from the sticking-the-landing-is-the-hard-part dept.
SpaceX is scheduled to launch an ISS (International space Station) resupply mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Friday, April 8 at 4:43pm EDT (2043 UTC). According to a NASA press release, this will be the first time that SpaceX and Orbital ATK will both have spacecraft at the ISS. Further, it will mark there being six spacecraft docked at the ISS at the same time:
Although the SpaceX and Orbital ATK spacecraft have made 12 launches between them, this will be the first time that the two vehicles, contracted by NASA and developed by private industry to resupply the station, are connected to the space station at the same time. Orbital ATK's Cygnus, which launched to the station March 22, is already attached to the station's Unity Module. Dragon will take the port right next to it on the Earth facing side of the Harmony module. SpaceX made its first cargo resupply mission for NASA in 2012 and Orbital ATK followed with Cygnus the next year.
That vital role continues for this flight, which is the eighth cargo resupply mission for the Dragon. It will reach space on the power of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifting off Friday, April 8, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
[...] With the arrival of Dragon, the space station will tie the record for most vehicles on station at one time – six – which hasn't happened since 2011. Cygnus, two Soyuz and two Progress vehicles station are currently docked to the orbiting laboratory.
[...] One of the largest experiments loaded into Dragon will fly to space inside the unpressurized trunk section of the spacecraft. Compressed into a cylinder for launch, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module will be mounted to a different port on the station where it will expand to a length of 13 feet with a 10.6-foot diameter width.
Known as BEAM, the 3,000-pound module does not have rigid, heavy side panels. Instead, it is made of thick material designed to safely hold air inside while being strong enough to resist micrometeorite damage. The flight is meant to determine whether the concept offers designers a way to build habitation modules or other structures in the future that expand after launch to create much larger spacecraft for deep-space missions, such as a journey to Mars.
As in past launches, SpaceX plans to attempt a landing of the booster stage. Though it has successfully performed a land-based landing, so far it has been unable to safely land its booster on a barge.
More information can be found at the NASA Blog and on ArsTechnica .
(Score: 2) by bitstream on Friday April 08 2016, @02:50PM
If rockets could fly, this would be an airport. ^H^Hspaceport! :p
Anyway, I wonder if that Falcon 9 will do the rocket powered landing?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday April 08 2016, @03:24PM
You mean, "As in past launches, SpaceX plans to attempt a landing of the booster stage"?
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(Score: 2) by bitstream on Friday April 08 2016, @09:29PM
I mean like this [youtube.com].
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday April 08 2016, @04:04PM
I have an old friend working for Bigelow, so I find this especially cool.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday April 08 2016, @05:14PM
> does not have rigid, heavy side panels. Instead, it is made of thick material designed to safely hold air inside
I'm not sure why this is presented as innovative. Voskhod 2 [wikipedia.org] was 50 years ago, and included both an inflatable airlock and (drumroll) a fabric spacesuit.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday April 08 2016, @10:37PM
That in and of itself is not innovative. What is, is that while being inflatable it's proof against micrometeorites and offers significant radiation shielding.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by SDRefugee on Friday April 08 2016, @07:32PM
As I recall Bigelow had/has two of their large inflatable "space-stations" in orbit. Both were launched in 2006/2007. Dunno if they're still viable (or even up there still). That's 9-10 years in orbit. They apparently got a lift to orbit via a Russian launcher (don't they ALL nowadays :- ). Kinda cool Bigelow is finally getting one of their products up on the ISS being that they're here in Las Vegas...
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(Score: 3, Informative) by Snow on Friday April 08 2016, @09:16PM
They did it! They landed the first stage on the droneship. It was slightly off center, but otherwise perfect.
Congrats to the SpaceX team!
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday April 09 2016, @12:17AM
The barge is named Of Course I Still Love You. Here are articles that mention the successful landing of the first stage:
http://www.space.com/32517-spacex-sticks-rocket-landing-sea-dragon-launch.html [space.com]
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/spacex-launches-first-space-station-re-supply-accident-n553241 [nbcnews.com]
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_29743206/spacex-successfully-lands-booster-barge [denverpost.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 08 2016, @09:44PM
Who the fuck uses GMT? That's a time zone.
Hey grandpa, here's a clue: it's been UTC since, oh I don't know, 50 or more years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 09 2016, @12:13AM
Right, GMT is thoroughly outdated. Who indeed, uses time zones, and who uses GMT as a time zone any more? In the UK, it's been BST since the last Sunday in March.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Saturday April 09 2016, @01:23PM
Updated. Was quoted from one of the sources I referenced at the time, but cannot seem to find it now.
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