Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Astronaut Launch Take Two

SpaceX will try again today to launch two NASA astronauts to the Space Station. Liftoff is set for 3:22 pm Eastern and all the same channels and sources from NASA TV to YouTube will carry it live. Weather is iffy again, however, with T'storms predicted for all afternoon. If they can't go today, there is another chance tomorrow. Launch opportunities are set by the path of the Space Station, with only a narrow variance of inclination allowed in its ground track to be able to catch it. It has to pass almost directly over the launch site.

Thanks! I appreciate your posts on this stuff.

Thanks for the heads up, we will try and catch it

I’ll be in the yard watching

It shall be done.

Rocky, question for ya. After the capsule drops these guys off, is the capsule bringing other people back? If not, does the capsule stay there for a while, or do they bring it home right away? When it does come back, how and where do they land it? Still a "splash down"?

Thanks for the info.

I believe that the Russians will come down in their own capsule.

I hope that things go well and today they get off the ground.

For this launch, the two guys will remain at the Station for a while (they have not yet figured out how long) and then they will come back down in it, to a splashdown in the ocean. Assuming this all goes well, the capsule and system will be declared operational and as many as seven astronauts can ride it at a time. If launches are frequent enough, that could mean that some go up and others use that capsule to come back down - as they do now with the Russian capsules.

The routine now is that there are enough Soyuz capsules docked at the Station to serve as "lifeboats" in case the crew has to abandon ship due to emergency. Soyuz can carry three, so there are always a multiple of three astro/cosmo-nauts there (always at least one Russian and one American), and they obviously then have one or two Soyuz craft. When it's time for a crew change, three come up and three go down, using the oldest Soyuz docked there for the re-entry.

That pattern will likely remain with Dragon and also the Boeing craft when it gets operational. There could conceivably be three types of capsule docked there at once - and larger Station crews. Even tourists!

Thanks. That's very interesting.

NASA TV is now live, mostly the same yak-yak as the other day for now. Weather still iffy but a bit better than Wednesday's. Astronauts are suiting up. Vehicle looks good.

Hey Rocky, what's up with the suit configuration? Are they the new generation of suits or are they specifically designed just for riding up in the Dragon capsule?

Disregard. They explained the suits. They are basically the crew sensor and communications interface with the seats and specific to the Dragon.

Completely off the wall thought: since the suits are custom-made for each astronaut, do they get to keep them? My flight helmet was fitted to me and when I left flight status, they told me they didn't want it back. It sits here on my bookshelf as I type this.

Weather update: they are saying a 50/50 shot at it today. When I worked there, we always joked "Cu (cumulus) by noon, boomer at four." It was so usual that it was known as the "civil service T-storm" because we NASA pukes worked 8 to 4, and invariably we'd have to run to our cars in a deluge at quitting time. If you look at the live shot, you can see cumulus clouds forming...

Rocky,

Your thoughts on what Elon Musk has done for space travel? I just find it an amazing story but I am far from really knowing.

If you noticed the "security vehicle" escorting the astronaut cars and heard the helicopter sounds, you might surmise that there are some serious precautions against hostiles. Most of them unseen, but I can vouch that it a multi-tiered system with some very prepared troops.

Ed, Musk and SpaceX literally turned the space program on its ear. Even 10 years ago, the "smart folks" smirked that the things SpaceX proposed were impossible - landing boosters for re-use being at the top of that list. I would love to see them not smirking now.

You confirmed my thoughts.

Musk may be making progress in the space industry...

But his idea of "populating Mars with a million people to save humanity" is out there, to say the least.

The explosion of the space vehicle a day or so ago is the vehicle Musk is developing for his Mars population... Ticket anyone?

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/elon-musk-spacex-mars-announcement/



That's nothing but pure left wing global warming BS.


I know. Ya'll will be pissed off that someone didn't agree with your Golden Boy... But so be it.

As I explained before, the vehicle that exploded is NOT what they plan to fly to Mars. It's a test article not even far enough advanced to even be called a prototype of the Mars vehicle.

As the the humanity in space idea, it cannot be denied that mankind either stays on Earth forever - or we don't. If we do, we are open to extinction just as the dinosaurs. That's all Musk is saying.

I thought Musk was pretty specific about Mars. He sure names it a bunch.

We know how inhospitable our own planetary system is.


Why not go for interstellar travel where you may find a more human friendly environment?