Posted on 05/25/2012 4:21:58 AM PDT by iowamark
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A privately bankrolled spacecraft is getting ever closer to the International Space Station for a historic docking today.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule contains a half-ton of supplies. The station's crew will use a robot arm to snare the Dragon.
On Thursday, the unmanned capsule came within 1½ miles of the space station in a practice fly-by. Early Friday, it returned to the neighborhood...
(Excerpt) Read more at actionnewsjax.com ...
Watch live now:
http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/003/status.html
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/003/status.html
“”FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2012 1120 GMT (7:20 a.m. EDT)
And the spacecraft has restarted its movement toward the space station, flying closer to the complex at a deliberate pace of about one-tenth of a mile per hour.
FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2012 1119 GMT (7:19 a.m. EDT)
Dragon is go to enter the safety zone around space station, which extends to a distance of 200 meters in all directions. But Andre Kuipers will call another hold at a distance of 150 meters, or 492 feet.””
I’ve been trying to keep up with this since the Falcon launched a few days ago. Unfortunately when it did, internet was out for about 10 minutes and I missed the whole thing. But I was awake for all the action yesterday, and I’m paying attention now.
I’m sure I’ll be keeping up mostly with their entire mission. And I’ll admit, there are times when my eyes get a little misty. This is the next giant leap for mankind.
My post on my Facebook: Watch your heads, there be Dragons flying...
Bump!
Here is the same video, but a little bigger on the screen:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html
Some cool links:
Real Time Satellite Tracking — http://www.n2yo.com/
The second one will let you track satellites traveling over your location so you can see them as they pass overhead.
Dragon is now within 200 meters.
Capture should now occur in daytime.
0910 EST for capture.
Excellent. Thanks for the cool link.
Bookmark.
Between yesterday’s testing and today, this is turning into a long wait. Still it’s fascinating that the Dragon is being remotely controlled by computer.
So...they delivered a half a pickup truck full of stuff!
Two points. It hasn’t been delivered yet. Capture should occur in less than an hour. Secondly, this is a test flight. They have approx. 1500 lbs of cargo onboard but the Dragon can deliver up to 7,000 lbs.
Probably appropriate for the first test flight not to load up the spacecraft with max weight of expensive equipment.
/johnny
/johnny
LOL!
This is way cool.
New estimate on grappling time: 9:40 am Central
For the CRS variant of Dragon, the ISS’s Canadarm2 will grapple its Flight-Releasable Grapple Fixture and berth Dragon to the station’s US Orbital Segment using a Common Berthing Mechanism.[39] The capsule does not have an independent means of maintaining a breathable atmosphere for astronauts and instead circulates in fresh air from the ISS.[40] For typical missions, Dragon is planned to remain berthed to the ISS for about 30 days, similar to the Japanese HTV uncrewed vehicle.[41] The CRS Dragon’s capsule can transport 3,310 kilograms (7,300 lb) of pressurized cargo to the ISS in a volume of 6.8 cubic metres (240 cu ft) and return 2,500 kilograms (5,500 lb) of cargo in that same volume.[42] The CRS Dragon’s trunk can transport 3,310 kilograms (7,300 lb) of unpressurized cargo in a volume of 14 cubic metres (490 cu ft), and can dispose of 2,600 kilograms (5,700 lb) of waste in that same volume by destructive re-entry.[42]
[edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_(spacecraft)
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