NASA Astronauts Are Undocking SpaceX's Crew Dragon from ISS, Returning to Earth (geekwire.com) 29
"NASA and SpaceX are going ahead with plans to bring NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken home from the International Space Station for a splashdown this weekend, even though Hurricane Isaias is heading for Florida's Atlantic coast," reports GeekWire.
"Fortunately, SpaceX's Dragon capsule is heading for waters off Florida's other coast." NASA said weather conditions are all systems go for the targeted site in the Gulf of Mexico, close to Pensacola, as well as for an alternate site off the coast of Panama City, Fla. That opened the way for preparations to proceed for the Dragon Endeavour to undock at 7:34 p.m. ET (4:34 p.m. PT) today, with a splashdown set for 2:41 p.m. ET (11:41 a.m. PT) Sunday.
The plan could be adjusted, before or after the docking, if the weather forecast changes. NASA and SpaceX had made plans for seven potential splashdown targets, but due to Isaias' strength, NASA concentrated on the westernmost sites.
Live coverage has begun online, and will continue for the next 19 hours.
Tomorrow's splashdown "will mark the first return of a commercially built and operated U.S. spacecraft from orbit," reports GeekWire, "and the first at-sea return of U.S. astronauts since the topsy-turvy splashdown of NASA's Apollo-Soyuz crew in 1975..."
"The next SpaceX Crew Dragon launch to the space station is scheduled for as early as next month. And Bob Behnken's wife, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, is due to be part of a Dragon crew heading for the station next spring."
"Fortunately, SpaceX's Dragon capsule is heading for waters off Florida's other coast." NASA said weather conditions are all systems go for the targeted site in the Gulf of Mexico, close to Pensacola, as well as for an alternate site off the coast of Panama City, Fla. That opened the way for preparations to proceed for the Dragon Endeavour to undock at 7:34 p.m. ET (4:34 p.m. PT) today, with a splashdown set for 2:41 p.m. ET (11:41 a.m. PT) Sunday.
The plan could be adjusted, before or after the docking, if the weather forecast changes. NASA and SpaceX had made plans for seven potential splashdown targets, but due to Isaias' strength, NASA concentrated on the westernmost sites.
Live coverage has begun online, and will continue for the next 19 hours.
Tomorrow's splashdown "will mark the first return of a commercially built and operated U.S. spacecraft from orbit," reports GeekWire, "and the first at-sea return of U.S. astronauts since the topsy-turvy splashdown of NASA's Apollo-Soyuz crew in 1975..."
"The next SpaceX Crew Dragon launch to the space station is scheduled for as early as next month. And Bob Behnken's wife, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, is due to be part of a Dragon crew heading for the station next spring."
So..um.. (Score:3)
"Welcome back to the US, heard about the pandemic B-T-dubs? You might not want to dally too much in Florida.."
We should all have to go into quarantine for 14 days when an astronaut returns.
awesome (Score:3)
Very great to see this. Wish them the very best
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Hey NASA (Score:2)
Difference between NASA and SpaceX (Score:5, Interesting)
A few random observations:
1 - How smoothly SpaceX mission has gone, and what a trainwreck the Boeing Starliner mission was last December
2 - Congrats and good luck for tomorrow's splashdown
3 - SpaceX Hawthorne Mission Control - every body socially distanced, all wearing mass. NASA Houston - No masks.
Re:Difference between NASA and SpaceX (Score:4, Funny)
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Difference???
This *is* a NASA mission. Perhaps you mean SpaceX & NASA vs Boeing & NASA?
As Musk has said, SpaceX could not exist without money and technology from NASA. It is a fruitful partnership.
SpaceX is the Linux kernel to NASA's GNU.
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I honestly wonder when it was that pointless pedants stopped quoting the dictionary at people and started quoting other completely useless and irrelevant facts.
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pedantry? No. These fanbois trying to compare spacex to nasa are totally missing the point, the essence of the relationship, and what has changed.
NASA is still the same, and private corporations have always done the design and construction.
SpaceX has a new development model, which has worked well so far. We hope it continues.
One thing that came out of the Starliner enquiry, is that NASA had given a lot of oversight to SpaceX, but left Boeing alone and trusted them too much.
I think there are some commenters
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No. These fanbois trying to compare spacex to nasa are totally missing the point
Oh I see. You read the title but not the OP's post. Well I can't help you there.
Unless you think that a post about SpaceX vs Boeing was something to do with NASA. Or that NASA mission control not wearing facemasks was something to do with SpaceX getting government funding.
Let me just sign off your post the way it deserves: LOLWUT.
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p.s. garbz. If you have a coherent argument, make it .Just throwing insults shows you have lost.
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My argument was that you don't read posts. I think that was clear to everyone except for people who don't read posts.
Actual comments from Bob & Doug (Score:2)
"If you let me stay, I'll wrangle rejected solids from the zoilet." and...If that's not astronaut slang for a zero-gravity toilet, we need smarter astronauts.
Cardboard sign: "Will work to remain in orbit!"
"Doug/Bob should go back, but I'm essential."
"I'll wrangle rejected liquids from the zoilet."
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Express elevator to hell (Score:2)
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Serious applicants only.
Just saw Dragon Overhead (Score:3)
I just saw the ISS fly overhead with Dragon right behind it. It was only a half hour after sunset here, so it wasn't completely dark yet, but the ISS was still super bright, and could even be seen through thin clouds. Dragon was hard to spot, but you could see it following closely behind.
If you're interested in seeing it, sign up for alerts at https://spotthestation.nasa.go... [nasa.gov]
What if (Score:2)
What do they do if they are halfway down and all the supercharger stations are busy?
frogmen jump from a helo? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking back in the days where frogmen (maybe also frogwomen?)
Has there ever been a female PJ? I thought there wasn't.
Obvious Fake (Score:2)
This was obviously faked. They didn't even try to hide the wires. And obviously, the astronauts were all modeled in Blender and rendered in real time using Unreal Engine 5. They didn't even look real. The Uncanny Valley is deep here.
And obviously, the astronauts' heads only looked round because NASA requires all camera manufacturers to build lenses that warp the otherwise flat heads into round shapes. It doesn't matter that everyone else's heads are round-ish. On the other hand, I heard it from a friend who
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...the reality is that are heads...
Argh! My kingdom for an edit function!