Resilience has docked with ISS
SpaceX’s Resilience Dragon capsule successfully docked with ISS tonight.
They are in the process of checking the seal of the docking, and the opening of the hatch.
As much as I have been critical of Boeing in recent years, I truly hope they can get their management and engineering problems worked out so they can accomplish the same thing with their Starliner capsule. The competition with SpaceX will be healthy for both companies, the nation, and the future of the human race.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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SpaceX’s Resilience Dragon capsule successfully docked with ISS tonight.
They are in the process of checking the seal of the docking, and the opening of the hatch.
As much as I have been critical of Boeing in recent years, I truly hope they can get their management and engineering problems worked out so they can accomplish the same thing with their Starliner capsule. The competition with SpaceX will be healthy for both companies, the nation, and the future of the human race.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I think this is the first time ever that the ISS got 4 crews in one launch. Only the Space Shuttle has ever launched more than 3 astronauts (it was crewed by 7). And AFAIK it never delivered more than 3 astronauts to the ISS.
@Localfluff…. Interesting that it has a capacity of 7 crew, but according to Wikipedia, NASA will only fly 4 astronauts per mission…. Why the excess capacity?
An interesting fact I picked up on the Wikipedia page which will please Bob, the spacecraft runs Linux!!
I’m sure Bob will be reporting on this when it is daytime over there, but Arianspace are not having as much success with their Vega rocket… The second failure in as many years..
https://www.space.com/vega-rocket-launch-anomaly-november-2020
Very bad news for the European space industry, but probably good news for SpaceX.
NASA will only fly 4 astronauts per mission…. Why the excess capacity?
I think 7 crew capacity was specified in the original program requirements.
Probably because, for on thing, if a rescue situation occurred, a CCP vehicle could evacuate all seven ISS crew members (Say, if the other vehicles attached to ISS had become disabled).
Alternatvely, NASA can use the space that the other three astronauts would take up to add additional pressurized cargo.
Lee: The extra capacity means it could take everyone on ISS home, even the three who came on a Soyuz. Makes for a redundancy in the lifeboat capacity.
The extra capacity also provides SpaceX more passenger seats that they can sell.
Thanks for the clarification guys…. Now I see the logic behind the excess capacity!
Did everyone catch JAXA Astronaut Soichi Noguchi’s little joke during the on-orbit video conference? He was pointing out items in the stowage area behind / below the crew seats, and when he came to a freezer chest for scientific test samples, he said it was for “ice cream”! He then hurriedly corrected himself and said “NO, I meant scientific samples! Not ice cream! Right everyone – no ice cream, right?! Right?!” Obviously a funny guy.
If a spacecraft with the capacity of 7 (I think this one had the capacity of 4, plus 3 strapped down on the floor) to the ISS still having another 4 visitors (I think they left for home early this time), still fall short in evacuation capability. At least if the lights don’t turn on in the leaking reserve Soyuz capsule. The plan then is:
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. You’re allowed to go. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, you too! Eeeny…
One astronaut quick at math to her colleague:
“- Would you mind switching places with me in this row?”
Iirc the four-crew limit was imposed by NASA because they didn’t like the splashdown loads on the extra seats. Something like that.
Hope they soon start work on airbag dirtside landing, as already demonstrated by the otherwise less-than-stellar Boeing Starliner. Then it’s a logical step to powered descent on the Super-Dracos, as Elon first envisaged!
“Then it’s a logical step to powered descent on the Super-Dracos, as Elon first envisaged!”
Won’t happen. The powered landing will be done by Starships.
Lee Stevenson suggested: “Very bad news for the European space industry, but probably good news for SpaceX.”
I’m not so sure that it is good news for SpaceX. When things go wrong in aerospace, customers start to wonder whether the company that they rely upon has a similar problem hiding deep within their system.
Vega’s capacity is less than Falcon’s capacity, so they are not in direct competition. Vega competes with Northrup Grumman’s Minotaur, perhaps other rockets around the world, too.
I would like to see the draco’s tested on land at least once on a garbage return mission.
As a passenger I would feel far better about re-entry during a disaster. No need to wait until your in the perfect re-entry location for a nice water landing.