Posted on 05/25/2012 8:45:26 AM PDT by mandaladon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule arrived at the International Space Station for a historic docking Friday, captured by astronauts wielding a giant robot arm.
It succeeded in making the first commercial delivery into the cosmos.
U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit used the space station's 58-foot robot arm to snare the gleaming white Dragon after a few hours of extra checks and maneuvers. The two vessels came together while sailing above Australia.
"Looks like we've got us a dragon by the tail," Pettit announced from 250 miles up once he locked onto Dragon's docking mechanism.
"You've made a lot of folks happy down here over in Hawthorne and right here in Houston," radioed NASA's Mission Control. "Great job guys."
NASA controllers clapped as their counterparts at SpaceX's control center in Hawthorne, Calif. — including SpaceX's billionaire maestro, Elon Musk, of PayPal fame — lifted their arms in triumph and jumped out of their seats to exchange high fives.
This is the first time a private company has attempted to send a vessel to the space station, an achievement previously reserved for a small, elite group of government agencies. And it's the first U.S. craft to visit the station since the final shuttle flight last July.
The astronauts wasted no time getting the Dragon capsule into position for actual docking to the space station. The unmanned capsule is carrying 1,000 pounds of supplies on this unprecedented test flight.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The mom and pop space businesses will not be any great saviour to what used to be our preeminent position in space. There are enormous national security issues involved. The Chinese are not going to privatize their efforts.
We will see if SpaceX goes the way of Tesla Motors.
Your response hit the 10 ring.
If you recall, Obama was criticized widely for the dismantling of NASA and its scientific team with mass dismissals. Now Bolden says that those jobs will shift over to the private companies. Obama had it right all along.
This scheduling of this is no accident. I watched the head of NASA today extolling Obama's plan to privatize space exploration.
” In 2006, NASA awarded the company a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract to design and demonstrate a launch system to resupply cargo to the International Space Station (ISS)"
Lurkina.n.Learnin: I’m so glad Obama had the foresight to award this contract in 2006.
This fall he’s hoping for another term for Obama, the best friend of private space, Musk says. “Obama seems to care about inspiring events in the country,” Musk says. Romney, on the other hand: “He’s got that whole business-school thing going on, which I’m not a huge fan of. It’s hard to make a business case for inspiration.” For now Musk has more immediate worries, like the performance of his rocket with the whole world watching. Isn’t he worried he’ll suffer a Kim Jong-un-like fizzle? Nah, Musk says. Believe him. “Elon has huge steel balls,” his ex-wife notes on her blog. “He truly does.”
See my post #85. Musk is a staunch Obama supporter. He will get government contracts and then funnel money back into Obama’s campaign coffers. This is just more crony capitalism. It is destroying this country. Government already controls 40% of our economy. This is really not privitization of space any more than the defense industry is private.
Private industry greases their own wheels and contributes when they feel the need.
Ya think this is something new Mr. kabar?
” In 2006, NASA awarded the company a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract to design and demonstrate a launch system to resupply cargo to the International Space Station (ISS)"
Who was President of the United States in 2006 Mr. kabar?
“We will not issue docking permission unless the necessary level of reliability and safety is proven,”
Ok, I'm a bit slow on the uptake here....the Russians didn't actually prevent Dragon from docking with the ISS, did they? Or, was there some international drama that wasn't closely covered by the press?
Great pic, by the way. Thanks.
Thanks for posting the link to the video. My boys and I just watched the whole thing. Bloody fantastic.
Russian Resistance to SpaceX Dragon Docking
See the date.
Mr Musk may be on the wrong side of the political isle but this is the precursor to a privatized space program. Burt Rutan, Richard Banson and Elon Musk are pioneers. Obama is just a politician patting himself on the back.
As if the temporary Chief Executive of one earthbound country could dictate terms the rest of the planet, for the exploration and exploitation of the entire universal space outside this pitiful little mud ball.
I simply smile in amusement.
#3 son has been keeping us apprised of the developments. He’s thrilled that we can get materials to the Space Station without having to pay the Russians to do it.
Perhaps. The next US president could easily reinvigorate our manned and unmanned space programs by executive fiat. No different than what Obama's done.
The American people support our space programs. Obama is just doing the typical hard left thing by squelching those dreams in favor of redirecting US dollars toward the welfare/nanny state. It's not the popular tack, and he will find that out in November.
If Elon Musk has a brain cell in his head, he has to realize how intensely political Obama is. Musk says the wrong thing and his fat NASA contract will go away in a heartbeat. And playing kissy-face with him will open up the possibility of Obama taking his boot off NASA's neck and letting them do some real space exploration. Which will create and even bigger market for Musk.
That doesn't mean he is not a democrat or that he would not vote for Obama. But I doubt even under the best of circumstances could he enjoy the same sort of quid pro quo under Romney. At least I hope not.
Even democrats do good things occasionally. Especially when you can keep them out of Washington.
I wouldn't go that far. Obama has merely slowed or halted it, temporarily. The American people love and believe in our space program. It's one of the few great and positive things that our government does, and people around the world wholeheartedly support it.
The US space program will go on. Obama will not.
Agree.
I have some personal interest in astronomy and space exploration. I support NASA and private industry like SpaceX.
It’s just a shame these things always seem to be politicized. But it seems that’s the reality of the political madness here on earth.
Didn’t the Puritans run away?
The reality is that the Atlas V, built by Lockheed and Boeing is heavily subsidized by the government. It is just more crony capitalism with cost plus contracts.
The only thing that changed between Space-X and ULA is the procurement process. Space-X can put pounds in orbit for NASA cheaper than Lockheed and Boeing do.
Your old pocket protector cost plus government contracts are gone. It's better and cheaper this way, and NASA gets more bang in space for our dollars.
NASA never built a spacecraft. It's all been private contractors, from day 1.
/johnny
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