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NASA’s Dragon riders capture the flag, nine years after it was left on the space station
Geekwire ^ | 6/01/20 | Alan Boyle

Posted on 06/01/2020 5:35:29 PM PDT by Libloather

A day after arriving at the International Space Station on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken laid claim to a U.S. flag that symbolizes America’s capability to send people to orbit from U.S. soil.

The handkerchief-sized flag, sealed in a plastic envelope, has been kept aboard the space station since 2011, when NASA’s final space shuttle crew left it behind before making their departure aboard Atlantis.

It was displayed above the Harmony module’s hatch - and, for a time, stored in an equipment bag, nearly forgotten - with instructions that it was to be taken back to Earth by the next crew launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

That moment finally came on Sunday, when Hurley and Behnken floated through the Harmony hatch after their launch 19 hours earlier.

Two other angles add to the significance of the moment. The flag first flew into space on the very first flight of the space shuttle program, back in 1981. And among the members of the crew who left it on the station in 2011 was Hurley, who was Atlantis’ pilot back then and is now spacecraft commander for the SpaceX capsule.

(Excerpt) Read more at geekwire.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Business/Economy; Education; History
KEYWORDS: bobbehnken; crewdragon; doughurley; dragon; elonmusk; falcon9; falconheavy; flag; nasa; space; spacex; station
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Technically, that's not looting.
1 posted on 06/01/2020 5:35:29 PM PDT by Libloather
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To: Libloather

Take it to Mars...


2 posted on 06/01/2020 5:36:29 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Libloather

Yes but it is a micro(gravity)aggression.


3 posted on 06/01/2020 5:38:28 PM PDT by NativeSon ( What Would Virginia Do? #WWVD)
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To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


4 posted on 06/01/2020 5:55:11 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Dear Mr. Kotter, #Epsteindidntkillhimself - Signed, Epstein's Mother)
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To: Libloather

Great story + post :)


5 posted on 06/01/2020 6:03:41 PM PDT by Steven W.
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To: Libloather

Great story + post :)


6 posted on 06/01/2020 6:06:45 PM PDT by Steven W.
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To: Libloather

Yet they can’t manage to stitch an American flag on their spacesuits...


7 posted on 06/01/2020 6:07:36 PM PDT by Amberdawn
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To: Amberdawn

Really ? ... I never noticed.


8 posted on 06/01/2020 6:09:52 PM PDT by knarf
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To: knarf

From what I’ve seen pre-launch, there was no flag on their spacesuits. I hope I’m wrong, but.


9 posted on 06/01/2020 6:12:15 PM PDT by Amberdawn
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To: Amberdawn; knarf
Yet they can’t manage to stitch an American flag on their spacesuits...

Oh, come on, you aren't even trying to find the truth before you smear!

The whole event is being called "LaunchAmerica", ferChristsSake!


10 posted on 06/01/2020 6:39:46 PM PDT by Yossarian
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

11 posted on 06/01/2020 6:56:16 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Paladin2

Like.


12 posted on 06/01/2020 6:59:32 PM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: Yossarian

Let’s not take the Name of the LORD in vain.

He is the Creator, the Redeemer, the Word, the Lamb.


13 posted on 06/01/2020 7:04:18 PM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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To: Yossarian

Thanks Yossarian.


14 posted on 06/01/2020 7:08:03 PM PDT by knarf
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To: Amberdawn
As far as I could tell I didn't see the U.S. flag on their uniforms, either.

That Apatosaurous play time they engaged in seemed clumsy, too, until I looked up Apatosaurus and learned it translated into 'deceptive lizard'. Pretty strange choice of mascot coming from a couple of NASA guys driving a technocrats tax funded money maker they named 'the dragon'.

15 posted on 06/01/2020 7:09:43 PM PDT by MurrietaMadman (when I want an intoxicant powerful enough to deceive a nation I ask for corona)
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To: MurrietaMadman

As far as I could tell I didn’t see the U.S. flag on their uniforms, either.

Look again.


16 posted on 06/01/2020 8:05:11 PM PDT by Flick Lives (My work's illegal, but at least it's honest. - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)
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To: SunkenCiv

The Russians are not happy about it, no doubt.

Loss of prestige.

Loss of hard cash, lots of it.


17 posted on 06/01/2020 8:08:57 PM PDT by rlmorel (Thinking for yourself is hard work. But it is a lot easier than ignorance.)
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To: rlmorel

/bingo


18 posted on 06/01/2020 8:12:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: AmberdawnIsSoWrong

Your screen name is a joke newbie.


20 posted on 06/01/2020 8:43:46 PM PDT by Amberdawn
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