US to Resume Manned Spaceflight in May

[publiusr]

Americaspace.com has a couple of articles that compare and contrast the ride quality of different LVs.

Return in August...allowing spacewalks for some battery swaps.

 

[Crazyewok]

We so very need this. I miss the shuttle.

In some ways, the 1990’s was the best decade since Apollo: great comets, storm chasing when roads were not crowded—there was a spirit of the age.

Now it feels as if internal combustion engines will not work—and horse drawn carriages filled with lye/lime are to take the place of cars

I hated the shuttle. It was a dangerous death trap and example of why politicians should have no say on how a ship is designed.

The money sunk into that white elephant and the PR disasters it caused put NASA back decades.

 

[XCV330]

We so very need this. I miss the shuttle.

In some ways, the 1990’s was the best decade since Apollo: great comets, storm chasing when roads were not crowded—there was a spirit of the age.

Now it feels as if internal combustion engines will not work—and horse drawn carriages filled with lye/lime are to take the place of cars

An electric sedan can go faster 0 to 60 than a Ferarri Testarosa could 30 years ago, without having to change gears as fast as Teo Fabi. We're on the breaking wave of a sea change in how people get from point a to point b, and the decline and end of IC engines will be part of that. It is going to put a lot of mechanics out of business, yes. It's going to change how cars get made. The range thing and charge times are an issue but its getting worked out. The main issue I see for electrics right now is the charging infrastructure for condos, apartments and homes without garages. That's something that will need to be addressed soon. I thought it would by hydrogen or biobutenol that ended up winning the new format war, but electrics it is.

There's things about the shuttle I miss. It was a magnificently complicated vehicle. But I also remember watching it explode as a 7th grader in 86, and it dawned on me I had met Judith Resneck in elementray school. There wasn't a launch after that I didn't find myself trying to hold my breath till those SRB's separated. I wish they had been able to keep it running awhile after 2011, but I also sometimes feel that if they didn't shut it down they would have attempted to keep the system going forever, as it ate up budget and the development teams from NASA and ESA for Orion keep dragging their asses.

 

[publiusr]

I had thought reusability would be in the form of fly-back boosters...or maybe pressure-feds. That was what Beal tried to do. When he quit, I thought that was it for private space. Then this guy “Elon” something shows up.

He’ll quit soon enough, I thought. Then too, I didn’t think much of the Apple IIe...

 

[XCV330]

I had thought reusability would be in the form of fly-back boosters...or maybe pressure-feds. That was what Beal tried to do. When he quit, I thought that was it for private space. Then this guy “Elon” something shows up.

He’ll quit soon enough, I thought. Then too, I didn’t think much of the Apple IIe...

Yeah, 2000 seemed a really bleak year for space. But in retrospect it's about the time things really started to turn around.

 

[Mysterion]

Bob and Doug are currently due for re-entry this coming Sunday, 2 August. This will be the first "splash-down" since during the Ford administration.

 

[Marc]

Bob and Doug are currently due for re-entry this coming Sunday, 2 August. This will be the first "splash-down" since during the Ford administration.

Though they might need the barf bags after landing if the seas are rough due to the weather.

Then following a successful landing the capsule will undergo a refurb and is scheduled for a second launch in late September.

Keeping it all in the family, Bob Behnken's wife will be part of a four person crew on that mission.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/spacex-astronauts-splashdown-1.5670789

 

[publiusr]

Now that they are safe, we will see perhaps a new burst disk and see the Dracos fire without a capsule explosion.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

It's pretty exciting......

 

[Marc]

Bit of a story behind the small U.S flag that came back with the Dragon Crew.

It first flew aboard STS001 and the went upto the ISS and became a prize for the first commercially launched crew to reach the space station.

 

[publiusr]

A great week of space news, what with the hop test and Dragon recovery

 

[Marc]

Boeing and NASA are looking to December for another test flight on their reusable capsule.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/28/b...try-at-uncrewed-orbital-demonstration-flight/