STS-128 Mission

I'm glad they are being safe as well, but at the same time I can't wait for shuttle to be a thing of the history books. Werener Von Braun said that this thing would kill people and he has been proven right at least twice.

If I'm not mistaken SpaceX has a day or two turn around on their falcon rockets. Now imagine when Dragon, their human rated capsule, can do that. And the falcon is launched with just a hand full of people rather than a city. Get rid of all the red tape and just make it happen is what I say.

Now if Obama and his new people can just make it happen!

... But a recent pannel allready said "there isn't enough money to do anything interesting in space."

Who knows ... Right now I just want to complete the ISS and end the space shuttle.



FINGERS CROSSED.

reply to post by fieryjaguarpaw


Much as I love the falcon rockets, and I do love them and find them incredibly exciting, they have a long way to go to have a proven safety record, let alone a day or two turnaround for manned flights. A day turnaround after a scrub, sure, a day turnaround after a successful flight? I'll believe it when I see it. All that said, Dragon has a lot of potential, I've even seen sims putting it into a lunar free return trajectory with help from a pre-launched earth departure stage. That basically makes it a "lunar Gemini" clone (lunar gemini was a backup option in case the Saturn V failed) for a lot less money.
www.orbithangar.com...
This all looks nice on paper, and I have faith in private sector ingenuity beating the government in the end, but I wouldn't put a whole lot of trust in a rocket that requires 27 engines the way falcon 9 heavy will (required if you want to launch an earth departure stage); that starts to look an awful lot like an N1 epic failure. Falcon 9 might actually succeed even if the heavy version doesn't, and if it does the Dragon will be useful for filling the gap after the shuttle stops flying.

[edit on 26-8-2009 by ngchunter]

Originally posted by Zarniwoop
reply to post by ziggy1706

 

Nah, I don't get that feeling at all.

The scrubs are there to prevent potential disaster.

Those astronuts have waited so long for a mission, what's a few more days.

Long live the scrubs

Talk about the scrubs, as I was there on site during the 0136 HRS EDT scrub (25AUG09). I drove three hours to see the launch (Each way), and I only come down here generally once a year to begin with.

Right now they are reporting that at ambient temperatures, the valve is functioning as intended, and the sensor is reading true. The analysts/engineers will be meeting with the MMT (Mission Management Team) at around 12 Noon on 27AUG09 (Thursday), where they should decide on a "GO" or "NO GO", and they will also have another meeting around 1415 HRS EDT, or around the same time at which they begin re-fueling. They still have an elevated Liquid Hydrogen leak in the system, and that, along with the analysis of the drain/fill valve, will be presented to the MMT for a final polling decision at the aforementioned time. Even if a procedural exemption is granted, anyone interested in viewing the shuttle launch should wait until at least 1600 HRS EDT before finalizing their plans. At that point in time, the re-fueling should be far enough along that any cryogenic-state induced issues with the inboard valve should be already present and acknowledged.


Launch time TARGET is currently set for: 0022 HRS EDT (12:22 AM), 28AUG09 (Thursday Night Into Friday Morning).

If they fail to make this deadline, they might try again around 2359 HRS EDT, 28AUG09 (Friday Night Into Saturday Morning), but other than that, any related issues would most likely result in a trip back to the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building), and thus a re-scheduled Launch Window of October 17th, 2009 (Due to Upcoming Air Station Activities).

Originally posted by TheAgentNineteen
...Launch time TARGET is currently set for: 0022 HRS EDT (12:22 AM), 28AUG09 (Thursday Night Into Friday Morning).

If they fail to make this deadline, they might try again around 2359 HRS EDT, 28AUG09 (Friday Night Into Saturday Morning), but other than that, any related issues would most likely result in a trip back to the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building), and thus a re-scheduled Launch Window of October 17th, 2009 (Due to Upcoming Air Station Activities).

They did scrub it again for today (12:22 AM U.S. EDT Friday -- early Friday morning).

As you indicated, they will try again tomorrow at 11:59 PM U.S. EDT Friday (late Friday night).


[edit on 8/27/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]