SpaceX (general discussion)

NASA, SpaceX Update Upcoming Commercial Crew Flights

Danielle Sempsrott Posted on October 7, 2021

NASA and SpaceX leadership provided an update Oct. 6 as part of the agency’s Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station – the third crew rotation flight that will carry an international crew of four astronauts on a science expedition to the microgravity laboratory as part of the Commercial Crew Program.

NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer will launch aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft launching on a Falcon 9 rocket on its way to the space station. The mission is scheduled to lift off Saturday, Oct. 30, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew-3 mission will fly a new Crew Dragon spacecraft, and will be the first mission to fly a previously used nosecone.

Crew-3 astronauts also will provide an update on their upcoming mission at 2 p.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 7, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas prior to going into standard preflight quarantine ahead final launch preparations.

Launch on Oct. 30 would have Crew-3 arriving at the space station early the next day after an approximate 22-hour journey for a short overlap with the astronauts who flew to the station as part of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission.

Prior to launch, NASA and SpaceX will complete a final dress rehearsal for the mission, and continue reviewing data as a part of the standard mission reviews. In support of Crew-3, SpaceX implemented several improvements to the Crew Dragon system based on knowledge gained from previous flights, including making a software change to build in more communications robustness against radiation effects while docked, adding more cleaning techniques to cut down on foreign object debris, improving computer performance during re-entry, and enhancing the spacecraft’s docking procedures and mechanisms to mitigate hardware interference on the International Space Station side of the interface.

NASA and SpaceX also have been working to conduct joint inspections of the waste management system on the Crew-2 spacecraft at the space station following an observation during a non-NASA mission. Based on the inspections, teams will limit the use of the waste system during the return flight of Crew-2. Earlier this year, the Dragon spacecraft supporting the Crew-2 mission completed a short port relocation flight around the International Space Station, and all systems on the spacecraft performed normally during its undocking and re-docking maneuver. SpaceX will implement a small design improvement on the new Dragon spacecraft supporting the Crew-3 mission and all future spacecraft to make the system even more robust.

Through data sharing with SpaceX, NASA also has gained additional insight into higher-altitude flights of Crew Dragon, the performance of the thermal protection system, and more data on micrometeoroid environment of space helping to improve modeling. In addition, NASA learned more about the environmental control and life support system on an extended in-orbit mission with crew continuously on board, including the system’s carbon dioxide scrubber. On all missions, including cargo flights, SpaceX continues to recover and examine parachutes for continued analysis by NASA, ultimately driving up the safety of all missions.

After Crew-3 arrival to the space station, return of the Crew-2 mission with NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, is planned for early November. This Friday, the Crew-2 spacecraft is targeted to break the record set by Crew Dragon Resilience as it passes 168 days in orbit.

Missions teams continue to target April 15, 2022, for the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the space station for a six-month science mission aboard the microgravity laboratory.

Crew-4 will be commanded by Kjell Lindgren with Bob Hines as pilot, both NASA astronauts. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will be a mission specialist and command the station’s Expedition 68 crew, while the remaining crew member has yet to be named. Crew-3 astronauts are set to return to Earth in late April 2022 following a similar handover with Crew-4.

NASA also announced it has reassigned astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station. NASA decided it was important to make these reassignments to allow Boeing time to complete the development of Starliner while continuing plans for astronauts to gain spaceflight experience for the future needs of the agency’s missions.

NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps remains assigned to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 for a long-duration science mission aboard the International Space Station. It is important for Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada and Jeanette Epps to gain their first spaceflight experience, and Epps currently is cross training with the team on the Crew Dragon system. There are many factors in play before any crew assignment is ready, including discussions with our international partners and Multilateral Crew Operations Panel approval. All three crew members have ample time to train on commercial crew systems and become fully prepared for their missions to the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Mike Fincke, and Suni Williams will continue to provide experience for Boeing as the agency prepares for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test and Starliner-1 missions. Additional Boeing flight assignments will be made in the future.
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NASA, SpaceX Update Upcoming Commercial Crew Flights – Commercial Crew Program

blogs.nasa.gov blogs.nasa.gov
 
this arrived at Starbase
look like some kind protective gear
any Idea what this is ?

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It's easier to ask the question here than at NASAspaceflight.com.

What the heck is happening to SpaceX with FAA and EPA ? Is it just me, or is Musk running into
- FAA, because of rocket launches encroaching air space
- EPA, because rocket fuel "methane" is a powerful greenhouse gas ?

Let me develop this further.

Musk has made clear he needs a lot of methane to fuel a lot of BFR-Starship flights - because his Mars project needs a lot of mass thrown in orbit.

And then the EPA hears "lot of methane"; the FAA hears "lot of rocket launches" - and both weight in Boca Chica future plans ?

Or am I totally wrong ?
 
~40% of CH4 Emissions from Natural Gas Gathering is leaked into the atmosphere before being burned:

MethaneEmissionFrmNG.jpg

Source:

CH4 is a clean energy source for most combustion processes (not ICE) but need to be properly handled to prevent it from being simply vented into the atmosphere. I can see why the EPA & FAA are interested to know what will be the details of SpaceX process. This is not an anti-SpaceX move!
 
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Former SpaceX engineers decided that energy sources for a colony on Mars can be used now and much closer - at home on Earth, their idea is a small microreactor that can provide electricity and heat to remote settlements, disaster areas and bases. A compact, portable, "inexpensive" one-megawatt nuclear microreactor that can power 1,000 homes and uses helium coolant instead of water is a new development by California-based radiant. The nuclear microreactor is designed to fit in a shipping container and can be easily transported by air, ship or road, meaning it will provide affordable energy to the public. The company managed to raise $ 1.2 million from investors to continue the development of compact reactors. These reactors are specifically designed to meet the requirements of maximum available portability, rapid deployment and efficiency. Despite the declared universality and security of the solution, remote settlements and areas of natural disasters at this stage are considered the most priority areas. Its design also uses advanced particulate fuel that does not melt and can withstand higher temperatures compared to traditional nuclear fuel. This will eliminate not only the emissions of current diesel generators, but also the need to constantly bring tons of fuel for this purpose. The military is another key market; several such generators can power an entire military base in a remote area for four to eight years before their "improved particulate fuel" is consumed, eliminating not only the harmful emissions of current diesel generators, but also the need to constantly supply fuel for them. The company claims to have received preliminary patents for its ideas for refueling reactors and effectively removing heat from the reactor core.
 
President Macron has recently mentionned that France aeging 58 reactors may be backed, and gradually replaced, by small and compact ones. Not completely unlike what is described above. The bottom line is that the 58 existing reactors won't be replaced by 58 EPR, considering the issues and cost with that one.
 
This is not an anti-SpaceX move
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Of course it is not - not in a sense of "a dark conspiracy by the evil US government to kill SpaceX".

More like bureaucracy coming in the way of SpaceX for specific reasons - "air traffic" and "environment" potential issues related to Boca Chica future growth.

FAA job is to ensure the ten thousands BFR-Starship launches mentionned by Musk don't mess with airline traffic in the future.

Nobody wants an ascending BFR-Starship pulling a MH17 right into a 777 with 400 passengers flying above. And if that sounds stupid, a lot of midair collisions were, with perfect hindsight, absolutely unbelievable - and avoidable.
Things like a Constellation and a DC-7 colliding, of all places, over the Grand Canyon. Or a Tu-154 and a cargo 757 colliding over Lake Constance at
31 000 feet. Ain't the sky large enough ?

EPA job is to ensure Boca Chica doesn't pull some kind of "Seveso epic scale disaster" at Boca Chica.

Now I also understand it can be rather frustrating to see Musk glorious Mars plans delayed by such Earth-bound concerns.

In fact it is kind of tribute to the sheer scale of what he intends to do with BFR-Starship. The said scale is so enormous, it push boundaries even NASA Cape Canaveral at the height of Apollo, never reached by a long shot.

For the sake of comparison, it was as if Merritt / The Cape tried to launch scores of NOVA, Saturn V or Saturn C-8 monster rockets in rapid succession - well for frack sake, at a rate of one per week if not one per day.

The shortest timespan between two Apollos was in 1969, barely three months.

For Shuttle launches I think they once achieved ten days - in the weeks before the Challenger disaster...
 
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Starship Round-Up.

Ship 20 RVac Static Fire Milestone.
Elon cites potential November target.
Mechazilla Chopsticks Installation.
Booster 5 and Ship 21 preps, and more.

Vids and Pics via Mary (@BocaChicaGal) and Nic (@NicAnsuini). Words by me.

www.nasaspaceflight.com

Ship 20 completes milestone RVac Static Fire - Musk cites ambitious path to launch - NASASpaceFlight.com

Ship 20 completed another milestone with Static Fire testing on Thursday evening. Following a preburner…
www.nasaspaceflight.com www.nasaspaceflight.com
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1451642258432929800
View: https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1451642258432929800
 
For moment the HLS mock up is scrapped

Work on Tank B2.1 continue, what SpaceX is planning with a "hybrid" starship and Superheavy parts is unclear for moment.

Superheavy cables get aerodynamic covers. also there install a cover around Raptors engines
 
Hot news
while Frankencrane is dismantle for Transport

SpaceXcrane arrive at site in piece
FC4SZ92WUAMG0yJ
 
I wish Elon would expand to Alabama. Bezos is going to Kansas…but Birmingham….in North Central Alabama, is a port of call.

In West Jefferson County we have Birmingport, a massive underutilized port with huge cranes. It is how nearby G&G Steel in Cordova moved their SLS core pathfinder. (Warrior River Steel). Jason Davis wrote a Feb. 17, 2016 article for THE PLANETARY SOCIETY called “SLS Mock-up Finds Path through Southern U.S.”

The plant dwarfs the near SuperHeavy sized core. We have two stainless steel plants near Mobile, where upstart Breeze Airways took possession of an Alabama built Airbus.

Leave the dirt-pile Elon!
 
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SpaceX current progress
129 Falcon 9 flight with 87 first stage returns
5 Crew Dragon Flight with total 18 Astronauts into Orbit or ISS
and launch 1844 Starlink Satellites

Blue Origin progress
0 New Glenn flights
2 New Shepard with total 8 persons.
0 launch Kupier Satellites (under Amazon)

Boeing
1 Failed Starliner Testflight...
 
However, the combination of a rocket launch shortly after sunrise and a relatively rare, thick fog layer right at the surface in Florida combined for something special on Saturday. It made the liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket look otherworldly, as if it were a scene in a science fiction movie.
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arstechnica.com

A routine Starlink launch turned into something otherworldly this weekend

SpaceX may conduct a record 30 orbital launches this year.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
 

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