First flight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly nine years
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Is the car a Tesla?
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Fun Fact: The emergency escape system can kick in, if necessary, all the way to orbit.
Stormy weather puts damper on SpaceX’s 1st astronaut launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Stormy weather is threatening to delay SpaceX’s first astronaut launch.
A SpaceX rocket is scheduled to blast off Wednesday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center, carrying a Dragon capsule with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station. It will be the first time astronauts launch from Florida in nine years and a first for a private company.
The manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, Kathy Lueders, said everything was progressing well — at least on the ground.
“Now the only thing we need to do is figure out how to control the weather,” she said Monday evening as rain continued to drench the area. “We’re continuing to be vigilant and careful and make sure we do this right.”
Forecasters put the odds of acceptable launch weather at 40%. But that doesn’t include the conditions all the way up the U.S. and Canadian coasts and across the sea to Ireland — a complicated mix of measurements unique to the Dragon crew capsule.
The Dragon’s emergency escape system can kick in, if necessary, all the way to orbit. If that happens, the capsule will need relatively calm wind and seas in which to splash down.
SpaceX will have at least two recovery ships deployed off Florida, and NASA will have two military cargo planes ready to take off. Additional planes will be stationed in New York and England to assist with a potential water rescue, according to Lueders.
Hans Koenigsmann, a vice president for SpaceX, said the launch control team will incorporate global weather patterns and models to determine whether it’s safe to launch.
“If the weather gods are working with us,” he said, liftoff will occur at 4:33 p.m. SpaceX has a split-second launch window.
The good news is that the tropical weather headed toward Cape Canaveral should be gone in a couple days, with conditions also improving up the Eastern Seaboard later in the week.
If SpaceX doesn’t launch Wednesday, its next attempt would be Saturday.
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According to NASA’s list of launch commit criteria for the SpaceX crew launch, the flight will not proceed if downrange weather shows a high probability of violating limits at splashdown in the event of a Dragon launch escape maneuver.
I suspect a tropical storm off the Carolinas violates limits.
But this from CBS 3 hours ago
"I would say it's looking OK," said Daniel Forrestel, launch integration manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "I think our biggest risk right now is the weather on the pad. ... But it's never completely risk free downrange."
Launch managers will make a final assessment about 45 minutes before launch when the astronauts would normally arm the abort system a few minutes before fueling begins. If the weather is not favorable, launch will be called off at that point and the team will recycle for a second launch try Saturday at 3:21 p.m.
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Live now:
Link to videoIt's amazing how uncluttered the interior looks, compared with the 1970s tech of the Shuttle.
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I've been watching...very cool all around. From having their suit checks in the same room where the last Shuttle crew got ready, to the drive to the pad via Teslas (not the silver van/bus), to the interior (like @George-K said) which is ridiculously streamlined. Mostly because nearly everything is within the touchscreen. The abort handle is below their middle screen, btw.
Oh and the weather latest...the storm risking today's launch is "eroding" which is good news for a launch decision.
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What’s with all the touch screens? The Navy just dumped them in favor of more manual keyboards and controls... Less chance of error and fewer points of failure if I remember correctly...
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@LuFins-Dad said in First flight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly nine years:
What’s with all the touch screens? The Navy just dumped them in favor of more manual keyboards and controls... Less chance of error and fewer points of failure if I remember correctly...
They're cool, don'cha know?
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Me/rry/Christmas
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@LuFins-Dad said in First flight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly nine years:
What’s with all the touch screens? The Navy just dumped them in favor of more manual keyboards and controls... Less chance of error and fewer points of failure if I remember correctly...
I don't think the astronauts get much chance to make an error. The flight is all programmed before they get in the capsule. I believe that they only get involved if something out of the ordinary happens.
This capsule model has flown to the Station without crew. The crew isn't needed. But if I remember correctly there was a flight a few months ago that was unsuccessful and they said if a person was on-board they could have fixed the problem. It had to do with the timing of the problem, they did not have the communication they needed to fix it from the ground, but a person could have fixed it on-board.
