Posted on 05/30/2012 6:31:00 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Well it was a good first mission.. Now for the ultimate test. Can they send humans into space with no problems.
I take it this is tomorrow morning?
Will get up early.
MEDIA ADVISORY : M12-098
NASA TV Coverage for SpaceX Dragon Reentry and Splashdown
HOUSTON — NASA Television will provide extensive coverage of the departure of the SpaceX Dragon capsule from the International Space Station before its reentry and splashdown on May 31.
On Wednesday, May 30, a news briefing previewing the departure activities will be held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston at 9 a.m. CDT (10 a.m. EDT) and will be broadcast live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Participants include NASA Flight Director Holly Ridings and SpaceX Mission Manager John Couluris.
On Thursday, May 31, NASA TV will begin live coverage of the departure of Dragon at 2:30 a.m. CDT (3:30 a.m. EDT). Coverage will continue through the release of Dragon from the station, currently scheduled for 5:10 a.m. CDT (6:10 a.m. EDT) and will resume at 9:15 a.m. CDT (10:15 a.m. EDT) with deorbit and splashdown coverage. The capsule is currently scheduled to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 10:44 a.m. CDT (11:44 a.m. EDT) hundreds of miles off the west coast of California likely out of range of live television.
A news briefing will be held jointly from Johnson and SpaceX in Hawthorne, Calif., at 1 p.m. CDT (2 p.m. EDT) live on NASA TV.
Media representatives can participate in person at Johnson or via telephone by calling 281-483-5111 at least 15 minutes before each briefing. Media badges from Dragon launch activities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will be honored at Johnson through splashdown.
For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:
They did a great job with this. Good luck to them in the future.
Yep! Great news for SpaceX.
Now we’ll have to see what they can do with the heavy - the largest rocket since 1973.
going to cross fingers and toes for that one.
What’s the time frame for the first Heavy launch? Would be awesome to see.
Live NASA coverage of undocking, splashdown of SpaceX Dragon
William Atkins Thursday, 31 May 2012 01:52
NASA is providing live television coverage of the docking, re-entry, and splashdown of the first private spacecraft to hook up with the International Space Station: the SpaceX Dragon space capsule. NASA TV begins coverage early on Thursday, May 31, 2012.
The Dragon spacecraft, owned and operated by the commercial space transportation Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station at approximately 6:10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Thursday, May 31, 2012.
Live coverage for the decoupling of the space capsule with the Space Station — on NASA Television and NASA TV — will begin at 3:30 a.m. EDT.
Then, live coverage of the SpaceX mission will resume at 10:15 a.m. EDT, as the Dragon space capsule prepares to deorbit and splashdown in the ocean.
The end of the mission splashdown in the Pacific Ocean is scheduled for 11:44 a.m. EDT. Specifically, the location of splashdown is somewhere hundreds of miles off the western coast of California.
However, NASA states, that the splashdown location is likely out of range of live television. [NASA (5/29/2012): “NASA TV Coverage for SpaceX Dragon Reentry and Splashdow”]
After splashdown, a news briefing will be held jointly from the NASA Johnson Space Center (Houston, Texas), or Houston Mission Control Center) and SpaceX Headquarters (Hawthorne, California), or SpaceX Mission Control.
The Houston/Hawthorne briefing will begin at approximately 2:00 p.m. EDT), and be held live on NASA TV.
For additional information on the historic SpaceX Dragon mission (the first private mission to send a commercial spacecraft to the International Space Station and successfully return it to Earth), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/spacex
On Friday, May 25, 2012, the Expedition 31 crew onboard the International Space Station grappled and attached SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to the space station. This marks the first commercial company to have accomplished such a task.
NASA administrator Charles Bolden remarked on this great accomplishment for SpaceX and the U.S. private space transport sector: “Today marks another critical step in the future of American spaceflight.”
“Now that a U.S. company has proven its ability to resupply the space station, it opens a new frontier for commercial opportunities in space — and new job creation opportunities right here in the U.S.”
Bolden, concluded with “By handing off space station transportation to the private sector, NASA is freed up to carry out the really hard work of sending astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before.”
Additional coverage here:
http://www.spacex.com/webcast/
If you want to see if the ISS and Dragon orbit near you before sunrise just check with SpaceWeather.com and enter your zip code.
http://spaceweather.com/flybys/
Two years. Will be 41 years since the last, and still only half as powerful.
Maybe John Glenn would volunteer again.
Can’t be any worse than taking an airline flight.
I’m up to watch, but I think there might not be much to see.
I mean...NASA TV is talking with some space medicine gu about why one of the astronauts has to collect his pee.
According to the tracker, Dragon will be passing south of me over the coast of Oregon in about 15 minutes or so.
deorbit burn is not until 7:30am or so splashdown is not unitl 8:44am
Yep. Hoping for a smooth reentry.
De-orbit burn in progress.
Dragon de-orbit burn completed. Trunk seperation in a few minutes.
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