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SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

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Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#221
post #220

Does anyone else feel super excited? I guess this was the feeling my parents had when they watched men landing on the Moon...

Today is a melancholy feeling. Happy to see SpaceX sending people to space, but sad a decade was lost. EDIT: I spoke about that we had a regression, I meant that NASA lost a capability and just got it back.

Untrue

Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#222
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The docking is automated by default. The manual controls are only to be used in case the automated docking doesn't work.

UI is even more important when there is an anomaly.

You assume that whatever you prefer is a better UI.

Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#223
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but is manned missions really going to achieve much. I thought there was much differing opinion about the value/lack of value of manned missions among the space community itself.

The US kind of has to preserve at least a minimal manned spaceflight capability in case we really need it for something in the future. If we completely lose the infrastructure, supply chains, and institutional knowledge it will become impossible to restart from scratch in a reasonable time frame. Think about it like paying for an insurance policy. It's worth doing even if it eats into the budget for unmanned satellit…

I don't think the US as a nation (or anyone in particular, for that matter) "has to" do anything. As usual, there are simply various diverse interests - military, commercial, scientific - and it's up to these interested parties to do what and when they think benefits them.

Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#224

I watched the first Space Shuttle launch live, I watched Challenger live. I watched the last shuttle launch live. I was sad then, realizing that America was losing launch capability on that day. I can't tell you how exited I am to watch America's return to launch capability. Edit: Disappointed at the scrub, but I know a lot of these weather rules were put in place because of Challenger, so I understand. Looking forwa…

Sorry to hear you guys haven't had lunch for so long

Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#225
post #220

Does anyone else feel super excited? I guess this was the feeling my parents had when they watched men landing on the Moon...

Today is a melancholy feeling. Happy to see SpaceX sending people to space, but sad a decade was lost. EDIT: I spoke about that we had a regression, I meant that NASA lost a capability and just got it back.

I understand this sentiment, but if SpaceX pulls this off, it's going to be an order of magnitude cheaper and more sustainable than the incredibly awesome but one-off and flashy Apollo (or even shuttle) missions.

Crew Dragon is not visually BIGGER than a Saturn V, but it is in a lot of ways a firmer footstep into space than we've ever taken before. SpaceX's program isn't going to dry up as soon as the cold war is over, and we stop devoting 5% of GDP to beating the Soviets. This is for real.

Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#226

I watched the first Space Shuttle launch live, I watched Challenger live. I watched the last shuttle launch live. I was sad then, realizing that America was losing launch capability on that day. I can't tell you how exited I am to watch America's return to launch capability. Edit: Disappointed at the scrub, but I know a lot of these weather rules were put in place because of Challenger, so I understand. Looking forwa…

> America's return to lunch capability

Perfection.

Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#227
post #220

Does anyone else feel super excited? I guess this was the feeling my parents had when they watched men landing on the Moon...

Today is a melancholy feeling. Happy to see SpaceX sending people to space, but sad a decade was lost. EDIT: I spoke about that we had a regression, I meant that NASA lost a capability and just got it back.

There hasn't been a regression, but priorities changed. NASA is a government agency and is thus subject to politics. But make no mistake, we are ahead of where we were in the 1960's, both technologically and organizationally (i.e. a private company achieving spaceflight). This is unequivocally a step forward.

Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#228
post #171

Elon Musk is the greatest entrepreneur and coolest billionaire in our lifetime, change my mind!

Musk doesn't have much in terms of competition today but I have high hopes for the Collison brothers, they are on a similar trajectory (starting with payment systems), are both already billionaires and contrary to Musk are modest and when they say something it tends to be very well thought out.

I called Elon Musk many years before he was as important as he is today, let's see where Patrick and John end up in a decade or more.

Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#229

Here is pretty accurate in terms of spacecraft UI docking simulator: https://iss-sim.spacex.com/ Astronauts will be using similar for manual piloting demo before docking.

I have tried and barely succeeded, I just hope those are not real controls. Those should be either automated or they should consult someone from gaming industry. Sorry to say UX controls are terrible (saying from gaming position).

If you want to try again: be careful with the controls; fix yaw, pitch and roll one after the other first (you might need minor adjustments to the other angles after fixing one, so keep monitoring them), then move laterally. Counting how many times you fired a thruster helps to stop the motion by firing the opposite thruster as many times as well.

Good luck!

Re: SpaceX NASA returning human spaceflight to United States today (canceled)

#230
post #189

Does anyone else feel super excited? I guess this was the feeling my parents had when they watched men landing on the Moon...

I'll admit I went and looked at SpaceX open positions...

I do that every other month
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