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The International Space Station received its first shipment from a private, Virginia-based company in more than two years Sunday following a sensational nighttime launch observed 250 miles up and down the East Coast.
Orbital ATK's cargo ship pulled up at the space station bearing 5,000 pounds of food, equipment and research.
"What a beautiful vehicle," said Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, who used the station's big robot arm to grab the vessel. The capture occurred as the spacecraft soared 250 miles above Kyrgyzstan; Onishi likened it to the last 195 meters of a marathon.
Last Monday's liftoff from Wallops Island was the first by an Antares rocket since a 2014 launch explosion. Orbital ATK redesigned its Antares rocket and rebuilt the pad. While the Antares was grounded, Virginia-based Orbital ATK kept the NASA supply chain open with deliveries from Cape Canaveral, Florida, using another company's rocket.
NASA is paying Orbital ATK and SpaceX to stock the station, but now SpaceX is grounded. The California company is investigating why one of its Falcon rockets exploded in a massive fireball during launch pad testing on Sept. 1.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday October 25 2016, @02:38PM
SpaceX is grounded. The California company is investigating why one of its Falcon rockets exploded in a massive fireball during launch pad testing on Sept. 1.
Anyone up to discuss? Last I heard the helium system burped and they were blaming pad procedures. I can imagine it... some He reg has a spot of water in it from condensation, maybe it was chilled and not properly flushed with N2 previously, pour in a bunch of supercooled O2 and it ices up just enough to stick at the wrong time, suddenly pops open or jams, shockwave pops a pipe or fitting or "water hammer" or heck just a bb sized bullet of ice propelled at 4000 psi can do some damage, and next thing you know they're trying to pressurize a liq O2 tank to 4000 psi and that makes a mess when it pops.
The thing I find odd is its all rumor and innuendo and they're gonna launch again soon but no official report on this incident. Which I bet will read very similar to the above paragraph.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday October 25 2016, @04:36PM
The thing I find odd is its all rumor and innuendo and they're gonna launch again soon but no official report on this incident. Which I bet will read very similar to the above paragraph.
We're spoiled by real time information. I wouldn't expect an official report until roughly six months after the accident, which would be March, 2017.
(Score: 2) by gman003 on Tuesday October 25 2016, @06:17PM
The leading hypothesis right now (at least as far as I know) is that a change to speed up the loading procedures allowed the formation of solid oxygen between the carbon-fiber overwrap and the metal liner of the helium tank (which, for efficiency, is positioned inside the LOX tank (a design trick not exclusive to SpaceX)). As the helium pressure increases during loading, it can squeeze out any liquid oxygen between the two layers, but solid oxygen crystals would remain, and solid oxygen in contact with carbon at over a ton per square inch of pressure is pretty much a guaranteed explosion.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 26 2016, @02:42PM
Yeah that's a believable series of events. That fits in with some of the rumors that its not a design or mfgr problem but a ground policy/procedure problem because all you gotta do is not fill the helium tank when its surrounded by solid O2 and you're all good. Heck they could flush the tank with gas He, fill the tank, the flood the compartment with slush and it would be OK as a ground procedure.
Could even be an intersection of our two theories. Usually filling the He tank is super boring even surrounded by solid O2 but this time someone on the ground didn't follow procedure and flush a line leading to water condensation leading to regulator hiccup leading to transient overpressure leading to carbon fibre + sol O2 = kaboom. That would explain some delay if there's two fundamental ground problems and gotta allocate blame / fix proportionately.
Something very similar between redundant IT / CS systems and redundant aerospace designs is the failure modes always involve long chains of ridiculously unlikely stuff that lead to worst possible outcome. Makes accident reports for aerospace and IT interesting to read, anyway.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 26 2016, @05:16AM
The thing I find odd is its all rumor and innuendo and they're gonna launch again soon but no official report on this incident.
If you afford a long, honest look at SpaceX it will become apparent to you that it is a hoax. Robbers these days not only wear suits and a tie, but they also smile for the camera.
Lots of CGI. Launchpads and testing sites "somewhere at the Atlantic". No independent verification of claims, which is something NASA can stop (a bit) worrying about once it "transfers" space responsibilities into "the private sector": this will be very convenient, as independent verification will become impossible because of "private sector secret stuff". This is hilarious, as there is zero independent verification now, where "space projects" are on taxpayer dollar.
Exactly how many people has SpaceX "sent to space"? Much talk, zero results. I smell a very, very big scam here.
(Score: 2) by Bogsnoticus on Wednesday October 26 2016, @05:55AM
With the way your is head buried so far up your arse, it's not a scam you're smelling.
Genius by birth. Evil by choice.