NASA, SpaceX Set Date For Historic Launch of Astronauts To ISS 34
The last space shuttle launched in 2011 and NASA hasn't sent astronauts to space from US soil since then. That long dry patch is set to end on May 27 when the SpaceX Crew Dragon is scheduled to head to the International Space Station with two crew members on board. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine posted the news on social media Friday along with a short video hyping the event.
Re: Space-Jesus will save us all (Score:3)
Horray! (Score:4)
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Hooray indeed! Godspeed Colonel Behnken and Colonel Hurley. Godspeed.
Read the much prettier announcements from NASA [nasa.gov] and SpaceX [spacex.com] instead of the "can't pay M'Smash enough" CNet link.
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Horray for NASA and SpaceX!
And "Better luck next time" for Boeing... their reputation has been taking multiple blows lately. But hey, that's why we have multiple contractors for the commercial crew program. Redundancy.
Kudos to SpaceX, it's been a helluva along wait. I'm really looking forward to this!!
Re: Horray! (Score:3)
It's not really a shot at Boeing specifically; all of the established players are complete shit compared to SpaceX. That's not horribly surprising ... the space industry has been due for a shakeup for a while, and it's awesome to see an upstart kicking the crap out of the incumbents. It would be interesting to see Elon try and take on Boeing/Lockheed/Airbus on their home turf by starting a commercial aircraft manufacturing firm, but I suspect that would be a much more difficult endeavour simply due to th
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It's not an insane amount of regulation in the commercial aircraft and airline sector. Those rules were put in place after finding out the root causes of accidents and were meant to prevent them from happening again. That's a huge reason why flying is such a safe way to travel. (If only it could be made environmentally friendlier.)
The world saw what happens when manufacturers decide to treat those rules as guidelines and then ignore them.
Re: Horray! (Score:2)
It's insane in that it stifles innovation and encourages sticking to what's already approved. The 737 MAX is a great example. The only reason that aircraft exists at all is because the regulatory system has created an environment in which slight modifications to an ancient design is a far safer (ie. profitable) bet than a brand new design.
Yes, the regulations exist because of "lessons learned" and are intended to save lives. But there's always a cost/benefit tradeoff. There are two extremes:
1. You elim
Re: Horray! (Score:1)
I hope that rocket explodes and Elon is executed for murdering those astronauts due to space exâ(TM)s engineering incompetence.
Iâ(TM)m not an Elon Musk fanboy by any stretch. But what in the hell is wrong with you? Why would you wish death on innocent people? Especially to get back at someone who youâ(TM)ve likely never met or have even been slightly inconvenienced by?
Re: Horray! (Score:2)
Look at his username. That's all you need to know.
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Have you ever thought about reading your comments out loud into a recorder, then playing them back to yourself before submitting them?
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I hope that rocket explodes and Elon is executed for murdering those astronauts due to space ex’s engineering incompetence.
You, sir, are an asshole.....
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| You, sir, are an asshole.....
No, I think he works for Boeing....
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Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. I hope they're going to quarantine the hardware for a week and the astronauts for four before sending them up. Can you imagine trying to do social distancing in that tin can up there?
Re:Horray! (Score:5, Informative)
They're already quarantined a while before launch as standard operating procedure. But even if they goofed that up it's all people in excellent health, otherwise they wouldn't be flight ready. Chances are very strong they'd all have a mild condition and not need any hospitalization also they'd be the furthest away from anyone in a high risk group in the world. By the time another crew got there the outbreak would be done and the virus dead. And if one of them got really ill they do have a lifeboat to get down and get proper medical care. They probably have a considerably higher risk of dying of a heart attack.
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Apparently even regular infections can be a catastrophe in zero g. That's why they quarantine ISS astronauts; even a common cold could potentially be lifethreatening.
Re: Horray! (Score:2)
No, it's not that "a common cold can be life threatening in zero g", it's that a common cold can be life threatening, period. And when you're paying $80,000,000 for a seat into space, you want to try and avoid even the slightest possible risks.
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I think that the coolest way to do this would be to pull one of the old Apollo-era Airstream quarantine trailers out of retirement and put the crew in it ahead of this launch.
a month and a week (Score:2)
No Party... (Score:2)
Those capsules are pretty small... (Score:2)
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Will they carry A/C packs? (Score:2)
Since this is a capsule, will the astronauts be carrying air conditioning packs like they did in the days? I don't think so but I thought it gave them that really cool astronaut look. Last guys to do this was STS-4 then it was regular flight suits. Later the orange suits but no A/C pack.
Since it will land in ocean will they have frogmen jump in to put floats around capsule, then hoist to helo, then when on board the carrier, the MOCR crew breaks out cigars? Not really, no smoking allowed in federal buildi
Dangerous (Score:1)
Why is this here? (Score:1)