Fifth Avenue Forum

If you have clear skies over the next couple hours definitely check this out

https://www.space.com/venus-moon-conjun ... -2020.html

SpaceX last week was pressure-testing the latest test article for the Starship vehicle (Starship SN1) at the Boca Chica, Texas, facility. The vehicle failed the pressure test rather spectacularly:



On the plus side, I think it might have achieved a higher altitude than the Starhopper vehicle did on its flight test.

This is the second test article to fail pressure testing, so I think SpaceX is going to need to work on its welding techniques.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-hirin ... 020-03-02/

Always wanted to be an astronaut? NASA is now hiring

Services for the ISS continue even in the coronavirus era, and today the MS-16 three-person crew lifted off from Site No. 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz conducted a four-orbit, six-hour rendezvous with the ISS and has already docked. This was the first manned launch of the newer Soyuz 2.1a version, which compared to prior Soyuz rockets has upgraded engines and guidance computers. Up to now, manned launches had been using the veteran Soyuz-FG, which was retired last year.

In other space news, Boeing has announced that it will conduct a second unmanned mission for its Starliner crew capsule. Due to a computer glitch, the first flight of the Starliner failed to fulfill its primary mission of docking with the ISS, and another computer glitch that was only noticed at the last minute would have likely caused the Starliner to burn up on reentry had it not been fixed. The second mission likely won't take place until the fall. Many launches of all types are being pushed back due to the pandemic.

In space news, we have a date for the first crewed launch of the Dragon 2 crew capsule. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are the crew for the Demo-2 mission, which is scheduled to lift off from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on May 27. This will be the first manned launch from US soil in nearly 10 years.

Due to the pandemic, Russia has temporarily suspended construction of new Soyuz rockets. The suspension shouldn't affect any launches for the relatively near future. Russia has more than 50 Soyuz-2 rockets already completed and in storage at the construction plant and at launch sites worldwide. Some of those vehicles have probably become available for other missions because OneWeb, which is a company that like SpaceX is trying to build a satellite internet constellation, has been forced into bankruptcy, and OneWeb had been using Soyuz launchers.

Iope that's a real picture.

That seems almost too good to be true--the detail on Io (my favorite solar system moon) combined with the shot of the surface...damn.

SpaceX today conducted another Starlink launch earlier today and this time stuck the landing on the booster. The last two launches featured failed recoveries. In the first, the booster was given incorrect wind information, which caused it to miss the droneship. For the next, one of the engines shut down prematurely. There are reports that the engine shutdown might have been a programming or wiring issue and not a mechanical failure. But I think it was one of the engines that is required to perform the reentry and landing burns, and with it not working I believe the booster went out of control and burned up.

With this launch, the Falcon 9 has passed the Atlas 5 to become the US active launcher with the most launches in its career.

China by all accounts conducted a successful launch today of the first Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket. The B version of the rocket omits the second stage and will be used to put heavy payloads into low Earth orbit, such as the components for China's planned space station. This maiden launch was carrying an unmanned example of China's prototype next-generation crewed spacecraft (which doesn't seem to have an official name yet). China's current Shenzhou spacecraft is a three-component craft that is heavily based on the Soyuz design with a forward orbital module, a middle reentry module , and an aft service module; the orbital and service modules are jettisoned before reentry. The new spacecraft is a two-module design with a conical forward capsule and aft service module that looks more along the lines of a SpaceX Dragon2 or the Boeing Starliner.

I was pretty excited to be able to show my daughter Mercury last night. It's usually very hard to see, although over the next couple weeks it will be pulling further and further away from the Sun in the evening sky. Meanwhile, Venus is getting less visible after a few months of pretty awesome views.

Phone pic but like the way it turned out (Venus on horizon, Mercury between Moon and Venus)

Virgin Orbit conducted the first orbital launch attempt of its LauncherOne rocket yesterday, which resulted in a failure shortly after ignition. The LauncherOne is a two-stage air-launched rocket that is dropped from a modified Boeing 747-400 that was previously operated as a passenger airliner for Virgin Atlantic. Unlike the other air-launched rockets out there (most notably the NGS Pegasus rocket), the LauncherOne is not a solid rocket, and rather has both of its stages fueled by kerolox engines. The LauncherOne system can deliver around 500 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit, which is about twice as much as the Rocket Labs Electron. No cause of the failure has been announced, and there wasn't a live stream of the attempt, but it sounds like the vehicle failed only a couple seconds after engine ignition.

Tomorrow, SpaceX and NASA will attempt the first crewed launch of the Crew Dragon capsule. This will be the first manned orbital launch from US soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011. Liftoff is scheduled for May 27 at 16:33:31 EDT. The weather forecast for the launch is 60% favorable at the moment, so weather could be an issue.

Tomorrow, SpaceX and NASA will attempt the first crewed launch of the Crew Dragon capsule. This will be the first manned orbital launch from US soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011. Liftoff is scheduled for May 27 at 16:33:31 EDT. The weather forecast for the launch is 60% favorable at the moment, so weather could be an issue.

Pretty excited for this. My brother is a nervous wreck. He met the astronauts a couple months ago. Tough for him to think his work can have a direct effect in these people’s’ lives.

I'm actually super excited for this and have butterflies in my stomach.

Foul weather in the area, including a tornado warning, but the countdown is continuing for now. (Currently T-minus 55 minutes as of this posting)

Weather appears to be trending in the right direction. The cell that produced the tornado warning has moved away, and other nearby weather appears to be petering out.

T-minus 30 minutes, go-no go now sitting at 75-25.

Go for propellant load.

I'm kinda wishing I had driven down to Hawthorne/SpaceX Mothership for this.

They just mentioned weather now trending the wrong way.
It's really touch and go, and I'm trying not to think they're just delaying the inevitable scrub.

Sounds like 6 minutes until decision on whether lightning possibility is to high.

Not going to happen

Multiple weather violations. Looking like a scrub.

Sounds like they might be considering pushing T-0 back 10 minutes.