SpaceX Updates (Thread 8)

By DocM
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Grand Master

+John. Subscriber¹

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Just now, philcruicks said:

https://livestream.com/accounts/16944724/events/7071172/player?width=640&height=360&enableInfoAndActivity=true&defaultDrawer&autoPlay=true&mute=false

possibly a better / bigger stream

You're welcome ;)

 

Forgot this was subject to Elon time. I hope he meant today? 

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philcruicks

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Just now, John. said:

You're welcome ;)

 

Forgot this was subject to Elon time. I hope he meant today? 

I did credit you for the 1st link on Page 18, but yes, thanks John for the better one ;)
Should have shared with Neowin yourself before I did :p

 

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Grand Master

DocM

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http://www.theverge....izen-passengers

 

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SpaceX plans to send two people around the Moon

"The company expects to fly an uncrewed Dragon 2 with Falcon 9 to ISS by the end of this year. There will be another mission six months later with a NASA crew. Six months after that, if all goes as planned, is when the two people would fly around the Moon.

If NASA decides they want to do the first lunar mission, NASA would have priority. For its part, SpaceX expects to do more than one Moon mission. Next year is going to be the big year for carrying people, says Musk. Other flight teams have already expressed interest in going on future trips." 

 

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Grand Master

DocM

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http://www.spacex.com/news/2017/02/27/spacex-send-privately-crewed-dragon-spacecraft-beyond-moon-next-year



We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration. We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year. Other flight teams have also expressed strong interest and we expect more to follow. Additional information will be released about the flight teams, contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness test results.

Most importantly, we would like to thank NASA, without whom this would not be possible. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which provided most of the funding for Dragon 2 development, is a key enabler for this mission. In addition, this will make use of the Falcon Heavy rocket, which was developed with internal SpaceX funding. Falcon Heavy is due to launch its first test flight this summer and, once successful, will be the most powerful vehicle to reach orbit after the Saturn V moon rocket. At 5 million pounds of liftoff thrust, Falcon Heavy is two-thirds the thrust of Saturn V and more than double the thrust of the next largest launch vehicle currently flying.

Later this year, as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, we will launch our Crew Dragon (Dragon Version 2) spacecraft to the International Space Station. This first demonstration mission will be in automatic mode, without people on board. A subsequent mission with crew is expected to fly in the second quarter of 2018. SpaceX is currently contracted to perform an average of four Dragon 2 missions to the ISS per year, three carrying cargo and one carrying crew. By also flying privately crewed missions, which NASA has encouraged, long-term costs to the government decline and more flight reliability history is gained, benefiting both government and private missions.

Once operational Crew Dragon missions are underway for NASA, SpaceX will launch the private mission on a journey to circumnavigate the moon and return to Earth. Lift-off will be from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Pad 39A near Cape Canaveral – the same launch pad used by the Apollo program for its lunar missions. This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years and they will travel faster and further into the Solar System than any before them.

Designed from the beginning to carry humans, the Dragon spacecraft already has a long flight heritage. These missions will build upon that heritage, extending it to deep space mission operations, an important milestone as we work towards our ultimate goal of transporting humans to Mars.

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Grand Master

+John. Subscriber¹

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I'm hopeful someone will release the full media briefing, I imagine there's a lot of interesting info there. 

 

Part of me cannot see two private citizens spending ~7 days in a Crew Dragon, but I'm optimistic.

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Grand Master

DocM

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2 passengers and likely 1-2 crew, but it is built for 7 and Dragon 2 has more internal volume than cargo Dragon.

 

I can just imagine the conversations in Huntsville this afternoon :rolleyes:

 

 

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Grand Master

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And now we know the overall mission for the first Dragon 2 flight too. The Circumlunar Dragon 2 one is much, much more newsworthy by far, of course, but now we've got an itinerary for the next year and a half/two years. And the fact that FH is going to be human-rated is newsworthy in of itself.

 

7 out of 5 stars. Would watch again. Would bring the kids. Would pay the price of admission twice over. And buy the T-shirts & coffee mugs on the way out. AND the commemorative plaque too. :yes:

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Grand Master

DocM

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These people will hold the record for crewed distance from Earth!

 

@SciGuySpace
Holy s***. SpaceX says its going to send two people around the Moon in the 4th Q of 2018.
>
Two people would fly an approximately week-long mission in a long loop around the Moon, to about 400,000 miles from Earth.
>
If this happens in late 2018 or 2019, SpaceX would almost certainly one-up NASA's crewed Orion/SLS mission. 

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Grand Master

DocM

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The odds of a D2 test article on the Falcon Heavy maiden flight doing a high velocity re-entry test just went way the hell up.

Un-crewed D2 to ISS is in November, crewed to ISS about 6 months later and the flight abort test between them. 

 

Damn....

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