YazataApr 20, 2022 07:22 PM (This post was last modified: Apr 20, 2022 07:36 PM by Yazata.)
The fourth operational Space Station crew rotation mission for NASA is getting ready. It's pencilled in for Saturday April 23, very early in the morning/late Friday night. But I don't think that a precise date is set yet, since they have to get Axiom-1 back and everything is dependent on the weather. (The day of launch is flexible, but the instantaneous launch-window each day is non-negotiable, since the Dragon has to match orbits with the Space Station.)
There will be a four person crew, two men and two women. The men are both NASA astronauts as is one one of the women. The other woman is Italian astronaut Samantha Christoforetti flying for the European Space Agency. She has been on the Space Station before where she famously fired up the first expresso machine in outer space (you gotta love the Italians!) and made the famous video where she explained in detail how the zero-G space toilets work (suction!).
B 1067.4, the Falcon 9 booster and the Crew Dragon rolled out to the pad yesterday. This will be B1067's fourth flight and it's a bit sooty, a dirty but still perfectly functional broomstick. Its earlier exploits were flying Crew-3, an ISS resupply mission and a communications satellite. Recovery will be on ASOG. This will be SpaceX's 127th booster recovery attempt.
The Crew Dragon capsule will be C212 on its first flight. Since the first crew to fly in each capsule traditionally names it, C212 is 'Freedom' and will keep that name for all of its future flights. If the numbering scheme is the same as the boosters, C212 means 'C' for capsule, '2' for Dragon 2, and '12' for its being the 12th one made. And B1067.4 means 'B' for booster, '1' for first stage, '0' a place-holder. '67' for 67'th Falcon 9 built, and '.4' for this being this booster's fourth flight (when it returns, it will be B1067.5 since its next flight at that point will be its fifth).
YazataApr 27, 2022 07:31 PM (This post was last modified: Apr 28, 2022 04:40 AM by Yazata.)
Well, Crew-4 performed perfectly. The four astronauts are currently in orbit performing a series of burns to match orbits with the Space Station. Docking is scheduled for 8:15 PM EDT (5:15 PM PDT, 12:15 AM UTC) tonight.
This launch is notable since it happened less than two days after the successful splashdown of Ax-1. They are trying to perfect the ability to perform a fast cadence.
And hard-working broomstick B1067.4 landing on ASOG and earning a .5 numbering suffix (since its next flight will be number 5). It's cool to see how close it came to the SpaceX 'X' in the middle of the circle on ASOG's deck. They are getting really precise landing boosters right where they want them, an ability that will be necessary when they start catching Superheavy boosters with those crazy tower catcher arms.
YazataApr 28, 2022 04:30 AM (This post was last modified: Apr 28, 2022 09:30 PM by Yazata.)
Crew 4 has successfully docked with the Space Station.
Very sci-fi nighttime video of the Dragon's draco thrusters firing as it approaches the Station.
It's apparent how the thrusters are being controlled by computer by how rapidly they cycle. Inside the capsule it's loud, very rapid banging like a crazy drum solo. Bam,bam, bametty bam...
Apr 20, 2022 07:22 PM
(This post was last modified: Apr 20, 2022 07:36 PM by Yazata.)
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