Space X is going to try to launch people today

[AZRedhawk44]

Obama is probably unhappy.

He worked SO hard to take the USA out of space as part of his efforts to diminish this country, and here we are, resuming manned space flight under Trump.

As much as I hate Obama, he did do well by killing Ares.

Ares was basically a Space Shuttle era SRB as a single candle stack, with the Orion capsule on top of it.

SRB's are horrifically unsafe.  No throttle control, FTS turns it into a poisonous highly flammable event that will likely damage parachutes on the crew capsule.

I'm eagerly awaiting to hear from these two Shuttle veterans, if the ride up on F9 with its liquid fueled engines, was smoother than the dual SRB ride on Shuttle.  The acoustic environment of Shuttle was very demanding.  They certainly looked quite comfortable during launch.

[WLJ]

The shuttle was originally meant to have liquid fuel boosters but budget cuts in the 70s forced them to switch to solids

[Ben]

Space X is using Skinny Fuel.

[AZRedhawk44]

Just watched a replay of the docking.

Really disappointed in how sloppy the design of the IDA came out.  All those hoses all over the place, nobody took ducting and air cycle into account.  And the door retention in the open position is underwhelming.  Should be more out of the way.

[WLJ]

I'm eagerly awaiting to hear from these two Shuttle veterans, if the ride up on F9 with its liquid fueled engines, was smoother than the dual SRB ride on Shuttle.  The acoustic environment of Shuttle was very demanding.  They certainly looked quite comfortable during launch.

Spotted this on wiki

Launching in the Dragon 2 spacecraft was described by astronaut Bob Behnken as "smooth off the pad" but "we were definitely driving and riding a dragon all the way up... a little bit less g's [than the Space Shuttle] but more 'alive' is probably the best way I would describe it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_2

[WLJ]

Watched the June 3rd launch and the landing barge video didn't cut out during the booster landing so the cut out is hit or miss.

BTW: Love the names they give the barges (spaceport drone ship)
Of Course I Still Love You
Just Read The Instructions

Two more are under construction

[makattak]

BTW: Love the names they give the barges (spaceport drone ship)
...
Two more are under construction

That should be the name of the next one.

[WLJ]

On 23 January 2015, during repairs to the ship following the unsuccessful first test, Musk announced that the ship was to be named Just Read the Instructions,[11] with a sister ship planned for west coast launches to be named Of Course I Still Love You.[12] On 29 January, SpaceX released a manipulated photo of the ship with the name illustrating how it would look once painted.[13] Both ships are named after two General Contact Units, spaceships commanded by autonomous artificial intelligences, that appear in The Player of Games, a Culture novel by Iain M. Banks.[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_spaceport_drone_ship

[makattak]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_spaceport_drone_ship

Ah. I had no idea about the book. Makes sense.

Still are great names, even without the context.

[WLJ]

Yeah I didn't either until I just came across that,

[lee n. field]

Both ships are named after two General Contact Units, spaceships commanded by autonomous artificial intelligences, that appear in The Player of Games, a Culture novel by Iain M. Banks.

Love it.

(Not a huge reader of Ian M. Banks, but am familiar with The Culture universe.)

[HankB]

The shuttle was originally meant to have liquid fuel boosters but budget cuts in the 70s forced them to switch to solids

A hugely expensive second launch facility was built on the left coast (politics) - and immediately mothballed. BIG hit to the budget.

A desire to "go green" caused the first shuttle disaster because NASA switched to an ecologically friendly insulating foam on the fuel tank.

And the jointed SRBs - rather than a solid tube - which caused the second disaster were inflicted on the shuttle, again due to politics.

NASA and politicians are a terrible mix when it comes to money AND science management.

[MillCreek]

A hugely expensive second launch facility was built on the left coast (politics) - and immediately mothballed. BIG hit to the budget.

That was Vandenberg, correct?

[WLJ]

A hugely expensive second launch facility was built on the left coast (politics) - and immediately mothballed. BIG hit to the budget.

A desire to "go green" caused the first shuttle disaster because NASA switched to an ecologically friendly insulating foam on the fuel tank.

And the jointed SRBs - rather than a solid tube - which caused the second disaster were inflicted on the shuttle, again due to politics.

NASA and politicians are a terrible mix when it comes to money AND science management.

A hugely expensive second launch facility was built on the left coast (politics) - and immediately mothballed. BIG hit to the budget.

A desire to "go green" caused the first shuttle disaster because NASA switched to an ecologically friendly insulating foam on the fuel tank.

And the jointed SRBs - rather than a solid tube - which caused the second disaster were inflicted on the shuttle, again due to politics.

NASA and politicians are a terrible mix when it comes to money AND science management.

Yep, Vandenberg. One thing to note though is that launching from the West coast cuts down on payload capacity a bit.

You got the next two reversed. The 2nd shuttle disaster (Columbia) was cause by foam coming off the tank and striking the shuttle. The 1st (Challenger) was cause by a leaking joint on a booster.  

[AZRedhawk44]

Vandy launches never go east.  They always go south, for polar orbit.  The big motivator for polar orbits is spy satellite deployment, to get full latitude observation.

You can't really do polar orbits from FL, because you overfly Cuba.  Only recently have SpaceX and ULA offered FL based polar launches due to mass optimizations and new flight trajectories that avoid Cuba.

As such, Earth's rotational speed cannot aid in making orbit and you lose a small amount of peak efficiency for total payload.  This is why the French launch from French Guiana in South America.

[Fly320s]

Watched the June 3rd launch and the landing barge video didn't cut out during the booster landing so the cut out is hit or miss.

Explanation of why the video cuts out.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH75bVG7HBo

[Ben]

A hugely expensive second launch facility was built on the left coast (politics) - and immediately mothballed. BIG hit to the budget.

SLC6 was never mothballed. It launched titans and most recently deltas. It continues as one of vandenberg's active launch complexes AFAIK.

Edit: sorry, athena, not titans. Titan IVs spacelifted off slick 4.

[kgbsquirrel]

Vandy launches never go east.  They always go south, for polar orbit.  The big motivator for polar orbits is spy satellite deployment, to get full latitude observation.

You can't really do polar orbits from FL, because you overfly Cuba.  Only recently have SpaceX and ULA offered FL based polar launches due to mass optimizations and new flight trajectories that avoid Cuba.

As such, Earth's rotational speed cannot aid in making orbit and you lose a small amount of peak efficiency for total payload.  This is why the French launch from French Guiana in South America.

The big benefit is you can setup a precessing orbit that keeps the satellite always in sunlight.  Continuous power is important when your radar mapping the earth.  This amazing orbit also happens to be directly over the terminator of the day and night sides so any optical observation has wonderful shadows to help in height estimations, etc.  Fun times.

[RocketMan]

And... NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are back on Earth after a successful de-orbit, re-entry and splashdown.  By all accounts they are in fine condition.  There were some concerns about elevated propellant residual fume levels in the service section of the Endeavor spacecraft.  They purged that area for about a half hour before the astronauts exited the spacecraft.
Lots of lookie-loos in private boats around the recovery craft, many actually getting too close and interfering with operations.  One boat with a "Trump 2020" flag went sailing by in the foreground while the Spacex recovery fast boats were conducting their operations.

[MechAg94]

I saw splash down, but didn't stick around for more than that.  Good to see everything work out for them.

[makattak]

I saw splash down, but didn't stick around for more than that.  Good to see everything work out for them.

Me too. Was very glad to see everything function well. Looks like the U.S. back in the launching (people) business.

[makattak]

Lots of lookie-loos in private boats around the recovery craft, many actually getting too close and interfering with operations.  One boat with a "Trump 2020" flag went sailing by in the foreground while the Spacex recovery fast boats were conducting their operations.

Given Elon's apparent "red pill"-ing, are we sure that wasn't another SpaceX ship?

[RocketMan]

Given Elon's apparent "red pill"-ing, are we sure that wasn't another SpaceX ship?

I'm sure it was a private craft not affiliated with Spacex.  But it sure would have been a hoot if it had been a Spacex boat.   

[Perd Hapley]

I guess they may as well keep the space suits on...

[RocketMan]

The USS Private Enterprise