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Ugh. Brindenstein is giving themselves an out to stretch out the first astronaut launch. "Well, we might decide to make the mission longer duration, which would, of course, push out the date.". Before he said that, Elon gave the collective answer to the first crew launch which was: rocket will be ready in Q1, hopefully astronauts will be Q2.
Catch the Crew Dragon in a huge net like they are currently trying with the fairings? Interesting, but I’m skeptical that would ever come to pass. Would need steerable chutes, so a completely different design (capsule weighs so much more than a fairing) that would require a lot of testing to be human-rated. Would NASA be interested in paying for that? I don’t think it would be worth it for SpaceX to pay for that.
Crew Dragon gives SpaceX valuable experience in keeping humans alive while in orbit, but in the long run it’s a footnote in SpaceX history. Starship is the future.
Heh. Brindenstein was asked why NASA hasn't actually decided, at this late stage, why they haven't decided whether or not to do a long or short first astronaut mission. He didn't answer that part of the question.
Even as both parachutes are made by same manufacturer, both design are different and are proprietary ip of each company; SpX mark II /= Boeing mark II.
My takeaway was that they were considering what other activities they might do if they had a larger US team at ISS for a longer time, then mentioned only one astronaut otherwise doing an EVA. Made me think it was more project based than anything else.
Yes, but it begs the question why they haven't decided yet. This is the first time we've heard that NASA might change and thus delay the first crewed mission. You can charitably state that they were waiting to see the results of this demo mission, but Brindenstein did not mention that as a reason. He gave NO reason for why they haven't decided on the next step when asked.
Nikxice
Active Member
To borrow Elon's term, that "fireball" (it wasn't really an explosion) was dramatic. Was I the only one to have a Challenger flashback? If they'd only had an abort system.
My takeaway from Bridenstine's statement was perhaps a subtle message to Boeing.......From this point forward NASA is going to insure they have crew access to the ISS with a redundant and capable partner...... So I suppose it could be a signal that they best prepare for an uncrewed Starliner redo.
I'm trying to unpack Elon's "collective" statement concerning DM-2 readiness in Q1, yet suggesting a Q2 launch. Credit to Elon for being prepared. His eagerness to move forward might have fumbled today, so he consulted with at least the two NASA officials on stage beforehand in the green room. One of them, Kathy Lueders said on Friday, “The vehicle will be all ready at the end of February. We’re kind of shooting for early March, right now, from a planning perspective. That would be the earliest.” Since we've now witnessed an apparent successful IFA test, I would think she would still stand by her Friday remarks. My guess is that Kathy and Elon are on the same page. That leaves me to believe that this morning Bridenstine worked to steer their answer toward Q2, the most conservative response, while still leaving open the opportunity to set a hard launch date.
Elon retweeted a SpaceX video clip of the Falcon separation on his twitter just a number of minutes ago. Nice footage we didn’t get to see before.
https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk
https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk
If you missed the press conference I found this. Has the launch and abort as well. Conference starts at 1:46:08.
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From the twitter video the 1st and second stages appeared to be surviving and looked quite stable. The RSD looked to me to be the result of an automated self destruct event.
Thoughts from others?
Thoughts from others?
Question. Does NASA plan to have a mix of manned and unmanned Dragon ISS delivery flights after the first successful crewed mission? I know SpaceX won't do this for political reasons, but when cargo deliveries start being handled by Dragon 2, I wish they would land those retropulsively as designed. Let NASA fish their astronauts out of the sea for a few years, while the space mice and other equipment rotating out of ISS get a nice cushy ground landing at KSC. Just like F9 boosters for the past several years.
