It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

SpaceX Dragon Launch -- Is there a Russian 'spy ship' off the coast?

page: 1
5

log in

join
share:

posted on Apr, 17 2014 @ 10:16 PM
link   
Apparently there is a Russian ship that just happens to be nearby for each scheduled launch:
theaviationist.com...

And why not? The Russian Space Program leaders are terrified of SpaceX succeeding and making the last Russian space card, transportation, obsolete. Once Dragon goes operational with crew, there's no other Russian spaceflight service that anyone in the world has any commercial interest in.



posted on Apr, 17 2014 @ 10:20 PM
link   
The x37 has been up for nearly 500 days now and not a lot of gossip about it any news on what it is watching !


edit on 17-4-2014 by 999zxcv because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 18 2014 @ 12:14 AM
link   
They have not had a supply in month's now how much longer can the iss hold out without getting this supply got to be some mighty hungry people up there



posted on Apr, 18 2014 @ 04:37 AM
link   

originally posted by: 999zxcv
They have not had a supply in month's now how much longer can the iss hold out without getting this supply got to be some mighty hungry people up there


wrong thread and, uh, check your facts.



posted on Apr, 18 2014 @ 05:12 AM
link   
a reply to: JimOberg

Some extra details and images of the powerful tug.

Some interesting titbits about the SpaceX Dragon's payload.

What advantage would the Russians gain by watching the launch from there? Presumably they could get a closer, legitimate view from the Cape itself? Russians are allowed to attend launches I expect. If it was to listen to comms, again, wouldn't that be possible without being so obvious? Would the comms be on secure channels or will local hams be able to listen in too? I'm curious.

The tug is apparently where it is and will have a reason; the article suggests it's overt surveillance. Who knows? Perhaps it's the launch and/or perhaps it's waiting for the Viktor Leonov SSV-175? Puzzling with so little information.



posted on Apr, 18 2014 @ 08:17 AM
link   

originally posted by: JimOberg
Apparently there is a Russian ship that just happens to be nearby for each scheduled launch:
theaviationist.com...

And why not? The Russian Space Program leaders are terrified of SpaceX succeeding and making the last Russian space card, transportation, obsolete. Once Dragon goes operational with crew, there's no other Russian spaceflight service that anyone in the world has any commercial interest in.


Starred, Flagged
If SpaceX's next launch is a failure, I'm totally blaming the Russian tug boat...
Seriously



posted on Apr, 18 2014 @ 01:54 PM
link   
a reply to: JimOberg

However, there’s someone who suggested that the ocean tug is actually supporting Russian nuclear attack submarines monitoring U.S. Navy East coast bases.

Hard to say.

For sure the Russian tug is not there by accident. During the Cold War, Russian and Americans have monitored each others special special operations, military exercises, invasions, maiden flights etc. This is not changed with the collapse of the USSR. On the contrary, close encounters (as the one in the Black Sea) and reciprocal snooping are probably going to increase.

From your OP source.

About the subs mentioned above, are they confirmed or speculated?

About the tug, what advantage I wonder would there be in "having eyes" on the launch?
Satellites would catch it and could zoom to decent detail.

...And I'm with you in that Russia is a little intimidated (right word?) by the prospect of the US not needing them for every little thing we need to put into space.



posted on Apr, 19 2014 @ 04:44 AM
link   
I'll stick this in here rather than create a separate thread:

Passage of SpaceX Dragon over Paris 25 minutes after Falcon 9 launch, for docking to the ISS on Sunday.
Taken April 18 2014 19:50 UTC.
Thierry Legault, France www.astrophoto.fr


Amazing detail for a relatively small (compared to the Shuttle or ISS) capsule in a low-earth orbit. Here's a screenshot with a comparison picture of the Dragon capsule:


You can actually just make out the capsule itself, and the extended solar panels on either side (those power the Dragon for the two or so days it takes for it to catch up to the space station). To give you a sense of scale, the capsule is 7.2 meters (24 feet) long and 3.7 meters (12 feet) wide. The panels are about 16.5 meters (55 feet) across. It was roughly 370 km (230 miles) above the Earth's surface when he shot this.
www.slate.com...




top topics



 
5

log in

join