SpaceX Crew Dragon DM-2 to ISS [Doug Hurley]

[Dr Mordrid]

The weather may still be a problem over the weekend, we'll see.

[Dr Mordrid]

[Dr Mordrid]

Weather is GO

[Dr Mordrid]

ABC News/National Geographic coverage has begun

[Dr Mordrid]

Good ECLSS checkout (environmental control life support system.)

Nosecone/hatch cover opening.

[Umfriend]

Dang, they lost connection during the stage 1 landing phase... I love that bit...

[Dr Mordrid]

Orbital phasing burn coming up.

After that, testing the manual flight controls.

[Dr Mordrid]

Suits are off

[paulw]

Great launch. Watched it at breakfast time where I live. Well done SpaceX

[Dr Mordrid]

Bob & Doug dock at ISS Sunday morning at 1029 Eastern

They're doing 2 manual control tests, one already completed then another close to ISS.

Dragon C206 has been christened "Endeavour"

[Dr Mordrid]

Docking

https://youtu.be/21X5lGlDOfg

[Dr Mordrid]

What's it like to ride Falcon 9?

(02;30)

Benji Reed:What did it feel like riding on Falcon 9?


Doug Hurley: It never gets old talking about riding on Falcon 9.

From the time the engines lit, the first two and a half minutes to staging was about like we expected, except you can never simulate the Gs, so as the Gs built you could certainly feel those. Also, what I thought was really neat was how sensitive we were to the throttling of the Merlin engines. That was really neat. You could definitely sense that as we went transonic and broke Mach 1 we could definitely feel that. In fact I said it to Bob and then the next thing you know the call was made, and we didn't even need to look at the speed. You could tell just by how the rocket felt. It's a very pure flying machine.

The next thing that really stood out for me was first stage separation with the engine cutoff and that separation event. Going to zero G for split second and then the Merlin vacuum engine lighting. That was a pretty neat event. That was a highlight of the ascent for me. And then once the M-vac started, then it was that kind of driving fast, very fast, on a gravel road, is how it felt the rest of the way up. A little bit of vibrations, not anything that was really unpleasant, but you certainly knew that there was a powerful engine behind you at the time, and that obviously took us all the way to orbit about six minutes later. And once again the Gs and how the engine throttled to control the Gs and then straight to cut off, and then just like with Shuttle, you go from three, actually in this case we were more than three Gs, to zero Gs instantaneously, and we knew we made it to orbit.

Benji Reed: That's awesome. Sounds like the ultimate ride in a Batmobile with the jet engine turned on.

[Dr Mordrid]

Starting with Crew-2 (Post-Certification Mission 2) SpaceX will be able to fly both Flight Provenâ„¢ Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon vehicles for Commercial Crew.

https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/1268316718750814209

[Dr Mordrid]

On Wednesday NASA and SpaceX will select the date and landing zone where DM-2 will return to Earth, likely within a week. Possible landing zones include the Gulf coast of Florida between Tampa and Pensacola or the Atlantic coast of Florida between KSC and Jacksonville.

A few weeks later, likely early September, Crew Dragon Crew-1 will launch to ISS with a crew of 4

Spacecraft Commander: Michael S. Hopkins, NASA
Pilot: Victor J. Glover, NASA
Mission Specialist 1: Soichi Noguchi, JAXA (Japan)
Mission Specialist 2: Shannon Walker, NASA

[KRSESQ]

Does it seem likely that NASA will approve land-landings anytime soon? Failing that, I wonder what issues there would be in landing at a port outside the US?

("Not with OUR crew aboard," said NASA.)

edit: have they really been up there two months? Jeez, where's the time gone?