boatgeek
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SpaceX brought the first Dragon capsule to the ISS through town as a backdrop to their announcement of a new satellite design office in the Seattle area (500-1000+ engineers?!). They were kind enough to drop it off at the Museum of Flight for the weekend. The family went down, and here are a couple of pictures. After seeing the various NASA capsules at the Smithsonian, it's different to see a white-painted capsule post-re-entry. Those things get pretty beat up. The capsule was covered in some kind of white foam, but a lot of it had been removed by re-entry, splashdown, and/or recovery from the water.
It was hard to get a full view of the capsule, since there was a big crowd. This was the best I could get. The square at lower right with the groove leading up from it is one of the drogue canisters. There is another one on the other side. The main chute is midway between them. The grooves are where the recovery harnesses live. At launch, the covering goes over the harnesses, with a somewhat convex shape. The harnesses tear through the foam on deployment. Drogues are stored in what look like 1-gallon black plastic flowerpots, and the main chute has a bigger box.
One thing I really like about SpaceX is their sense of humor. For example, this sign.
MOF also had a quote from SpaceX's lead propulsion engineer, "There are a thousand things that can happen when you go to light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good."
For those going to NARCON in February, I found MOF's space gallery much better than it was even a year ago. The layout was better, there was more stuff, and it looked like it was better interpreted. I think the most surprising thing was that someone had discovered bacteria that will happily turn urine into hydrazine. While it nominally could be useful for interplanetary propulsion, the quantities aren't large enough to be useful.
It was hard to get a full view of the capsule, since there was a big crowd. This was the best I could get. The square at lower right with the groove leading up from it is one of the drogue canisters. There is another one on the other side. The main chute is midway between them. The grooves are where the recovery harnesses live. At launch, the covering goes over the harnesses, with a somewhat convex shape. The harnesses tear through the foam on deployment. Drogues are stored in what look like 1-gallon black plastic flowerpots, and the main chute has a bigger box.
One thing I really like about SpaceX is their sense of humor. For example, this sign.
MOF also had a quote from SpaceX's lead propulsion engineer, "There are a thousand things that can happen when you go to light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good."
For those going to NARCON in February, I found MOF's space gallery much better than it was even a year ago. The layout was better, there was more stuff, and it looked like it was better interpreted. I think the most surprising thing was that someone had discovered bacteria that will happily turn urine into hydrazine. While it nominally could be useful for interplanetary propulsion, the quantities aren't large enough to be useful.