The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond

Merlin5 · 14 Apr 2014 at 20:40

I've just watched channel 4's two hour long lap of the planet show, it's really good!

Awesome seeing high quality footage of countries they pass over without cloud cover and seeing them just like you do on a map.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/live-from-space/4od#3666751

Glaucus · 14 Apr 2014 at 20:57

Falcon 9 scrubbed again, helium leak on first stage.
Next attempt is Friday.

Cosimo · 15 Apr 2014 at 07:24

The Falcon 9 scrub:

Next attempt at 20:25 BST on Friday.

Cosimo · 15 Apr 2014 at 14:52

Another Baikonur rollout:

Soyuz U with EgyptSat-2 due to launch at 17:20 BST tomorrow.

Cosimo · 17 Apr 2014 at 07:55

Soyuz U with EgyptSat-2 launch:

Cosimo · 17 Apr 2014 at 15:39

Nice time-lapse of Sentinel-1 being prepared and launched earlier this month:

Cosimo · 18 Apr 2014 at 07:02

Working towards the future:

Glaucus · 18 Apr 2014 at 15:07

Spacex flacon9 ISS resupply, is due to blast off at 19:25 our time, live stream starts at 18:15

Cosimo · 18 Apr 2014 at 16:10

Falcon 9 v1.1 and Dragon (CRS-3) on the pad:

Weather is a worry today and presently there is a 60% chance of violating weather rules.

Glaucus · 18 Apr 2014 at 16:11

Was going to say those clouds don't look good.

Glaucus · 18 Apr 2014 at 18:53

Oh my, grasshoppers big brothers first test flight. Basically a full sized falcon9r first stage. 250m on first flight.

Glaucus · 18 Apr 2014 at 20:26

And we're off. For a change.

Cosimo · 19 Apr 2014 at 07:42

Cosimo · 19 Apr 2014 at 08:09

Away we go:

The Dragon spacecraft will reach the ISS on Sunday with grapple scheduled for 12:14 BST (07:14 EDT).

Glaucus · 19 Apr 2014 at 08:19

Not only away, but seems it came back as well

360m/s might sound fast, but first stage separates at around 1900m/s

Last known state for rocket boost stage is 360 m/s, Mach 1.1, 8.5 km altitude and roll rate close to zero (very important!)

Data upload from tracking plane shows first stage landing in Atlantic was good! Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal. Several boats enroute through heavy seas...

Cosimo · 19 Apr 2014 at 13:36

Full launch with onboard footage:

Glaucus · 20 Apr 2014 at 18:09

John C houbolt died

Complications due to Parkinsons at the age of 95.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/john-c-houbolt-unsung-hero-of-the-apollo-program-dies-at-age-95/

Dr John C. Houbolt, so little known, but a man of great ideas and bravery, died April 15, 2014, at the age of 95

In the space race of the 1950s and '60s, the leading voices were rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and ... another guy. Household names included Neil Armstrong, Alan Shepard and ... oh, you know, the fellow who pushed the idea of a separate crew capsule and lunar lander. America wouldn't have won the race, the Eagle wouldn't have landed in 1969 and the Apollo 13 crew would never have survived if it weren't for an engineer from [the] NASA Langley Research Center. John C. Houbolt."

Without him NASA would never have made a moon landing. He was ridiculed and ignored and yet kept up his pressure to adopt LOR, without that moon landing would have been almost impossible.

Rip to a legend.

Cosimo · 21 Apr 2014 at 09:21

Dragon arrives:

Cosimo · 23 Apr 2014 at 08:40

Spacewalk today at around 14:20 BST (09:20 EDT). They will replace a backup computer on the S0 truss located on top of the Destiny laboratory module.

Details of the walk at 13:44 – 21:45:

The EVA is expected to last 2.5 hours.

Cosimo · 23 Apr 2014 at 14:04

Progress is scheduled to redock to Zvezda on April 25.

Spacewalk about to begin:

http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond