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Crew Dragon News

#21
Yazata Online
(Feb 12, 2020 12:03 AM)Yazata Wrote: The working launch date for the manned DM-2 mission is penciled in as May 7.

Indications are that May 7 is slipping. First, Russia's Roscosmos has said that NASA's telling them that the date is NET (not earlier than) May 20.

Quote:Duration is undecided for reasons unrelated to hardware. The ISS will be short handed after American astronauts Jessica Meir and Drew Morgan return and NASA's unsure whether they want the two DM-2 astronauts to remain on the Station for a longer time to replace them, or just serve as capsule test-pilots for a brief visit. The thing is, if they stay longer they will need to be trained up for their ISS mission tasks. That will delay the DM-2 mission. So the tradeoff is leaving the ISS short-handed vs. delaying DM-2.

NASA hasn't said anything officially about their decision, but appear to be clearly signalling it, saying that the two DM-2 astronauts are currently receiving training for ISS tasks including spacewalks.

https://twitter.com/NASA_Johnson/status/...7985183746

And another astronaut has specifically but unofficially confirmed on twitter that NASA is going for the longer-duration mission.

https://twitter.com/astro_g_dogg/status/...4095425536
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#22
Yazata Online
Jim Bridenstine has just officially announced that the manned DM-1 Crew Dragon mission is set for 4:32 PM EDT May 27.

Booster will be pristine new B1058. They will attempt to recover it on OCISLY.

https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/statu...5633841167

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1251194637542440960

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/dm2/

https://www.spacex.com/news/2020/04/17/c...-2-mission

https://twitter.com/johnkrausphotos/stat...1671476224

SpaceX photos

The astronauts training in a Crew Dragon


[Image: astrotraining.jpg]
[Image: astrotraining.jpg]



The capsule slated to fly on May 27.


[Image: demo2capsule.jpg]
[Image: demo2capsule.jpg]



NASA's very happy about finally flying astronauts from Cape Canaveral after nine years.


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/q4L3w8tCi94

B1058 at Cape Canaveral, sporting NASA's old 1960's-1970's vintage worm logo, revived for this mission. The Worm is back!


[Image: demo2worm.jpg]
[Image: demo2worm.jpg]

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#23
Yazata Online
NASA is planning a series of briefings for May 1, featuring an all-star cast: NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, the program manager and deputy program manager for Commercial Crew, the program manager for the Space Station, the two astronauts who will ride this thing, the Demo 2 flight director, the director of crew mission management and Gwynne Shotwell.

Starts 11:00 AM EDT and it will be streamed on NASA-Live.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-...ith-spacex

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
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#24
Yazata Online
Jim Bridenstine says that while he wants everyone to join NASA and SpaceX for the Demo-2 mission, he doesn't want lots of people coming to Cape Canaveral because of the coronavirus protocols.

All I can say is that NASA and SpaceX had better have damn good streams. Actually I hope that he lets Nasaspaceflight.com and Tim Dodd on the KSC grounds to do their streams as well. Streams are like Starlinks (and giant tents and Boca Chica boomlifts)... you can never have too many. Though I suppose that they could let NSF and Tim show the SpaceX video feed and put their own audio commentary on top of it, without having to physically be there within camera range of KSC's pad 39A..

https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/12...1480609795

Michael Baylor says

"The most highly anticipated launch since 2011 is set to occur without:

- Hundreds of thousands of spectators in attendance
- Hundreds of cheering SpaceX employees packed outside of their mission control
- A packed press site

Crazy times


https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/stat...3397189632

And here's a truly beautiful animation from SpaceX showing the mission. Notice how the astronauts don't arrive at the pad in NASA's familiar silver Astrovan. Instead they roll up sports car style in a four door Model X! (I've heard that Elon knows somebody at Tesla...) Though I bet the Astrovan is easier to get into an out of in a spacesuit.

Meanwhile they were busy practicing capsule recovery with a test capsule

https://twitter.com/Kyle_M_Photo/status/...5444487168


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/sZlzYzyREAI

gBb
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#25
Yazata Online
(Apr 21, 2020 02:43 AM)Yazata Wrote: NASA is planning a series of briefings for May 1, featuring an all-star cast: NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, the program manager and deputy program manager for Commercial Crew, the program manager for the Space Station, the two astronauts who will ride this thing, the Demo 2 flight director, the director of crew mission management and Gwynne Shotwell.

Starts 11:00 AM EDT and it will be streamed on NASA-Live. 

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-...ith-spacex

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

Here's a video of the first part of the May 1 briefing (featuring Gwynne answering a question from Hawthorne with a couple of Merlin engines behind her)


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/MUd2x8Yr6jo

And here's the crew press conference


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Uab-trHm9ms

Demo 2 press kit with lots of information

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files...ss_kit.pdf

Here's a NASA media advisory with a schedule of the upcoming media events... I'm hoping that most of it will be streamed on NASA-Live

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-...astronauts

May 01, 2020
MEDIA ADVISORY M20-056
NASA to Provide Coverage of SpaceX Commercial Crew Test Flight with Astronauts

Credits: NASA

NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the agency’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station. These activities are a part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which is working with the U.S. aerospace industry to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil for the first time since 2011.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting 4:32 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 27, for the launch of the Demo-2 flight, which will be the first time a commercially built and operated American rocket and spacecraft will carry humans to the space station. The launch, as well as other activities leading up to the launch, will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dragon is scheduled to dock to the space station at 11:29 a.m. Thursday, May 28.

This will be SpaceX’s final test flight of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and will provide data on the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon spacecraft and ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking and landing operations.

The test flight also will provide valuable data toward NASA certifying SpaceX’s crew transportation system for regular flights carrying astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX currently is readying the hardware for the first rotational mission, which would happen after data from this mission is reviewed for NASA’s certification.

All media participation in these news conferences will be remote except where specifically listed below; only a limited number of media will be accommodated at Kennedy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Media who will be accommodated in person for specific events will be notified in writing in the coming days. Please note that the Kennedy Press Site News Center facilities will remain closed to all media throughout these events for the protection of Kennedy employees and journalists.

To participate in the briefings by phone, reporters must e-mail ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov no later than two hours prior to each event.

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 coverage is as follows. All times are EDT and will be updated online:

Wednesday, May 20

· Time TBD - Crew arrival news conference at Kennedy, with the following participants (limited in-person media only):

o NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

o Bob Cabana, director, Kennedy Space Center

o NASA astronaut Robert Behnken

o NASA astronaut Doug Hurley

Wednesday, May 20

· Approximately 6 p.m. or one hour after Flight Readiness Review completion – Post-Flight Readiness Review briefing at Kennedy, with the following representatives:

o Doug Loverro, associate administrator, NASA Human Exploration and Operations

o Kathy Lueders, manager, NASA Commercial Crew Program

o Kirk Shireman, manager, International Space Station Program

o Benji Reed, director of crew mission management, SpaceX

o Norm Knight, deputy director, NASA Johnson Space Center Flight Operations

A media phone bridge will be available for this event.

Friday, May 22

· Time TBD - Virtual Demo-2 Crew engagement at Kennedy, with the following participants

o NASA astronaut Robert Behnken

o NASA astronaut Doug Hurley

A media phone bridge will be available for this event.

Monday, May 25

· Time TBD or one hour after Launch Readiness Review completion – Prelaunch briefing at Kennedy, with the following representatives:

o Kathy Lueders, manager, NASA Commercial Crew Program

o Kirk Shireman, manager, International Space Station Program

o Hans Koennigsman, vice president, Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceXNorm Knight, deputy director, NASA Johnson Space Center Flight Operations

o Mike McAleenan, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron

A media phone bridge will be available for this event.

Tuesday, May. 26

· 10 a.m. - Administrator Countdown Clock Briefing (limited in-person media only)

o NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

o Bob Cabana, director, Kennedy Space Center

o Astronaut representative

Wednesday, May. 27

· 12:15 p.m. – NASA TV launch coverage begins for the 4:32 p.m. liftoff

· 6 p.m. – Administrator postlaunch news conference at Kennedy, with the following representatives:

o NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

o Kathy Lueders, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program

o SpaceX representative

o Kirk Shireman, manager, International Space Station Program

o Astronaut Office representative

A media phone bridge will be available for this event.

Thursday, May. 28

· 11:29 a.m. – Docking (NASA Television will have continuous coverage from launch to docking)

The deadline for media to apply for accreditation for this launch has passed, but more information about media accreditation is available by emailing ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.

The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station. This could allow for additional research time and increase the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s testbed for exploration, including helping us prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

For launch countdown coverage, NASA's launch blog, and more information about the mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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#26
Yazata Online
And here's the third part of the May 1 Briefing, with probably the most information. Lots of information about the design and manufacture of the space suits, the control panel design, what the astronauts will be doing when in orbit, how the vehicle approaches the space station, what parts will be automated and what parts will be manual, capsule communications, mission timelines, preparations for the mission, limitations on how long the vehicle can remain in orbit, what cargo the Crew Dragon can carry, weather considerations, coronavirus precautions, and lots of geeky stuff.


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/NVqy7wnkaEI
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#28
Yazata Online
Know your DM-2 Crew:

What are they most looking forward to?

Two words: Celebratory vomiting!

(First time I ever heard those two words used together in a sentence.)

They explain it and it actually makes sense. When their scary reentry concludes and they splash down, and their capsule rocks and bobs in the ocean swells, they will probably get seasick. But they will be so happy that everything worked and there will be such a big release of tension that they actually look forward to it!


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/gu4o5KgnAQM
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#30
Yazata Online
OCISLY has left Port Canaveral under tow on its way to the DM-2 booster recovery zone out in the Atlantic.

But it's starting to look like there's a strong chance that DM-2 will be moved from Wednesday May 27 to its backup day on Saturday May 30, because of weather.

https://www.patrick.af.mil/Portals/14/We...095215-737

Due to coronavirus, the press center is closed and NASA has only provided a limited number of press credentials giving access to the good viewing spots at Kennedy Space Center. I feared that these would all go to the 'usual suspects' like CNN and the broadcast networks. Well, I'm very pleased to report that not only has NASA given nasaspaceflight.com (the space geeks) press credentials, they have assigned them a very desirable and highly-sought spot near the iconic countdown clock. I think that's very cool and it says something very positive about Jim Bridenstine and his media people. They are aware of and appreciative of the alternative space-enthusiast media.

NSF will be taking good advantage of their NASA credentials. They plan 9 hours of live streaming coverage on the 27th (or 30th if necessary). Special guests, expert commentary and all kinds of stuff. The astronauts will be driving out to the pad (in a Tesla model X!) on a road that passes right by this choice camera location, so you will see that too.

Edit: Twitter post by Karen Nyberg - recently retired NASA astronaut (she flew on the Shuttle and on Soyuz) and DM-2 astronaut Doug Hurley's wife. The post shows their son looking down on his dad's spaceship from the window of a NASA gulfstream corporate jet at the end of their flight from Houston to Cape Canaveral.

https://twitter.com/AstroKarenN/status/1...0013857793

And Elon just posted this very beautiful picture on twitter (SpaceX photo):


[Image: EYzhy0AU8AAJxRa?format=jpg&name=large]
[Image: EYzhy0AU8AAJxRa?format=jpg&name=large]

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