OrbitalHub

October 13, 2012

SpaceX CRS-1 Berthing

Posted by dj

From the SpaceX press kit:

[…] Expedition 33 crew member Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will use the station’s 17.6-meter (57.7-foot) robotic arm to reach for and grapple the Dragon spacecraft. Hoshide, with the help of Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA, will guide Dragon to the Earth-facing side of the station’s Harmony module. About two hours after it is grappled, Williams and Hoshide will swap places and Williams will gently install Dragon to Harmony’s Common Berthing Mechanism, enabling it to be bolted in place for its stay at the International Space Station.

The next day, crew will pressurize the vestibule between the station and Dragon and will open the hatch that leads to
the forward bulkhead of Dragon. Over the next two and a half weeks, the crew will unload Dragon’s payload and reload it with cargo that Dragon will bring back to Earth.

Credit: NASA/SpaceX

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October 8, 2012

SpaceX CRS-1 Launch

Posted by dj

From the SpaceX press release:

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) today successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the first official cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The launch went off on schedule at 8:35 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The SpaceX CRS-1 mission marks the first of at least 12 SpaceX missions to the space station under the company’s cargo resupply contract with NASA. On board the Dragon spacecraft are materials to support investigations planned for the station’s Expedition 33 crew, as well as crew supplies and space station hardware.

“We are right where we need to be at this stage in the mission,” said Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Technical Officer, SpaceX. “We still have a lot of work to do, of course, as we guide Dragon’s approach to the space station. But the launch was an unqualified success.”

Credit: NASA/SpaceX

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October 6, 2012

Computer Simulated Black Holes

Posted by dj

A team at NASA\’s Goddard Space Flight Center is using computational models to explore the mergers of supersized black holes.

Credit: NASA GSFC

SpaceX CRS-1 Static Fire Test

Posted by dj

SpaceX dixit:

On September 29, 2012, SpaceX completed a successful static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket\’s nine Merlin engines. During this test, SpaceX engineers ran through all countdown processes as if it were launch day. All nine engines fired at full power for two seconds while the rocket was held down to the pad. This is the last major all systems test in preparation for Falcon 9 and Dragon\’s next mission to the space station, targeted for October 7.

Credit: SpaceX