#1
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Ripley's docking live!
Ripley, aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft, is now approaching docking at the ISS: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pNfCQtQILU . Just a few more minutes to go...
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
#2
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Soft capture achieved! They're in the process of retracting the soft-capture ring and getting the hard-capture hooks ready to engage. They're now running the raw video with ISS/MCC communications, but the SpaceX engineers will return [CORRECTION: they're back now, and hard capture is complete!] when hard-capture is imminent or just past. They also said that the ISS crew will open up the Crew Dragon hatches and venture inside--and "meet" Ripley--in a little under two hours, after checking the hatches and pressurization. (Yesterday I heard a couple of reporters refer to Ripley as "Riley!" :-) )
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
#3
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They (the SpaceX folks) are taking a 2-hour break until hatch opening, but the NASA TV feed is continuing, including with the live ISS/MCC communications--they're pressurizing the vestibule now, and the docking module interior view is on TV now. If you scroll the video backwards by about 5 minutes, they talked briefly with Bob Banken [spelling?], one of the two astronauts who will fly the next Crew Dragon to the ISS (after the Falcon 9/Crew Dragon transonic abort test at the Cape in June [it will be a spectacular fireworks display, as the booster will be destroyed!], which SpaceX is pushing to accomplish sooner than that).
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
#4
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The hatch leading to the Dragon capsule's hatch is open, and the crew are inspecting the docking adapter--they're way ahead of schedule! They're looking for condensation, foreign objects that might have shaken loose during launch, and debris--but except for just a little dust, they've found none. They're anxious to get inside the Crew Dragon, and they will soon (in the next 5 minutes or so, the SpaceX folks just said) open the Dragon hatch!
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
#5
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And they're inside, and already moving some of the pre-packaged supplies (under the capsule seats) into the space station!
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
#6
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Recovery
Space-X Dragon 2 successfully recovered off the coast of Florida this morning.
Skip the hosts' chatter and watch the B-57 Canberra (formerly) aerial IF footage along with four big chutes on HD. Recovery looked pretty efficient. I don't think anyone had to enter the water like the frogmen of the Apollo era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlFmK1hSKZg
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#7
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The recovery ship is much smaller than the aircraft carriers of the Apollo days, but has cabins for the astronauts and recovery crew members. They said that her return--from ~240 nautical miles east of the Cape--will take about 30 hours, but that for the subsequent crew-carrying flights, splashdown will occur much closer to the Cape, only about a 2-hour cruise from Port Canaveral (presumably this landing was farther offshore to make sure that the capsule wouldn't accidentally fall on land), and speaking of this particular capsule: They said that it will be refurbished and used for the upcoming max q launch abort test aboard a Falcon 9 at the Cape in June or sooner. *That* launch will be spectacular, because the fully-fueled (^both^ stages--a mass simulator will replace the second stage's MVAC engine, so as not to waste one) Falcon 9 will be destroyed in the process of the aborted flight, exploding in the sky--its first stage will be the "third-landing" one that very recently underwent the most stressful re-entry yet. The Crew Dragon for this summer's first astronauts-carrying mission is nearing completion at SpaceX's Hawthorne factory. (Boeing's Starliner capsule will also fly soon, and Sierra Nevada's cargo-version Dream Chaser lifting body will fly to the ISS and return next year--they got the go-ahead to build it in December.)
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
#8
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
#9
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Yes, at 2:01 a single guy in white PPE climbed on the Dragon and later jumped in the water at about 2:20. However, he could have easily got back in the boat. What I meant was that the recovery didn't have four frogmen in the water attaching flotation skirts and safeing the craft. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the rigging eventually gets updated to where they can do everything from the boat.
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I love sanding. |
#10
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__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
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