- #1
CAC1001
I have been following this for the last few days, they launched the Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon capsule on Tuesday, then Thursday had to perform a series of tests to make sure the Dragon spacecraft was working fine, now they are docking. They had to perform multiple tests on it to make sure everything was working okay, and as it turns out, there was apparently a flaw on the space station ITSELF which threw off the Dragon in its approach, so they had to move it back away from the ISS make some changes, and re-approach. At 9:56 AM EST, the ISS crew reached out with the space station's robotic arm and grabbed the capsule. They have now succeeded in docking it and are currently working on making usre various bolts are secure, pressurization checks, etc...they will open it up tomorrow. The Falcon 9 and Dragon are both capable of carrying humans, so this is a big deal. The Dragon right now has a load of supplies for the ISS to use.
What's really cool is how all the naysayers said Elon Musk didn't know what he was doing and would never succeed. He has thus far proven them wrong with goal after goal met, but this is the first really big-deal mission. It really seems like he is going to seriously reduce the cost of launching satellites, cargo, and astronauts into outer space. SpaceX's rockets are re-usable, more reliable, and cheaper. This is a historic moment, as it proves the viability of commercial spacecraft . The only other entities to accomplish such spacecraft are NASA, the Russian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, and the Japanese Space Agency. Provided all goes well, SpaceX will be able to start launching astronauts into space in a few years. A host of other companies are working on their own private spacecraft and I am sure SpaceX's success has given them all hope now as they know it's doable. SpaceX's next planned rocket is the Falcon Heavy, which provided it works fine, will be able to launch about twice the payload of the Space Shuttle for less than 1/10 the cost, something that beforehand was considered impossible. But Elon Musk has continually proven the naysayers wrong in accomplishing goal after goal, and the Falcon 9 is a major advancement in launch capabilities in terms of pricing and design, so I doubt SpaceX would make the claim unless they are positive here. The Falcon Heavy will also be able to launch more than twice the payload of the Boeing Delta IV Heavy. It basically is a larger rocket that will be made up of multiple Falcon 9 rockets. First launch of the Falcon Heavy i scheduled for late 2013 or 2014.
As a side note, James Cameron recently made a record-breaking dive to the bottom of the Marianna Trench (in a submersible which he designed too, he also has worked at designing special camera, both for movies and space exploration), making it the fourth time any craft has successfully dived down that far. He spent three hours down there, the longest ever (the last time any person went to the Challenger Deep (deepest part) was the U.S. Navy in 1960, two men for twenty minutes). Cameron was the first solo dive and the longest manned dive. The dive was the culmination of seven years of planning and the design and construction of a special submersible (Cameron is very big on ocean exploration, hence the movies The Abyss, Titanic and also the aquatic-based world of Avatar). This dive was really big-time as well in that not only is his craft revolutionary in design as far as submersibles go, but it is also private-sector, not government. And the deep sea is harder to explore than outer space (more humans have walked on the Moon, and for far longer, than have explored the bottom of the ocean), so that was also a big deal.
So in addition to a new era for space exploration ,we are also on the verge it seems of a new era in ocean exploration as well. NASA TV has been covering everything thus far, and tomorrow at 5:30 AM EST, they will broadcast the opening of the Dragon space capsule by the ISS crew.
What's really cool is how all the naysayers said Elon Musk didn't know what he was doing and would never succeed. He has thus far proven them wrong with goal after goal met, but this is the first really big-deal mission. It really seems like he is going to seriously reduce the cost of launching satellites, cargo, and astronauts into outer space. SpaceX's rockets are re-usable, more reliable, and cheaper. This is a historic moment, as it proves the viability of commercial spacecraft . The only other entities to accomplish such spacecraft are NASA, the Russian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, and the Japanese Space Agency. Provided all goes well, SpaceX will be able to start launching astronauts into space in a few years. A host of other companies are working on their own private spacecraft and I am sure SpaceX's success has given them all hope now as they know it's doable. SpaceX's next planned rocket is the Falcon Heavy, which provided it works fine, will be able to launch about twice the payload of the Space Shuttle for less than 1/10 the cost, something that beforehand was considered impossible. But Elon Musk has continually proven the naysayers wrong in accomplishing goal after goal, and the Falcon 9 is a major advancement in launch capabilities in terms of pricing and design, so I doubt SpaceX would make the claim unless they are positive here. The Falcon Heavy will also be able to launch more than twice the payload of the Boeing Delta IV Heavy. It basically is a larger rocket that will be made up of multiple Falcon 9 rockets. First launch of the Falcon Heavy i scheduled for late 2013 or 2014.
As a side note, James Cameron recently made a record-breaking dive to the bottom of the Marianna Trench (in a submersible which he designed too, he also has worked at designing special camera, both for movies and space exploration), making it the fourth time any craft has successfully dived down that far. He spent three hours down there, the longest ever (the last time any person went to the Challenger Deep (deepest part) was the U.S. Navy in 1960, two men for twenty minutes). Cameron was the first solo dive and the longest manned dive. The dive was the culmination of seven years of planning and the design and construction of a special submersible (Cameron is very big on ocean exploration, hence the movies The Abyss, Titanic and also the aquatic-based world of Avatar). This dive was really big-time as well in that not only is his craft revolutionary in design as far as submersibles go, but it is also private-sector, not government. And the deep sea is harder to explore than outer space (more humans have walked on the Moon, and for far longer, than have explored the bottom of the ocean), so that was also a big deal.
So in addition to a new era for space exploration ,we are also on the verge it seems of a new era in ocean exploration as well. NASA TV has been covering everything thus far, and tomorrow at 5:30 AM EST, they will broadcast the opening of the Dragon space capsule by the ISS crew.