First flight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly nine years
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https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-nasa-astronauts-demo-2-launch-date.html
May 27
SpaceX, NASA target May 27 for 1st Crew Dragon test flight with astronauts
The first flight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly nine years finally has a launch date: May 27.
The mission will launch astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in a final test flight for NASA. The mission, Demo-2, will mark NASA's first crew launch from American soil since the agency's space shuttle fleet retired in July 2011.
Liftoff is set for 4:32 p.m. EDT (2032 GMT) from historic Launch Pad 39A — the same site used for NASA's Apollo and shuttle missions — at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"On May 27, will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil!" NASA chief Jim Bridenstine wrote on Twitter in an announcement today (April 17).
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Zero.
Apollo 1 burned on the ground with grishom, white and Chaffee in it.
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Chaffee was a member of my fraternity at Purdue, years before me of course. We had his picture in the foyer and a plaque above the door of his old room.
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@jon-nyc said in First flight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly nine years:
Zero.
Apollo 1 burned on the ground with
grishomGrissom, white and Chaffee in it.Just found it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apollo_missions
Apollo 4, 5, and 6 were unmanned missions.
There was some incongruity in the numbering and naming of the first three uncrewed Apollo-Saturn (AS), or Apollo flights. This is due to AS-204 being renamed to Apollo 1 posthumously. This crewed flight was to have followed the first three unmanned flights. After the fire which killed the AS-204 crew on the pad during a test and training exercise, unmanned Apollo flights resumed to test the Saturn V launch vehicle and the Lunar Module; these were designated Apollo 4, 5 and 6. The first crewed Apollo mission was thus Apollo 7. Simple "Apollo" numbers were never assigned to the first three unmanned flights, although renaming AS-201, AS-202, and AS-203 as Apollo 1-A, Apollo 2 and Apollo 3, had been briefly considered
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It's a Go! Tomorrow at 4:30 ET.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-and-spacex-are-go-for-historic-launch-of-crew-dr-1843654898
Lookit the spiffy spacesuits!
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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.
