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A Close Look At A Crewed Dragon

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
May 21, 2018
Filed under

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

33 responses to “A Close Look At A Crewed Dragon”

  1. ThomasLMatula says:
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    It looks like it’s straight out of a science fiction movie with those fins πŸ™‚

  2. ProfSWhiplash says:
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    Two doors, huh? This must be the sports coupe model.

    • Dewey Vanderhoff says:
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      I believe that bottom ” door ” is actually the robot arm grapple cover . It opens for berthing.

      • Not Invented Here says:
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        The bottom door is for the main chute compartment, it is jettisoned when the main chute is deployed. Dragon 2 docks to the station instead of berthing, so there’s no need for grapple.

      • Terry Stetler says:
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        No robot arm attachment on Dragpn 2, it automatically docks using an IDA androgynous docking port under the flip-top nose cone.

        The panel above the side crew hatch (between the windows) is where the chutes anchor with the drogues on either side of it. The mains are behind the panel below the crew hatch, and lines run up channels on either side of said hatch.

      • Zed_WEASEL says:
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        The Crewed Dragon does not berthed. It docks like the Soyuz and the Space Shuttle.

      • Jeff2Space says:
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        This is true. I believe other equipment is exposed via opening that door as well (e.g. star seeker to determine orientation?). Pretty much anything that needs protection during launch and reentry.

    • Bob Mahoney says:
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      The upper door is for the civil servants; the other lower door is for the government contractors.

  3. Bob Mahoney says:
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    Actually, it reminds me mightily of Fireball XL-5’s deployable front end, with those stubby fins. Needs bigger windows… πŸ™‚

    http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~b

    • ProfSWhiplash says:
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      I wonder if Elon ever considered XL-5’s mode of Rail-Launch! (with “Robert” as the Flight Computer)

    • Paul Gillett says:
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      You and the Prof have brought back a flood of fond memories!

      • ed2291 says:
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        I wish I was a spaceman,
        The fastest guy alive.
        I’d fly you round the universe,
        In Fireball XL-5.
        Way out in space together,
        Conquerors of the sky,
        My heart would be a fireball,
        a fireball,
        Every time I gazed into your
        starry eyes.

        We’d take a path to Jupiter
        and maybe very soon,
        We’d cruise along the Milky Way and land upon the moon.
        A wonderland of stardust,
        We’ll zoom away to Mars.
        My heart would be a fireball,
        a fireball,
        And you would be the Venus of
        the stars.

      • ed2291 says:
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        Me too! It all came back! (See below.)

      • Jack says:
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        No kidding. That was my favorite TV show until Star Trek came along.

    • space1999 says:
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      I don’t think I watched Fireball XL-5, but I do remember watching Supercar, Stingray, Thunderbirds, UFO, and (you guessed it) Space 1999… I loved those shows as a kid. Well, I didn’t really like Space 1999 all that much, but I think it was the only SciFi on at the time…

  4. MarcNBarrett says:
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    Sorry, but I have nowhere else to post this, and it is awesome. SpaceX second stage to make a “pit stop”, deploy some NASA satellites, then keep going and deploy some more satellites.

    https://techcrunch.com/2018

    • Bob Mahoney says:
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      Very cool. But the satellite going into a lower orbit would be faster, not slower. Something somehow got scrambled up in the compressed description of the maneuvers.

      Let’s not forget one of the earliest such ‘space-tug-like’ operational ballets: 52 years ago Gemini X launched, rendezvoused, & then docked with its own recently launched Agena target vehicle. THEN, they used that Agena to boost themselves to a higher orbit and so enable a Gemini X rendezvous & stationkeeping with Gemini VIII’s Agena which was already in orbit. While John Young SKed to keep the two spacecraft within feet of one another, Michael Collins EVA’ed over to the second Agena and recovered a micrometeoroid package.

      The forgotten program between John Glenn & Neil Armstrong. More bold needed today, please.

      • MarcNBarrett says:
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        I have long maintained that Gemini is proof that we went to the moon. It shouldn’t be any surprise that most of the people who think the moon landings were faked also have never heard of Gemini and don’t know anything about it. Once you understand everything about Gemini, faking Apollo makes no sense.

      • Paul Gillett says:
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        Gemini was the true “hero” of the 60’s manned space program. 10 manned flights in just 18 months; with each one having a specific goal(s).
        Now it takes the better part of a decade just to get a new government program onto the pad!

  5. George Purcell says:
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    Looks like a Mk. 2 capsule on top of a SC-9001 Science Jr. with some little fins due to an unfortunate event at main booster separation during the first test flight.

  6. space1999 says:
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    The segmented skin on the service module is kind of odd… wonder why they did that.

    • BeanCounterFromDownUnder says:
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      Solar cells?

      • space1999 says:
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        Yep, that was my best guess too after I saw pictures of the new trunk with the solar cells… but curious that they weren’t actually installed for the test.

    • Saiboogu says:
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      One side of the trunk is wrapped in solar panels, the other is the thermal radiator. I’m assuming the visible panels are the radiator panels.