Posted on 03/01/2013 9:19:51 AM PST by xzins
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Friday to send an unmanned Dragon cargo capsule on its quickest trip yet to the International Space Station, but the company had to work through a problem with the Dragon in orbit.
The Falcon 9 made a problem-free ascent from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:10 a.m. ET. A half-hour after launch, SpaceX's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, said in a Twitter update that controllers were looking into a technical issue involving the capsule's thrusters. "Issue with Dragon thruster pods," Musk wrote. "System inhibiting three of four [pods] from initializing. About to command inhibit override."
Each pod contains a grouping of thrusters that are used to guide the Dragon's course in orbit. SpaceX said it would hold off on opening up the Dragon's power-generating solar arrays until at least two of the four thruster pods were operational. In follow-up tweets, Musk said that the tank pressure for a second thruster pod was "trending positive" and reported that the solar arrays were successfully deployed.
This is the third Dragon flight to the station: The first one, which took place last May, was a demonstration flight aimed at proving that California-based SpaceX could safely reach the space station, get hooked up, and then descend again to a splashdown. Last October's second flight marked the first of what's expected to be 12 resupply missions to the station, under the terms of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. At that rate, each Dragon mission costs NASA about $133 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at cosmiclog.nbcnews.com ...
X, I didn't know you were a space geek!
This is not good...Hopefully they can correct the thruster issue...Otherwise, the spacecraft will be dead...
I would not be surprise to read sabotage down the road.
There are many factions that would like to see Space-X fail.
1) Chicoms
2) Russians
3) Iranians, Muslims, etc
4) Unionized NASA workers
Many enemies out there and blame can be caste across each other.
Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, Bradbury...
When I was growing up, good reading meant "space" reading.
:>)
then you must know the book “The stars, my destination”
I went through an awful lot of books. That title doesn’t stir anything in my memory, but if you recommend it, I’ll go check it out.
A good book is always a good book. (I might find that I read it, but here’s hoping it’s “new”...:>)
Then:
Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, Bradbury...
Now:
JZee, 50 Cent, Pitbull, Nicki Minaj...
Mars, Schmars. Where is my new iPod?
Then we build a few more and put them in orbit around the Moon. Then a few bases on the moon and let the private corps start developing Space tourism! Get some private corps working on mining the moon for resources and see if the water they keep reporting at the poles is really there and if so harvest it!
I highly recommend it. It’s a classic.
Our poor cheated children
Ah, the greats. I met Asimov once. Unfortunately in his last years he swallowed the “Population Bomb” propaganda hook, line and sinker and the day we spoke overpopulation was all he would talk about. I was young and respectful and didn’t argue, but it was pathetic to see his great mind hobbled by fear of the boogieman. I was glad to see Bradbury stay clear-eyed and focused right up until the end.
I will check it out. Thank you.
Indeed, they are. I grew up on SciFi. Of course I could not read English then (and we did not have iPods), but we had excellent translations of foreign authors. Throw into the mix a bunch of great Russian authors like the Strugatsky brothers and you get the idea.
I just got “The Mammoth Book of Golden Age Science Fiction” I can’t wait to start it. I gotta finish my Kindle reading list first though.
Amazing pictures. Thanks.
They’re from Chris Hadfield’s Twitter feed- he posts about half a dozen pictures a day.
https://twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield
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.