is now ready to help the Hawaii Air National Guard aircrew search for and rescue a downed capsule in the event of an emergency anywhere in the Pacific.

This event is the first of its kind, with NASA sending a full crew of astronauts to the International Space Station on a SpaceX designed vehicle as part of the Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

“We’re here to represent the Human Space Flight Support Detachment and to integrate with the Hawaii Air National Guard,” said Burges, Task Force 45 Support Operations Center training officer and military liaison. “When NASA stands up a human space flight program, they request support from the DOD (Department of Defense). They’ve been doing it since we first started in the 1950s. They request support to help recover and rescue astronauts if they need any help. From Gemini, Apollo, all the way to now, and when we’re going back to the moon, it’s the DOD who’s going to rescue the astronauts.”

As dozens of Airmen secure an assortment of rescue vehicles to the jet, another aircrew from the same unit, the 204th Airlift Squadron, is outfitted with the same setup in Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina. In the event of an unplanned splashdown within the Atlantic half-of-the-globe, the Charleston team is prepared to recover the crew.

“If you would have told me five or six years ago that this is something we would be supporting, I would’ve been really surprised,” said Lt. Col. Britton Komine, 204th AS aircraft commander for the South Carolina rescue crew. “We’re the first to operate this way, as a rescue platform. It’s just a highly unique skill set that we’re happy to bring to the mission.”

Should things go according to plan, as they did throughout the manned test mission conducted from May to August this year, the crew of four astronauts will complete their mission in orbit and be recovered by the commercial organizations, leaving the airlift Airmen on standby status throughout the atmospheric departure and reentry.

Like the aviation field, space travel requires an array of redundant systems and contingency plans, which is why rescue personnel prepare as though they will be needed during each space flight.

“The first step in any of those contingency rescue scenarios is for us to find the capsule,” said Burges. “There’s telemetry systems inside each capsule that goes from the satellites to NASA to our operations center and back to us. A lot of things could fail in that chain of reporting, so if for some reason they don’t receive an acceptable fidelity of coordinates, we have an onboard system that helps us locate the capsule.”

Unlike other C-17s in the Air Force fleet, LARS-enabled jets can communicate with a survival beacon independently when it reaches radio range. This feature, along with enhanced rescue training, is paramount, particularly when spotting a small, white capsule in a sea of waves and splashing whitecaps.

Whenever the rescue team is called on, Burgess or another radio operator will embed with the HIANG aircrew to offer a specialized set of rescue techniques to maximize the probability of finding an object in the ocean.

“Working with the HIANG has been fantastic,” said Burgess. “They’re fearless and some of the most professional aviators I’ve encountered. I have no doubt that they are more than capable because they are putting in a ton of work, asking smart questions and incredibly passionate about making this mission as successful as can be.”

Upon locating the drifting capsule, the Globemaster III would airdrop a set of rescue craft followed by a medically trained pararescue team, such as members from the 38th and 58th Rescue Squadron staged in Hawaii and South Carolina. The renowned jump team is known in the rescue community as the Guardian Angels.

Contingency rescues have not been necessary since the CCP started human space travel this year, but each component of the rescue operation has been exercised the past several years.

While members of the 204th AS continue to provide alternate extraction measures for passengers of the CCP, the squadron will assume the same responsibilities for further NASA endeavors alongside the 144th Airlift Squadron, based out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

When NASA’s Artemis Program begins astronaut launches later this decade, recovery operations will be spearheaded by DOD agencies, with the U.S. Navy staged for the primary retrieval and Air National Guard squadrons prepared for alternate landing scenarios.

This contingency operation was made possible by the Air Force’s Total Force Initiative, in which active-duty personnel, such as Airmen from the 15th Wing and Air Mobility Command, continue to work alongside Air National Guard service members to maximize mission effectiveness.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/astrovicglover/status/1331317532796489728

My first video from space! Looking at the Earth through the window of Dragon Resilience. The scale of detail and sensory inputs made this a breathtaking perspective!

[Orbiter]

Mosaic I took of B1061 sitting in Port Canaveral after watching Starlink Mission 15 launch ft. Go Navigator!

[vaporcobra]

There has been a rather bizarre lack of orbital photos compared to basically all past Dragon missions, particularly from NASA, but here are a few more quietly strewn about SpaceX.com.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/astro_illini/status/1331621736664551424

Sorry for the gap in tweets! I’ve been getting adjusted to life on @Space_Station, including setting up my new crew quarters in the cockpit of Dragon Resilience.