SpaceX has announced that they now have all of Dragon’s thrusters operating and are go for docking with ISS.
SpaceX has announced that they now have all of Dragon’s thrusters operating and are go for docking with ISS.
They have not announced when the docking will occur, but with the solar panels operating the capsule can function in orbit for a considerable time, giving them breathing room. And time will be necessary as both NASA and the Russians are nervous about letting any spacecraft approach ISS and will want a good number of tests to make sure all is well. The Russians are especially nervous, since they had the unfortunate experience of several collisions when they operated their space station Mir.
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SpaceX has announced that they now have all of Dragon’s thrusters operating and are go for docking with ISS.
They have not announced when the docking will occur, but with the solar panels operating the capsule can function in orbit for a considerable time, giving them breathing room. And time will be necessary as both NASA and the Russians are nervous about letting any spacecraft approach ISS and will want a good number of tests to make sure all is well. The Russians are especially nervous, since they had the unfortunate experience of several collisions when they operated their space station Mir.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
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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.
My understanding is that cosmonauts were paid for successfully docking Progress capsules, and that at least one collision occurred when the station commander attempted to dock a gimpy spacecraft because failure would cost him money.
Not true. Though the Russian astronauts at the time did receive pay bonuses for achieving tasks such as this, the problems during the Mir collision in 1997 were not because he was trying to earn that extra cash. The man who was controlling the Progress freighter, Vasili Tsibliev, was simply trying to do the job he had been ordered to do. This was a scheduled docking test that had been badly designed. They were testing a new docking system but did not provide Tsibliev the proper equipment to judge distances. He was expected to judge speed and distance by eye and with a handheld laser rangefinder, something that is generally considered too difficult to do in space. Moreover, the freighter was coming in from below, so that the background was the Earth, making it very difficult to see the freighter against the wash of Earth’s clouds and landforms.
The human component of the crash was that Tsibliev had been overworked for the past few months, and that he had had two past bad docking experiences, suggesting he was not the best person to do this test to begin with.
For more details, see pages 428-441 of my book, Leaving Earth: Space stations, rival superpowers, and the quest for interplanetary travel.
The only thing I can see right now for the Russians is this docking, if it happens, will just be a poke in the eye to their rocket industry.
A private US company, albeit one with nice government backing, is making a delivery cheaper and somewhat on time.
Russia does have a great and long positive history of successful launches and dockings but of late things are starting to look a bit sketchy for them.