BigSoccer IN SPACE!!! (The BigSoccer Space Exploration Thread)

Discussion in 'History' started by Macsen, Sep 19, 2012.

  1. Macsen

    Macsen Moderator
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    Crew 1 for all.

    Launch took place on time at 7:27pm EST. There was an issue activating the thermal control system, but they swapped to the redundant system. They believe the main TCS is healthy, and are troubleshooting, but Resilience is good for now. They are also doing final checks on the cabin environment to prepare for the astronauts to get out of their pressure suits.

     
  2. Macsen

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    Resilience appears to be about 99% as happy as Endeavour.

    In addition to the TCS issue, there was an issue with heaters in the reaction control system, throwing one of the Draco thruster quads into safe mode. SpaceX believes the temperature limits were programmed in too tightly, and the heater was activated when the temperature was low, but still within the actual limits. They rebooted the system, and it's back working.

    The TCS issue was also resolved, and it again has full fault tolerance.

    The astronauts entered the sleep period around 4am EST, which means they will wake up around Noon. This is not surprising for them to be going to bed this late relative to the Cape and Houston, since they will likely be working in shifts on the International Space Station.

    Dragon Crew-1 Baby Yoda.jpg

    And their zero-g indicator for this mission was Baby Yoda.

    Of note is that this mission puts Soichi Noguchi in some very unique company. He is now the third space traveler to have gone into space on three different kinds of spacecraft. He's flown in the Space Shuttle orbiter, in a Soyuz, and now the Crew Dragon.

    I framed this distinction differently yesterday. But as it stands, this has only been achieved previously by Wally Schirra and John Young.

    And if you want to put it differently, you can say John Young has flown into space in four different outfits: the Gemini G3C, the Apollo A7L, the Shuttle EES, and shirtsleeve (STS-9).

    (I generally consider the Shuttle test-era Ejection Escape Suit, post-Challenger Launch Entry Suit, and the modern Advanced Crew Escape Suit, to be similar, as all are derived from the SR-71 pressure suit.)
     
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  3. Macsen

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    There was a point of history I missed yesterday since we were so busy with current events. But it's relevant to a history point for today, so...

    ********

    [​IMG]

    30 years ago yesterday, Atlantis was launched on STS-38 from Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center.

    It was a classified DoD mission that launched at least one satellite. Classified USA-67, the satellite was originally believed to be a Magnum SIGINT satellite. Today, it's believed to have been an SDS-2 military comsat.

    It is believed to have launched a second satellite. If it did, its launch is an even deeper mystery. Some think it was a Prowler satellite that monitored other nations' satellites in geostationary orbit.

    STS-38 was the first landing for Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center, and the first post-Challenger Shuttle orbiter landing there.

    One of the astronauts was rookie astronaut Carl Meade.

    ********

    [​IMG]

    And it happens to be Carl Meade's 70th birthday.

    Born in Rantoul, Illinois, on Chanute AFB, he got a bachelor's in electronics engineering from Texas in 1973, then moved to California, doing postgrad research at CalTech while working at Hughes. He got his master's in 1975.

    After getting his degrees, Carl was commissioned in the Air Force and became a reconnaissance pilot, flying a recon variant of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. He went to Test Pilot School, graduating in 1980, and started working on the Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter, its intended successor the F-20 Tigershark, and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.

    He was selected to NASA in the mission specialist track of Group 11 in 1985. He was involved with the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, and also in the SRB task group; he was likely involved in the improvements after the Challenger disaster.

    In addition to STS-38, Carl flew STS-50 (Columbia, USML-1, June-July 1992) and STS-64 (Discovery, September 1994). During STS-64, he was the first astronaut to experiment with the SAFER jetpack, the replacement for the Manned Maneuvering Unit for untethered EVA rescue.

    Carl left NASA and retired from the Air Force (final rank Colonel) in 1996. He initially worked at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works on their X-33 spaceplane, which was connected to the VentureStar project. He would later move to Northrop Grumman, working on their proposal for what became the Orion spacecraft.

    He is married, and has two children.
     
  4. Macsen

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    #1879 Macsen, Nov 17, 2020
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2020
    The wake-up music, around Noon EST, was "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins.


    Around 4:45pm, the USCV-1 crew gave a live tour of Resilience for the SpaceX webstream. All four crewmembers took part in the tour. At the end of the tour, Michael Hopkins awarded Victor Glover with his gold astronaut pin.

    (The video is set to start at the tour, but if it doesn't, the timestamp is 1:47:17)

    The crew docked with the International Space Station at 11:01pm EST, and they entered the ISS around 1:15am this morning.

    ********

    But not all was rosy for space stuff last night.

    ESA tried to launch their latest Vega rocket from Pad V, Guiana Space Centre, at 8:52pm EST last night. It carried observation satellites for Spain and France. It looks like the fourth stage failed shortly after ignition, and it did not achieve orbit.

    This is the second loss of a Vega rocket in 17 months.

    This is an enormous loss for the European Space Agency and Arianespace at a time when they can least afford it. They still have two Vega launches scheduled (the next one in February) before premiering the updated Vega-C rocket.
     
  5. Macsen

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    Arianespace seems to think that the the most recent Vega failure was the result of crossed wires in the Avum upper stage. As a result, reaction control commands were sent the wrong equipment, and started tumbling at ignition.

    You'd think they would've learned Rocket Lab's lesson from earlier this year about properly inspecting your rocket's wiring.

    An acquaintance of mine in the aerospace industry said they try to make wiring connections as direct and short as possible to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen.

    Well, back to the drawing board.

    ********

    Speaking of Rocket Lab, they are currently go for their next mission, "Return to Sender". Launch is currently scheduled for tomorrow night at 8:44pm EST.

    A total of six cubesats will be launched, including the previously-mentioned TriSept orbital cleanup experiment, as well as a mass simulator being launched as a charity stunt funded by Valve Software co-founder Gabe Newell.

    Rocket Lab is also trying to recover the first stage by catching it with a helicopter.

    Ask SpaceX how that turned out.

    ********

    Speaking of SpaceX...

    (BTW: neither of these segues were pre-planned, they just developed as I was typing)

    ...their next Starlink launch is now on the manifest. They are scheduled to launch from Pad 40 at 10:17pm EST Saturday night.

    They will also finally conduct the first orbital launch out of Vandenberg AFB this year on Saturday afternoon. They will be lofting a Sentinel Earth observation satellite. Launch is currently scheduled for 12:17pm EST.

    The Starlink launch will be atop B1049.7, which they hope to catch for a record seventh time. The Sentinel launch will be on a new first stage, B1063.1. That one will probably attempt a land return.
     
  6. Macsen

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    #1881 Macsen, Nov 19, 2020
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2020
    51 years ago today, the lunar module for Apollo 12, Intrepid, landed at Oceanus Procellarum. Commander Pete Conrad and LM Pilot Alan Bean placed it between their intended landing point, a location referred to as "Pete's Parking Lot", and their target, Surveyor 3.

    They were not alone in this mission.

    And no, I'm not talking about CM Pilot Richard Gordon.

    ********

    I've wanted to cover this person for a very long time. He's actually quite interesting. But I always passed the necessary dates.

    [​IMG]

    Clifton Curtis Williams Jr. was born on September 28, 1932, in Mobile, Alabama. He originally wanted to become a doctor. But after spending two years in pre-med courses at local Spring Hill College, he washed out, and transferred to the Navy ROTC at Auburn, where he graduated with a mechanical engineering degree in 1954.

    After graduation, he entered the Marines, and trained to be a Marine Corps Aviator at NAS Pensacola. After flying in the Fleet Marine Corps, he became a test pilot, training and researching at NAS Patuxent River.

    C.C. specialized in preparing attack jets for carriers. He was the first aviator to land a two-seat jet on an aircraft carrier from the rear seat when he did so in a Vought F-8 Crusader in 1962.

    He was selected as an astronaut by NASA as part of Group 3 in 1963. When this happened, C.C. had two unique characteristics:

    At 6'1", he was the tallest member of the Astronaut Corps at the time. There are anecdotes about him doing exercises to compress his spine to ensure he would fit even in the slightly roomier Gemini capsule.

    And he was the first bachelor selected to be an astronaut.

    That, however, did not mean he was single. Since 1957, he had been dating Beth Lansche, who had previously been a waterskiing performer at Florida theme park Cypress Gardens (what is now Legoland Florida). When they married in 1964, the press jokingly lamented him leaving the market.

    C.C. was the backup junior pilot for Gemini 10. He was later appointed to the LM Pilot position on Pete Conrad's crew in the early Apollo rotation.

    But his day would never come.

    In October 1967, C.C. learned his father was dying of cancer. He got dispensation to take a jet from Cape Kennedy to Mobile to be with him.

    The T-38 Talon he was flying solo on October 5, 1967, got its ailerons jammed just past Tallahassee. The plane went into a spin, then was driven straight down. He ejected way too late. Investigators said there was nothing left of the jet. Or him, for that matter.

    C.C. was 35. His father would outlive him by six months.

    To twist the knife a little deeper, Beth found out shortly after that she was pregnant with their second child.

    His final rank in the Marine Corps was major. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

    At the end of the lunar landing phase of Apollo 12, Alan Bean threw his own silver astronaut pin on the fields of Oceanus Procellarum, extending the tradition of pilots and aviators disposing of their silver wing pins when they graduated flight school and earned their gold wings.

    He also set C.C.'s pin at the landing site as a memorial.
     
  7. Nacional Tijuana

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    1329598574657671171 is not a valid tweet id


    RocketLab is launching Electron in about 10 min from LC-1 at the venue in New Zealand. It'll be RL's first attempt at a first stage recovery. Telemmetry will not allow seeing it on the feed, as we do with SpaceX. No droneship. Just splashdown.

     
  8. Macsen

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    Going where no gnome has gone before.

    (Allegedly. I seriously doubt this is the first gnome launched into orbit.)

    The first stage for "Return to Sender" did manage to survive re-entry, and splashed down in the South Pacific near the tendered recovery ship.

    Highly doubtful it's ever used again, because of inevitable seawater intrusion in the engines. None of the Falcon 9 first stages that made controlled water landings were ever used again.



    As for the charity stunt, Gabe Newell will donate $1 for each unique view of the launch feed, and each unique view of the resulting YouTube video (above) after 24 hours of posting.

    I don't know how many watched it live, but they are currently over 200,000 views since the livestream ended.

    To contribute to the charity stunt, NASASpaceflight.com did not stream the video, encouraging their normal viewers to instead watch the Rocket Lab feed. But Everyday Astronaut did co-stream the launch, committing all donations during the stream to Newell's designated charity, Starship Children's Hospital in New Zealand.

    They raised $6,900 on their own.

    Nice.
     
  9. Nacional Tijuana

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  10. Nacional Tijuana

    Nacional Tijuana St. Louis City

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  11. Macsen

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    #1886 Macsen, Nov 28, 2020
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2020
    [​IMG]

    37 years ago today, Columbia was launched on STS-9 from Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center.

    It was the inaugural flight of the Spacelab experiment module. Prior to the mission, Columbia received a mini-refit. It was given a Ka-band antenna to connect with the TDRS satellite, uprated fuel cells, and updated SSMEs like the ones used on Challenger. Its ejection seats were disarmed, but not removed.

    It carried the first crew of six on the Shuttle, and was the sixth and last flight of commander John Young. It also carried Skylab scientist Dr. Owen Garriott on his second flight, as well as ESA astronaut Dr. Ulf Merbold. Rounding out the crew were pilot Brewster Shaw, Robert Parker and Byron Lichtenberg.

    Spacelab engaged in a wide array of experiments in several fields. The module used for this mission, LM1, was accompanied by the Spacelab exposed Pallet, which had been flown in tests on STS-2 and STS-3.

    To maximize experiment time, the crew worked in two shifts. Red Shift was Young, Parker, and Merbold. Blue Shift was Shaw, Garriott, and Lichtenberg.

    While Spacelab operated perfectly, Columbia suffered issues toward the end of the mission. The computers crashed before re-entry, and the auxillary power units caught fire right before landing. While the crew was okay, Columbia wouldn't fly again until 1986.

    The LM1 module would be used nine times. It is currently on display at the Udvar-Hazy Annex of the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles International Airport.
     
  12. Macsen

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    75 years ago today, the formation of Scientific Research Institute No.88, NII-88, was decreed by the Soviet Union.

    Run by Dmitri Ustinov, it was formed to begin work on ballistic missiles based on the spoils of the Great Patriotic War—in other words, the scraps left in the former Nazi Germany after Operation Paperclip.

    NII-88 was primarily a research organization. One of its departments, the one specifically formed to research and build upon the V-2, Section 3, had Sergei Korolev in charge. Section 3 was eventually named Special Design Bureau No.1, or OKB-1.

    OKB-1 was spun off in 1956 as it evolved into actual machine-building. NII-88 was renamed TsNIIMash in 1967, and is still in existence today as Russia's general military R&D agency.
     
  13. Macsen

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    Largely relaxed for Thanksgiving week. But it's the last month of 2020, so it's time to put the nosecone to the grindstone.

    (If no one else has come up with that term, I'm claiming it.)

    Both Virgin Orbit and Astra are aiming to try again this month.

    Rocket 3.2 is set for a launch attempt as early as next Monday, with a window opening at 2pm EST. Again, there is no set payload.

    LauncherOne is set to attempt to launch another ten cubesats, the NASA ELaNa 20 mission. They are aiming for Saturday, December 19, with a window opening at 1pm EST.

    Meanwhile, the first Cargo Dragon 2 is set to launch Saturday morning at 11:39am EST. It's set to launch atop B1058.4, the same rocket that lofted DM-2 in late May. It's planned to dock with the ISS at Harmony zenith.

    The next Electron launch has been christened "The Owl's Night Out". It has a single payload, StriX Alpha, an Earth observation satellite. It's set for next Saturday at 5:09am EST.

    So for once, it will actually have the same launch day in America AND at its New Zealand launch site.

    Their first Electron launch from MARS has been pushed to 2021.
     
  14. Macsen

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    #1889 Macsen, Dec 2, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2020
    [​IMG]

    30 years ago today, Columbia was finally launched on STS-35 from Pad 39B, Kennedy Space Center.

    There are several reasons why this deserves that particular qualification. That's because this would be one of the longest-delayed missions of the Space Shuttle program yet.

    You see, this was originally supposed to be STS-61-E, launched in March 1986 so its payload, the ASTRO-1 telescope package, would have a prime observation window to observe Halley's Comet from Earth orbit.

    Naturally, that was delayed, and I don't really need to remind you why.

    With the delay through the return-to-flight, three astronauts were swapped out, including prospective commander Jon McBride for Vance Brand. This would make Brand the second astronaut to fly in three different decades, after John Young. At 59, he would take the position of oldest astronaut to fly in space.

    But that wasn't the only reason it was delayed. Oh no.

    Its original launch date was May 16, and it was rolled out that April. It was further delayed two weeks when a faulty freon line was found in the orbiter.

    Then they had to roll Columbia back to the Vehicle Assembly Building when they discovered major leaks in the aft fuel quick-connect which impacted the orbiter, the external tank, and the mobile launch platform itself.

    [​IMG]

    This would also impact Atlantis and STS-38, which was originally scheduled for July 1990, but didn't fly until that November.

    Did I mention STS-35 would ultimately be Columbia's first launch from Pad 39B?

    For one of the impacted parts on Columbia, they actually borrowed a part intended for Endeavour.

    A final delay of two days, from November 30, was solely to optimize astronomical targeting.

    ASTRO-1 was technically a Spacelab flight, using its external pallet. ASTRO-1 carried optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray telescopes. A total of 231 observations of 130 different targets were made during the mission.

    The mission lasted just short of nine days.
     
  15. Macsen

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    62 years ago today, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, one of the aviation labs operated by the U.S. Army through CalTech, was transferred to NASA jurisdiction.

    This also gave NASA access to a radio telescope, Goldstone Observatory in Camp Irwin, CA. At the time of its acquisition, Goldstone was known to have a tracking range of 400,000 miles.

    It would become the base of the NASA Deep Space Network. Today, Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex consists of five operational radio antennae; four with 34m dishes, and one with a 70m dish.
     
  16. Macsen

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    SpaceX completed its static fire of B1058.4 this morning in preparation for the launch of the first Cargo Dragon 2 mission on Saturday morning.

    The 45th Weather Squadron currently only has 40% weather favorability, but it goes up to 80% Sunday morning.

    SpaceX has also put SXM 7 back on the manifest. It is now scheduled for next Thursday morning at 11:19am EST. It is not yet known which booster it will use.
     
  17. Macsen

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    Mars Pathfinder.jpg

    24 years ago today, Mars Pathfinder was launched atop a Delta II 7925 rocket from Pad 17B, Cape Canaveral.

    It was a lander that carried the first functional Mars rover, Sojourner. It would land at Ares Vallis, only a few hundred miles East of the Viking 1 lander, on July 4, 1997.

    I covered the rover long ago. The lander itself didn't have much to it, just communication equipment, a camera, and equipment to sample the atmosphere and look for magnetic fields. But it did have one of the most sophisticated computers yet launched in space, with a RISC 6000 CPU with 128 MB RAM.

    Sojourner itself was powered by a hardened Intel 8085.

    The primary function of the lander was to relay data from Sojourner back to Earth. At that point, there was nothing in orbit to do that job; Mars Global Surveyor, which was launched a month earlier, wouldn't arrive for another three months after Pathfinder landed.

    There was one teeny tiny major problem: the software on the lander was buggy. It would go into safe mode four times before receiving a patch that fixed it on July 21.

    The last communication with the rover was on September 27; it's believed the lander failed before the rover did, likely due to a battery failure. The final instruction to the rover was for it to return to the lander and remain nearby for a week, then drive around the lander until it failed.

    The lander was sighted by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007.
     
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  18. fatbastard

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    Sojourner was an answer to a trivia question on Common Knowledge earlier this week :)
     
  19. Macsen

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    Destination: Earth

    About five hours ago, Hayabusa2 released its return capsule. Release took place approximately 133,000 miles away. If all went well, the spring-powered release would've also spun up the return capsule to keep its trajectory stable as it approached atmospheric interface.

    The return capsule is scheduled to land around 12:30pm EST at Woomera Test Range in the Australian outback.

    At the time of the release, the probe was headed directly toward Earth. Shortly after release, Hayabusa2 did a trajectory correction maneuver (TCM-5) that will send it on a fly-by of a few hundred kilometers above Earth.

    It is currently targeting two additional asteroid fly-bys. The first, 2001 CC21, will take place in July 2026. The second, 1998 KY26, will take place in July 2031. The second fly-by will be preceded by two additional fly-bys of Earth in 2027 and 2028.
     
  20. Nacional Tijuana

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  21. Macsen

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    The new Cargo Dragon 2 has major differences from the Crew Dragon 2.

    The most important of those is the removal of crew features. It has a more basic life support system, and the crew seats and touch screens are replaced with cargo racks. Additionally, the SuperDraco engines are removed, leaving only the basic Draco RCS thrusters.

    The one thing that's not changed is capacity: the same 6,000 kg capacity as the original Dragon spacecraft.

    Each Cargo Dragon is planned to be reused five times. CRS-21 is scheduled to dock to the ISS at Harmony zenith this afternoon at 1:30pm EST.

    ********

    Remember NROL-44? The supposed next Delta IV Heavy flight?

    It's back on the manifest. It's currently scheduled for Thursday night at 5:50pm EST.

    SXM 7 has been taken off the manifest again. But NROL-108 is back on, currently pencilled in for next Thursday.
     
  22. Macsen

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    OAO-2.jpg

    52 years ago today, the second Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO-2, was launched atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket from Pad 36B, Cape Kennedy.

    OAO-2, dubbed Stargazer, was the first successful OAO telescope. OAO-1 reached orbit atop an Atlas-Agena rocket in April 1966, but lost control shortly after reaching orbit and failed to deploy its solar panels, depleting its batteries after three days.

    Stargazer was placed in a roughly 480-mile circular orbit at an inclination of 35°. It carried eleven different ultraviolet sensors run by various research partners. Among its discoveries were hydrogen halos around comets, and observations of the nova FH Serpentis, which appeared in 1970.

    The telescope operated for four years, failing in January 1973.
     
  23. Macsen

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    Will you people make up your minds?

    Whoever is editing schedules with regard to SXM 7 might need to lay off the sauce.


    The launch is still set for Friday at 11:20am EST. Last night, they conducted a test fire for its booster, B1051.7.

    This will be the first time a commercial payload is launched with a first stage that flight-proven.

    ********

    The next test flight for Russia's Angara rocket is planned for this coming Monday. It will be carrying a dummy payload.

    One really has to wonder when Russia will actually begin using Angara in place of Proton. There are only two Angara launches penciled in for 2021.

    Then again, they are also planning a different Proton replacement, Irtysh.

    Irtysh was originally referred to as Soyuz-5, but will be closer in relation to Zenit than the R-7. Where Angara is designed by Khrunichev, Irtysh is being designed by Progress, though Khrunichev is providing input for it as well.

    It's being designed to use Zenit's infrastructure at Baikonur Site 45, and will launch, among other things, the Orel spacecraft, the current planned successor of the Soyuz spacecraft.

    The first test launch is currently planned for 2022.
     
  24. Macsen

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    #1899 Macsen, Dec 8, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2020
    [​IMG]

    10 years ago today, the first Dragon spacecraft was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 40, Cape Canaveral.

    The mission was SpaceX COTS Test Flight 1, or C1. It was the first qualification flight for the Dragon spacecraft per the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, the testing precursor to the Commercial Resupply Service.

    The launch was actually subjected to a hold at T-2:48 due to a fault in the ordnance system. With the flight not being tied to the International Space Station, they were able to work the issue during the launch window, and launched the rocket about an hour and a half later during the second of three available launch opportunities only limited by TDRSS availability.

    The flight was only planned for two orbits. The Dragon spacecraft did a full battery of in situ tests, especially with its Draco reaction control system thrusters. It was placed in a 288x301 km orbit.

    A number of nanosats, including the first one for the U.S. Army, were deployed from the unpressurized trunk. Included among the ballast in the pressurized section was a wheel of Brouère cheese, a reference to a skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus.

    As an interesting note, the objectives were achieved despite SpaceX trimming a slight amount of the exhaust bell on the second stage's Merlin Vacuum engine due to cracking.

    The capsule splashed down in the Pacific, about 500 miles west of Baja California. This mission, and the launch before it, were so successful, that SpaceX would ask NASA to consolidate the objectives of Flights 2 and 3. Flight 2 was to be a fly-around of the ISS, while Flight 3 would actually approach for berthing at the station.

    Doing so, however, would result in the next flight having to wait 17 months.
     
  25. Macsen

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    SpaceX has cut the first high-altitude flight of Starship test article SN8 from 15km to 12.5km. They made their first countdown run yesterday, but one of the Raptor engines sent a hold command at T-1 second. So they stood down.

    No one has said if they will try again today yet, but they have opportunities all week.

    ********

    Astra Space has locked in Friday morning for their first attempt to launch Rocket 3.2. They have not announced yet if it will have a payload, but their three-hour window will open at 2pm EST.

    NROL-44 has a 90% chance of favorable weather for tomorrow, and SXM 7 has an 80% chance of favorable weather for Friday.

    ********

    For those who missed the news, Chuck Yeager died Monday night in a hospital in LA, aged 97. Apparently the cause was complications from a fall.
     

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