SpaceX unveils access arm jetway astronauts will use to board Dragon
Capitalism in space: SpaceX has begun installing its airport-jetway-like access arm that astronauts will use to board Dragon at Launchpad 39A in anticipation of the first manned flight in April 2019.
They were originally going to install the jetway after the first unmanned demo flight, which they hoped to fly this month. That plan has now changed.
Prior to the visual milestone this week of the Crew Access Arm, or CAA, being moved to the pad surface and the base of the Fixed Service Structure (launch tower), previous information from SpaceX and NASA indicated that the arm would be installed after the Dragon’s uncrewed demo flight.
However, that schedule was based around a launch of the uncrewed Dragon flight, DM-1, in August 2018.
With NASA announcing a 3-month slip to the DM-1 flight (largely due to ISS scheduling and crew reduction aboard the International Space Station in the coming months), SpaceX found itself with an unanticipated delay to the DM-1 flight – which in turn opened up a possibility that didn’t exist before to install the CAA in August.
…But now that DM-1 is NET (No Earlier Than) November – a date Gwynne Shotwell is confident the company will meet, SpaceX is forging ahead with CAA installation because, quite simply, there is no reason to wait, at this point, to install the arm after DM-1.
Making the crew access arm resemble an airport jetway is a fine example of the pizazz that helps sell SpaceX. It also helps make space operations appear more like an ordinary transportation option, something that is necessary if the human race is ever going to become truly spacefaring.
Hat tip to reader Kirk.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX has begun installing its airport-jetway-like access arm that astronauts will use to board Dragon at Launchpad 39A in anticipation of the first manned flight in April 2019.
They were originally going to install the jetway after the first unmanned demo flight, which they hoped to fly this month. That plan has now changed.
Prior to the visual milestone this week of the Crew Access Arm, or CAA, being moved to the pad surface and the base of the Fixed Service Structure (launch tower), previous information from SpaceX and NASA indicated that the arm would be installed after the Dragon’s uncrewed demo flight.
However, that schedule was based around a launch of the uncrewed Dragon flight, DM-1, in August 2018.
With NASA announcing a 3-month slip to the DM-1 flight (largely due to ISS scheduling and crew reduction aboard the International Space Station in the coming months), SpaceX found itself with an unanticipated delay to the DM-1 flight – which in turn opened up a possibility that didn’t exist before to install the CAA in August.…But now that DM-1 is NET (No Earlier Than) November – a date Gwynne Shotwell is confident the company will meet, SpaceX is forging ahead with CAA installation because, quite simply, there is no reason to wait, at this point, to install the arm after DM-1.
Making the crew access arm resemble an airport jetway is a fine example of the pizazz that helps sell SpaceX. It also helps make space operations appear more like an ordinary transportation option, something that is necessary if the human race is ever going to become truly spacefaring.
Hat tip to reader Kirk.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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
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.
I certainly hope that Musk’s recent “teary” interview and admissions of his remarks about the supposed funding for his LBO of Tesla at $420 are not going to spill over to SpaceX. He could go to jail. There is talk of Ambien mixed with alcohol with nobody screening the tweets before they went out. If Tesla goes down to the shorts or whatever that’s one thing. Electric cars have never worked, and will not, until a much more energy dense battery is developed with solid state technology that can take a harder charge and discharge rate without catching on fire, which is actually being developed in Japan right now. However it would be a disaster if Musk’s personal “difficulties” resulted in something negative spilling over to SpaceX.
Teslarati’s article on the CAA includes this grainy photo of the other side, showing where it will mate with the capsule.
Not sure I understand the “Electric cars have never worked, and will not…) remark. My mom and brother in law both own Teslas. They love ’em. They would pay more for them if they had to and would buy them again in the future. They drive then from California to here in New Mexico for visits. I.C E. vehicles will be around for a long time but electric is here to stay.
The CAA is being lifted.
Oops, must have broken that link.
Retry: The CAA is being lifted.
And some nice shots from Tom McCool.
The CAA has been hung and the crane has disconnected.
Kirk,
Thanks for the updates and especially for the links to photos.
SpaceX just tweeted a beautiful photo of their crew access arm. Wow!