Since a number of cool things are happening in space exploration these days, we'll widen the scope of this thread a smidge. Conversation about all things space exploration are welcome, whether it be from NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, or anyone else. Chances are most of the discussion will still be about SpaceX since they love to make things public and fun, but nothing's off limits. I'll eventually get around to modifying the OP to include resources for other companies too, but in the meantime, feel free to post any cool stuff you run across.
Tim Dodd (Everyday Astronaut) - A "random dude" who got really into space (particularly SpaceX). He's a great resource for simple explanations of this stuff, as well as live hosting launches.
USLaunchReport - Lost of videos of the more mundane stuff (e.g., booster recovery operations). Not a ton of commentary.
NASASpaceFlight - Live hosting of most launches including a ton of video of Starlink operations.
Glossary
Spoiler!
Space discussions tend to get a little bogged down in jargon, so here's a list of terms you might encounter. (Others, please let me know of others that should be added.)
ASDS - Autonomous Spaceport Droneship - The "barges" that they sometimes land rockets on.
Dragon - The cone-shaped capsule that sits at the top of the rocket for ISS-bound launches that holds the cargo (or, in the future, humans).
F9 - Falcon 9, the name of the rocket itself.
FH - Falcon Heavy, the three-booster version.
GTO - Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, a type of orbit that will eventually result in the satellite orbiting the earth as it turns so that it seems to be in the same spot from the ground (such as DirecTV or Dish satellites). These types of launches are particularly challenging because they require a lot of power to get them into the right orbit, leaving very little fuel left for landing.
HIF - Horizontal Integration Facility - the building near the launch pad where they put all of the pieces of the rocket together before rolling it out to the pad.
ISS - The International Space Station
JRTI - Just Read The Instructions, the name of the "barge" that they land on for west-coast launches.
LEO - Low Earth Orbit, a fairly low orbit shared by many satellites and ISS. These launches usually require less power to achieve the proper orbit, so the first stage can often be landed back on land rather than on a drone ship.
LZ1 - Landing Zone 1, basically a big open slab of concrete at Cape Canaveral where the first stage will attempt to land (for some launches).
NET - No Earlier Than, basically the date they're hoping to launch, but rocket launches have a tendency of getting delayed.
OCISLY - Of Course I Still Love You, the name of the "barge" that they land on for east-coast launches.
RTLS - Return to Landing Site, a mission where the first stage comes back and lands at LZ1.
Starship - SpaceX's next-generation rocket (and spacecraft) that will hopefully one day take us to Mars. Starship is the "second stage" that will carry cargo or people, but also refers to the whole system. (It's confusing, but think of it like the Space Shuttle, which was both the shuttle itself and the entire launch system.)
Super Heavy - The giant booster that will carry Starship to space.
DM-1 has been given an official time of 2:48am EST on March 2nd. I'd skip it if it were just another mundane flight, but I think I have to stay up for that one. :-)
FWIW, it'll be very similar to a normal Dragon mission in that it'll go up, dock with ISS, then come back down a few days later with a limited amount of cargo going each direction. The only major thing that's different is that the capsule itself is completely different. They'll obviously be testing all sorts of stuff to make sure all would be well if there were humans on board. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Donger:
Some great shots I hadn't seen before:
Look for the show "Mars" by National Geographic. Included with Season 2 is a documentary called "Inside SpaceX". It's ~45 minutes and definitely worth the watch. Some amazing footage.
Originally Posted by DaFace:
DM-1 has been given an official time of 2:48am EST on March 2nd. I'd skip it if it were just another mundane flight, but I think I have to stay up for that one. :-)
FWIW, it'll be very similar to a normal Dragon mission in that it'll go up, dock with ISS, then come back down a few days later with a limited amount of cargo going each direction. The only major thing that's different is that the capsule itself is completely different. They'll obviously be testing all sorts of stuff to make sure all would be well if there were humans on board.
Definitely going to stay up for this. No plans that Saturday so far! Some additional details with scheduling and links to coverage...
Originally Posted by DaFace:
DM-1 has been given an official time of 2:48am EST on March 2nd. I'd skip it if it were just another mundane flight, but I think I have to stay up for that one. :-)
FWIW, it'll be very similar to a normal Dragon mission in that it'll go up, dock with ISS, then come back down a few days later with a limited amount of cargo going each direction. The only major thing that's different is that the capsule itself is completely different. They'll obviously be testing all sorts of stuff to make sure all would be well if there were humans on board.
Cool! Is that the Dragon 2 Cargo variant, or the Crew variant? [Reply]
Originally Posted by unlurking:
Look for the show "Mars" by National Geographic. Included with Season 2 is a documentary called "Inside SpaceX". It's ~45 minutes and definitely worth the watch. Some amazing footage.
Originally Posted by Donger:
Cool! Is that the Dragon 2 Cargo variant, or the Crew variant?
As far as I know, there's no difference other than the presence of seats vs. shelves. Could be wrong though.
EDIT: According to the Wikipedia article, the crew version will also have the escape thrusters. I'm sure they'd include that in the test, so this must technically be the crew dragon but with a small amount of cargo onboard. [Reply]
Originally Posted by unlurking:
I miss the technical casts. :-)
If you're talking about the countdown net, it's still there. It's just there as a separate "camera" in the bottom toolbar next to the gear icon. Seems like they're just showing the modeled view right now though. Odd. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
If you're talking about the countdown net, it's still there. It's just there as a separate "camera" in the bottom toolbar next to the gear icon. Seems like they're just showing the modeled view right now though. Odd.
Yeah, it has always had issues since they tried to merge it. When it was a separate feed it was great. [Reply]
Super quiet feed tonight. If it weren't for the occasional cheers, I'd think I was watching ULA stream. Well, except for ULA never showing stage 2, deployment, or landing videos. :-) [Reply]
