SpaceX and other space stuff

[StereoPlayer]

I think the capsule interior looks awesome.

I seem to recall the video feed discussing the course correction engines. How when they add two different chemicals together they self ignite.
I could be wrong...I usually am...but that was interesting.

I love seen space stuff again in the news!

 

[Doc Blue]

...How when they add two different chemicals together they self ignite...

These are called hypergolic propellants, also called storable propellants since they are stable at room temperature. Combustion is extremely reliable, just mix the two together. No "spark" needed.

Ever see the guys in full SCBA suits approach a vehicle after landing with wands and instruments? Likely checking the hypergolic systems for residual propellant or leaks. They can be extremely toxic.


Hypergolic Propellant

A hypergolic propellant combination used in a rocket engine is one whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other. The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. The main advantages of hypergolic propellants are that they can be stored as liquids at room temperature and that engines which are powered by them are easy to ignite reliably and repeatedly. Although commonly used, hypergolic propellants are difficult to handle due to their extreme toxicity and/or corrosiveness.

 

[Downunderwonder]

The SpaceX instrument panel looks a lot less complicated than what I fly.

Going up button.
Dock button.
Release button.
Go down button.
Panic button.
Does that cover it?

 

[Selta]

Going up button.
Dock button.
Release button.
Go down button.
Panic button.
Does that cover it?

You forgot the Chemtrails buttons (start and stop)

 

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How when they add two different chemicals together they self ignite.

"Hypergolic" - cool word.

 

[MJ5150]

I watched the docking of Dragon again this evening. I can't wrap my head around how slow moving the capsule is yet they're orbiting at 17,500 MPH.

-Mike

 

[Downunderwonder]

I watched the docking of Dragon again this evening. I can't wrap my head around how slow moving the capsule is yet they're orbiting at 17,500 MPH.

-Mike

orbiting the Earth, orbiting the sun at 67000MPH. It's all relative.

 

[MJ5150]

orbiting the Earth, orbiting the sun at 67000MPH. It's all relative.

That doesn't help. My brain can't translate those numbers to the logic of the world I live in.
To me, it would be like driving down the highway at 60 MPH, then climbing out on the hood of my truck to replace a windshield wiper. I'd blow off in the wind.
I keep watching, keep trying though. Maybe it'll come to me.

-Mike

 

[CatOnTheBass]

 

[MJ5150]

I thought it was funny during the interviews after Bob and Doug arrived on the ISS that the staff at the Johnson Space Center were talking to them on an old school corded telephone handset.
We talked earlier about the challenges of weather and technology, but come on now SpaceX and NASA. Up your telecom game already.

By the way, for anyone interested they are replaying the launch up to Dragon releasing from the second Falcon rocket on the NASA YouTube channel. I just keep watching it over and over.
I checked the SpaceX YouTube channel, and there's currently nothing live.

-Mike

 

[Downunderwonder]

That doesn't help. My brain can't translate those numbers to the logic of the world I live in.
To me, it would be like driving down the highway at 60 MPH, then climbing out on the hood of my truck to replace a windshield wiper. I'd blow off in the wind.
I keep watching, keep trying though. Maybe it'll come to me.

-Mike

as I hit reply I caught a glimpse.of possibly the exact scenario I had in mind. Jumping between suddenly unhitched train carriages in the movies when the good guy leaves the baddie behind or vice versa. It's all doing 60mph more or less. Add a couple of zeros for orbiting space machines.

 

[MJ5150]

I decided to click on a video from the NASA channel on my Roku about OSIRIS-REx.
It's not related to SpaceX, so I won't go into detail about it here, but it's cool stuff.

-Mike

 

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That doesn't help. My brain can't translate those numbers to the logic of the world I live in.
To me, it would be like driving down the highway at 60 MPH, then climbing out on the hood of my truck to replace a windshield wiper. I'd blow off in the wind.
I keep watching, keep trying though. Maybe it'll come to me.

-Mike

In space, there is no wind. (Well, solar wind, but that's different.) Yeah, it's a bit freaky to be going xx thousand mph relative to Earth and yet inches per hour relative to the station. Methinks the computers can do it better than humans, actually (and the naysayers say the cars will never drive themselves...)

 

[ahc]

orbiting the Earth, orbiting the sun at 67000MPH. It's all relative.

Yeah, it's a bit freaky to be going xx thousand mph relative to Earth

And the speed our solar system moves around the galactic center, and the speed the Milky Way moves away from the Big Bang, and... and... and... ... ...

 

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[Stewie26]

Boy, Elon sounds tired and very emotional at the same time.

 

[ahc]

Boy, Elon sounds tired and very emotional at the same time.

I'm sure he was both. He probably hadn't had much sleep since well before the first launch attempt.

 

[drummer5359]

When I was very young I remember sitting on the floor in front of our couch next to my father, watching a launch, it would have been one of the last Mercury missions. He switched from night turn to day turn in 1965, it was before that.

In grade school they brought the entire school into the auditorium for each launch. They would wheel in four big televisions on huge carts. They placed one on each side at the front, and one on each side half way back so that we could watch each Gemini launch and later the Apollo launches. The TV cabinets were enormous, but the screens were probably 19" measured diagonally. You could see something happening, but could not see it very well unless you were lucky to be seated close to a television. It didn't matter, we loved watching.

I was in high school when the Skylab missions went up, I think that I only got to see one of them launch. I moved to Florida the first week of July, 1979. I was on my way to work for my first day of what would be a thirty year career when I heard that Skylab burned up in the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.

When the Space Shuttle Columbia launched for the first time in 1982 I listened on a portable radio from work. In 1985 I drove to Cape Kennedy and watched one of the Discovery launches , live in person. I was thrilling even after seeing so many on television over the years. The day of the Challenger disaster I was off from work and sat stunned in front of my TV.

So this Saturday I watched the Space X launch, as excited as I was when I was a child watching history unfold.

 

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Yup, new space launches, civil unrest and riots, exciting times, just like 1969! (Well, maybe not just like, but a little eerily similar...). Trying to stay focused on the positive stuff.

 

[Stewie26]

I'm sure he was both. He probably hadn't had much sleep since well before the first launch attempt.

I think your right. I have watched many of his interviews over the years and he is usually verbally fairly quick and precise. Hopefully he gets some shut eye.
That said, does anyone know when they plan to return to earth?