Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) SpaceX and Boeing Developments

[Nikxice]

That photo serves to confirm who's leading the commercial race for best looking modern space suit. Although for balance, it does appear they could use some weight in their left hands. For potential alien encounters, might suggest a couple of color coordinated weapons from Boring.

 

[dhanson865]

In a CNN interview last night, the reporter brought up the Bridenstine statement quoting “Commercial crew is years behind schedule.”

Elon’s tongue-firmly-in-cheek response: “Did he say Commerical Crew or SLS?”

see the linked video in this post https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/davt2l/cnn_interview_elon_musk_starship_could_take/

 

[ecarfan]

see the linked video in this post [CNN Interview] Elon Musk: Starship could take people to orbit within a year : spacex

Thanks, that is the video I was referring to.

That reporter seemed somewhat awestruck to be talking to Elon, but she was clearly prepared to ask him about what Bridenstine said; it appeared she had it on her phone screen and read it out loud, verbatim. Elon handled it very well.

 

[Routybouty]

Geeze, Elon poking the bear with that response ha!

 

[e-FTW]

Geeze, Elon poking the bear with that response ha!

Only fair! Happy he eventually did it. Although not many would know what the SLS acronym stands for outside of us space geeks. As evidenced by the CNN Business interviewer reaction (which was not surprising, as they are not focused on space).

 

[ecarfan]

 

[Grendal]

Bridenstine will visit SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne and there will be a video from Bridenstine's twitter account. The details are here:
NASA Administrator to Visit SpaceX Headquarters

 

[Nikxice]

This Thursday I'd expect Bridenstine to tone down the rhetoric and play nice with Elon and Gwynne. There's nothing to be gained by him projecting more of his SLS frustration onto SpaceX. I expect questions will be asked about NASA turning DM-2 into a long duration mission. A NASA official raised this possibility last week. Apparently this could help to ensure there's overlap in keeping U.S. astronauts onboard the ISS. Most regulars here are probably aware of the shift of spacecraft that was created with the test stand loss of the DM-1 capsule. The original DM-2 capsule is now being prepped for the in-flight abort. That DM-2 capsule was only designed for a short duration mission. The first operational capsule (NASA is calling the mission Crew Dragon-1) has moved to DM-2, the benefit being this capsule is designed for a long duration mission of up to 210 days. So SpaceX could be working on a flight plan similar to Boeing's first crewed Starliner. A decision to extend could certainly impact the DM-2 launch date.

 

[ecarfan]

@Nikxice nice analysis, thanks. Here’s the latest Elon tweet about SpaceX readiness for DM-2 (I think?) in response to Eric Berger’s very interesting news...

 

[Bobfitz1]

@Nikxice nice analysis, thanks. Here’s the latest Elon tweet about SpaceX readiness for DM-2 (I think?) in response to Eric Berger’s very interesting news...

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Does anyone know if the Soyez parachute system would pass NASA's safety requirements for Commercial Crew?
If not, then NASA would be delaying CC and using add'l Soyez missions that may not be any safer than what SpaceX or Boeing have demonstrated. I have the impression (maybe incorrect) that NASA is setting their safety bar higher than it has ever been for previous manned capsules.

 

[Bipo]

Does anyone know if the Soyez parachute system would pass NASA's safety requirements for Commercial Crew?

Since Soyuz has only one parachute and its pre-landing brake relies on rockets... I guess the answer is no.

Interesting reflexion btw

 

[Grendal]

Does anyone know if the Soyez parachute system would pass NASA's safety requirements for Commercial Crew?
If not, then NASA would be delaying CC and using add'l Soyez missions that may not be any safer than what SpaceX or Boeing have demonstrated. I have the impression (maybe incorrect) that NASA is setting their safety bar higher than it has ever been for previous manned capsules.

No question about it that they have. It's basically absurd considering the real world situation that Russia is still sending our astronauts up. Soyuz does have a ridiculously long history with little issues. Soyuz probably wouldn't come close to passing most of NASA's CC safety expectations.

 

[Nikxice]

Interesting points concerning the risks associated with a Soyuz return. RussianSpaceWeb.com is a good source that details everything Soyuz.
Here is how Soyuz returns to Earth
Reading the entire article on a typical Soyuz return I was struck by how complex their system appears. If this was a new vehicle being proposed to Elon he'd likely demand it get undesigned in a hurry.

It turns out that Soyuz actually has a backup parachute, but it's only half the size of the main. Using the main chute combined with the last second firing of braking solid rocket motors, the Soyuz descent rate slows down to less than 2 meters per second. The backup chute/braking rocket combination comes in pretty hot, about 10 meters per second. That's still considered survivable, no doubt helped by the design of the bottom of the capsule which acts as a large shock absorber.
Agree with others here, if the Soyuz was a newly designed spacecraft NASA would probably shred it for safety concerns. Seems likely it has been accepted by NASA based primarily on its legacy. No deaths in 40 plus years, plus a desperate need to hitch rides to the ISS. There also might be some of that original Detente thing at work here, left over from the former Soviet Union and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. A benefit for the Russian space program has been their exclusion from many U.S. economic sanctions.

 

[Grendal]

How CC is going article:
Boeing, SpaceX press towards commercial crew test flights this year - SpaceNews.com

 

[Grendal]

Here is a video of the CC Elon-Bridenstine conference:

 

[Grendal]

Big news. SpaceX came up with a new innovative and better parachute design that they are sharing with Boeing. Hopefully, first quarter of next year for crew launch.

 

[miimura]

Big news. SpaceX came up with a new innovative and better parachute design that they are sharing with Boeing. Hopefully, first quarter of next year for crew launch.

Elon also mentioned that they changed the material for the parachute cords from Nylon to Zylon. Had to look that one up.
Zylon - Wikipedia

 

[Grendal]

An article about the meeting:
Elon Musk and NASA chief get on same page, vow to complete Crew Dragon

 

[ecarfan]

Good article by Berger as usual. Quote: “I was surprised when the administrator splashed cold water on Musk's big Starship reveal event last month and appeared to attack SpaceX. Although people close to Bridenstine insisted this was not a jab at the company, some SpaceX employees (justifiably) felt targeted by a tweet from Bridenstine, who is rarely critical on Twitter.”

It was definitely an angry outburst by Bridenstine, there is no other way to interpret it in my opinion (Maybe he’s been taking Twitter lessons from his boss, not a good idea). I think the idea that SpaceX was siphoning off Crew Dragon resources to work on Starship was highly unlikely.

So now Elon has to suck up to Bridenstine to calm him down. Quote:
———————————————————————————
Musk, "Crew Dragon is absolutely the overwhelming priority."... Musk said delays to the commercial crew program were not due to NASA's bureaucracy or slow review processes, as is often suggested by fans of SpaceX. "It is very important for everyone to go through the data and cover everything possible," he said.
———————————————————————————
I don’t believe that is what Elon really thinks.

 

[Grendal]

The Everyday Astronaut interviews Jim Bridenstine:

Mostly the talking points... but still fun to see him talk to the NASA Administrator.