Brevard County, Florida Let's Light this Candle ping.Let me know if you want on or off this ping list.
(not associated with the county government)
Posted on 04/26/2012 10:40:51 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
Billionaire Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX is, it seems, no more immune to mission delays than our former space ferry captain, NASA. Early yesterday, Musk announced on Twitter a week-long delay of the scheduled launch of the Dragon spacecraft (atop the company’s Falcon rocket) while Musk’s team debugged the Dragon’s docking code.
When Mashable spoke to Musk a few weeks ago, he actually joked about how that part of the first private mission to the International Space Station would go:
“The thing that’s interesting and slightly scary is that Dragon is a robotic spaceship, automatically navigating itself to the space station,” Musk explained. “It does pause at various points and ask if everything is OK. So it asks permission to proceed.”
Musk paused and added with a laugh, “But who knows, it could be like Hal 9000, ‘Open the pod bay doors,’ and it doesn’t do it.”
Now, however, the launch is back on track with a new day, May 7. Musk posted another tweet “Just confirmed with @NASA that May 7th is go for launch of Falcon 9 & Dragon to the Space Station” and NASA issued a brief statement, “We appreciate that SpaceX is taking the necessary time to help ensure the success of this historic flight. We will continue to work with SpaceX in preparing for the May 7 launch to the International Space Station.”
As always, a launch of this nature and complexity could run into further delays, whether technical or — as just happened with the Dragon’s predecessor, the Space Shuttle Enterprise and its last trip to the deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York — weather could scuttle the mission again.
We’ll be watching Musk’s tweets and, hopefully, the skies on May 7th. In the meantime, you can learn more about what compelled Musk to enter the space race by watching the video interview below.
SpaceX Ping.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think this is by design?
Brevard County, Florida Let's Light this Candle ping.I note the lack of replies on this thread. I guess everyone is too busy pissing on Romney’s Wheaties.
This is epic. The first privately done space flight. It’s not pretty, really a cargo flight but this is huge and it removes the dependency on Russia. You got to love it.
science ping
yes, it is.... epic. :-)
You’re so angry for SpaceX launching the Falcon 9 that you just wanna hire the roadrunner to catch Speedy Gonzalez and send him back to Mexico?
Or that you could slide nekkid into a pile of broken glass?
Or you could eat orangutan toe jam...?
Tear the pouch off of a marsupial?
Drive a combine down the main street of New York City?
Play pin the tail on the donkey...with a real donkey?
French kiss a leper?
Snuggle up with a porcupine?
Wanna pull your eyes out with a rusty spoon and feed ‘em to a truck load of hungry mountain lions?
Um, no... SpaceX has done private space flight before. And put a capsule into orbit and returned it safely (with a 50 lb cheese wheel in it, for laughs).
Other companies regularly put payloads in orbit.
It may be the first private docking with the ISS, but it isn't the first private space flight by a long shot.
/johnny
Did you take your Hydrazine today?
Two tablespoons full of unsymmetrical dimethyl every morning!
NASA is an American tradition, so.. Bye bye NASA, compliments of Barack!
is it SpaceX or are they having problems with the Russians
I’m excited to see this, too. Private spaceflight is the only way to the stars.
I’m off work that day. Pelican Park in Sat Bch has always been my favorite spot to watch a launch from. Any Freepers want to meet up there?
Yes, NASA is not the way to go. Private biz can do it better and cheaper.
I know its Friday but still its a little early to be that toasted. The problem with drinking is that it makes you think you’re being smart and clever.
If you have a point, address his. I can’t argue with anything Feds said.
Is your post directed at me?
Yes. Your #8 to his #3. Please address point by point where you disagree with Feds or maybe just say “Oops - sorry”. Your call. ;-)
You must be some kind of space-alien type with a weird metabolism.
That would kill a normal Earth-type homo sapiens stone cold dead.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.