Next Crewed American Space Flight on May 27

[Marc_G]

So far looking good. NASA.gov is about 25 secs behind SpaceX feed

 

[PXR5]

C-SPAN is 6 mins behind!!!

 

[Funkworks]

I suppose the order: Space X - NASA - C-SPAN is very representative of how important the mission is to each of the three.

 

[Funkworks]

First stage successfully landed upright on drone ship.

 

[rfjustin]

So awesome to watch with my daughter...

 

[cwbullet]

Woohoo. Who is building a kit?

 

[Mushtang]

Did we ever hear an official name for the capsule? The controllers just keep referring to it as “Dragon” which isn’t new at all.

 

[ewomack]

Of course I looked away for 30 seconds to watch a parallel news story and missed the actual launch.

Luckily, universal recording has allowed the replay of nearly every moment of existence, so I'll just catch it again elsewhere.

 

[tsmmiller]

I‘ve not watched any of the launches prior to this so had no idea what to expect. I was quite surprised by the needle flame during launch. Far from the massive amounts I remember from the F1s of the Apollo ships.
Great job SpaceX!

 

[Rocket501]

The launch went off flawlessly. I watched with my parents and was happy that everything went smoothly and SpaceX even managed to recover the booster. It's a great day for them and NASA.

 

[Greg Furtman]

What a great launch!!! And SpaceX nailed the landing. What an incredible achievement. Go Bob & Doug, hosers. Eh?

 

[JLP1]

I remember watching the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo flights as I grew up and I remember watching the astronauts shaking and vibrating like they were on a roller coaster. These guys today looked like they were riding a luxury car into orbit. Way to go

Does not bold well for Boeing

 

[modeltrains]

Yay! Success sure looks good. Watched it on NASA's YouTube in one browser tab while chatting about in another browser tab in a YouTube live stream for Virtual Railfan at Amtrak station in La Plata, MO!
And occasionally pushing a shedding housecat with zero sense of personal space out of my face

 

[10fttall]

Does the first stage return depend on the trajectory of the mission? I thought they were landing the stages right back at the Cape. Or did the fact that POTUS and VPOTUS were around nix the idea of a first stage coming hurtling back to Cape Canaveral?

 

[Mugs914]

We were watching the Discovery/Science channel feed. Their coverage was so sophomoric and vacuous (With the exception of Mike Massimino) that I think it actually sucked away several IQ points before we switched over to the Spacex feed.

Nothing they could do could diminish the magnificence of the day, however. The shot from Dragon looking over the astronaut's shoulders at the touch screen rates right up there with Buzz on the Moon for one of my favorite pictures from space. It could have been an out take from 2001.

But it was REAL...

Congratulations America, congratulations Spacex, congratulations NASA.

We're back...

 

[neil_w]

Does the first stage return depend on the trajectory of the mission?

Yes. I think they would normally want land back at Cape Canaveral if they can, but it all depends on where the booster trajectory takes it. For some launches they can't recover the booster at all.

 

[Greg Furtman]

Does the first stage return depend on the trajectory of the mission? I thought they were landing the stages right back at the Cape. Or did the fact that POTUS and VPOTUS were around nix the idea of a first stage coming hurtling back to Cape Canaveral?

It depends upon how much oomph they need for the mission. If they need more impulse they will burn longer which means less fuel for a landing. When Falcon Heavy flew the two side boosters were released and had enough fuel left to turn around and land in Florida but the main booster burned longer and so it needed to land on a barge at sea. Unfortunately, it didn't have enough fuel left to safely land on the barge.

 

[Nytrunner]

I was very happy to see things go off without a hitch today (publicly at least lol). The launches and landings have become a bit routine, but this one was special. Hopefully safe crew transport will become regular once again

Their coverage was so sophomoric and vacuous (With the exception of Mike Massimino) that I think it actually sucked away several IQ points

Uh oh, what were they doing?

 

[Cl(VII)]

I hope that booster ends up in the Smithsonian. Putting it in the hanger with Discovery at the Udvar-Hazy center would be awesome.

 

[afadeev]

I hope that booster ends up in the Smithsonian. Putting it in the hanger with Discovery at the Udvar-Hazy center would be awesome.

But not before 3-5 more flights - it would be a shame to mothball a perfectly re-usable piece of machinery that has plenty of service life left in it!

Woohoo. Who is building a kit?

This reminds me - I have two in my build pile: Falcon 9 from SpaceX, and Falcon Heavy from Dr. Zooch.
Will probably start with the former, might do a build thread here : https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/spacex-falcon-9-and-falcon-heavy-builds.159783/

 

[wolsen]

Did we ever hear an official name for the capsule? The controllers just keep referring to it as “Dragon” which isn’t new at all.

I believe they christened it "Endeavour"

 

[PXR5]

So, being that the Falcon's camera died and the camera on the But I Still Love You died, is there any footage of it landing?

 

[OverTheTop]

So, being that the Falcon's camera died and the camera on the But I Still Love You died, is there any footage of it landing?

The link is usually disrupted by the rocket exhaust during landing. They will likely have recorded video and can access that after they get to the barge. They might release it if we are lucky .

 

[PXR5]

The link is usually disrupted by the rocket exhaust during landing. They will likely have recorded video and can access that after they get to the barge. They might release it if we are lucky .

I hope so, it's amazing how it lands!!

So, anyway my wife's friend does Facebook and conspiracy theories have already started!
The Falcon crashed at sea, and they just showed us an existing rocket LOL!!!!!!

 

[OverTheTop]

So, anyway my wife's friend does Facebook and conspiracy theories have already started!
The Falcon crashed at sea, and they just showed us an existing rocket LOL!!!!!!

 

[rharshberger]

I was very happy to see things go off without a hitch today (publicly at least lol). The launches and landings have become a bit routine, but this one was special. Hopefully safe crew transport will become regular once again




Uh oh, what were they doing?

I will concur that the gal doing the twitter/social media bit was BORING imo, and the gal that was sitting between the Leland Melvin and the other gal was doing an excessive (imo) amount of head swivelling from one person to the next, but maybe the set was just laid out poorly. The interview with Gwen Shotwell was okay but the "social distancing" made the whole thing kind of cheap looking as there was excessive unfilled space or that the longer shots to get both people into frame made it seem that way.

 

[afadeev]

Next up on the menu - docking with ISS on Sunday at 10:29 a.m. EDT (1429 GMT), although that timing is subject to change.
https://www.space.com/spacex-demo-2-astronauts-space-station-docking-webcast.html

 

[Mugs914]

Uh oh, what were they doing?

First off, I must confess to being both a space geek who already knows a lot about this stuff, and also a curmudgeon. So I realize I am definitely not the guy they had in mind when they planned their coverage. That being said, to me The Science channel coverage was like watching Macy's Christmas parade coverage with a rocket in the background instead of huge balloons.

It featured everything that is important when covering such a significant scientific event (For those who need to hear it; this is meant to be humorous, but truthful account):

Hip hosts showing lots of enthusiasm
Almost zero live com feed from NASA or Spacex (would have interrupted the lively banter, one supposes)
Lots of "celebrities" delivering pre-recorded messages from their kitchens (Most with a mask around their neck in a hip, Wuhan-woke kinda style)
Frat boy "former NASA engineer" describing how rockets work ("It's like, you were in space right, and threw a hammer, but rockets throw A LOT of hammers!")
Kelly Clarkson delivering a recorded living room selfie of her singing the National Anthem
LOTS of concern expressed any time a cloud was visible
Katie Perry singing some song that they seemed to think was "touching" (Lots of the coverage was intended to be "touching")
Katie Perry delivering several other messages that expressed her varying emotional states with regard to space flight.

(What's with all the Katie Perry? )

I think several of the celebrity messages were the same ones they used a couple of weeks ago with "first responders" crossed out and replaced by "Bob and Doug".

Just not my cuppa joe...

Of course Mike Massimino is always informative and entertaining. He did a fantastic job of delivering pertinent info and great stories in spite of the often silly questions lobbed at him by the host.

 

[Huxter]

I've loved everything Mike has done - never missed any of the "Massimino Show" on NASA TV - Mike knew what questions to ask - great stuff!

 

[davel]

Why are people going to third party sources? Spacex.com/webcast is where it's at. NASA tv a good second source. I admit I taped the Discovery channel stuff, but after trying to get through it I just deleted it.