Pretty impressive overall, especially with overcoming the technical problems. Even the HTV, ATV, and even Progress take as long or longer between launch and rendezvous/attachment.
I’m curious whether or not they’ll redesign Dragon / DragonRider to add a redundant helium pressurization system (or splitting the 4-thruster pods into two sets served by separate helium systems). Especially since the Falcon 9 v1.1 gives them a bit of extra mass margin to play with.
Speaking as one of those people who hammered the NSF.com server into unconsciousness on Friday morning when the SpaceX webcast ended, it was thrilling to see how quickly they overcame the thruster problem and got on with the rendezvous. My heart was in my throat there for awhile. Congratulations, SpaceX!
Pretty impressive overall, especially with overcoming the technical problems. Even the HTV, ATV, and even Progress take as long or longer between launch and rendezvous/attachment.
I’m curious whether or not they’ll redesign Dragon / DragonRider to add a redundant helium pressurization system (or splitting the 4-thruster pods into two sets served by separate helium systems). Especially since the Falcon 9 v1.1 gives them a bit of extra mass margin to play with.
Speaking as one of those people who hammered the NSF.com server into unconsciousness on Friday morning when the SpaceX webcast ended, it was thrilling to see how quickly they overcame the thruster problem and got on with the rendezvous. My heart was in my throat there for awhile. Congratulations, SpaceX!