SpaceX just made history.

[4bangen]

The turn around for this booster was ~3 months. Because it was the first block 5 booster, they tore it down to get an idea of the wear from flight and reassembled it for another launch. They have a goal of turning the booster around in 2 weeks but it'll be a while until they do that.

I'm speculating they will try to re-fly this booster at least 10 times and tear it down a few more times to track the wear over time. After that they may refurbish it totally to try and get up to 100 flights as has been suggested in the past.

Anyways, what an exciting time to be alive. The unmanned test flight of the Dragon v2 capsule is scheduled for November. If that goes right they will try and conduct a manned test flight in February 2019.

that is amazing.

[ram57ta]

that is amazing.

Just imagine how far US Space exploration could have advanced if it had been done this way from the beginning...without NASA and big government strangling it with bureaucracy and red tape.

[mschmoyer]

Just imagine how far US Space exploration could have advanced if it had been done this way from the beginning...without NASA and big government strangling it with bureaucracy and red tape.

We might have still been restricted by some advances in computing and miniaturization that SpaceX is benefiting from (not to mention an adult-aged Elon Musk), but the Shuttle definitely hurt.

[Sgt Beavis]

Just imagine how far US Space exploration could have advanced if it had been done this way from the beginning...without NASA and big government strangling it with bureaucracy and red tape.

This I have to disagree with. Up until the 1970's, NASA had no issues with government bureaucracy. They were a "can do" org that got us TO THE FRIGGIN MOON in less than a decade. That was pretty damn impressive.

Now you do have a great point when it comes to several projects like the Shuttle program, Venture Star, DCX, SLS, ARIES, etc., etc., etc. But it wasn't their bureaucracy, it was Congress. Congress mandated multiple requirements to NASA for these projects. For instance, they mandated that the boosters on the Shuttle had to be SRBs and had to be reusable. In Aries (and later the current SLS) they mandated that NASA reuse as much shuttle hardware as possible. In Venture Star, there was a laundry list that made NASA very risk adverse and killed the project when they couldn't make composite fuel tanks work Lockheed Martin got it right just two years later but the project remained dead.

Even the delays to the current private manned program can be laid mostly at Congress' feet with the budgetary cuts causing delays. There was also the pandering to Sen. Richard Shelby (a jackass with so much power that he forced NASA to actually fly him on the Shuttle). Shelby forced a lot of SpaceX's and Boeings money be pushed to the SLS. He even signed off on paying $80million per seat to use Soyuz rather than increase funding for private spaceflight.

NASA's bureaucracy has had an impact as well but IMO it was mostly positive on the private program in that I think both SpaceX and Boeing are going to have the safest manned vehicles in human history. A 100% privately funded manned flight is going to happen rather soon. Probably in just two years. Bigelow Aerospace will be able to move forward with their private space station too.

NASA's bureaucracy has also produced some absolutely spectacular results in the unmanned spaceflight field. The Mars landing of the Curiosity rover was bat shit crazy and it worked! NASA's telescopes have also discovered thousands of planets. The Juno probe is blowing minds on a daily basis as it learns more about Jupiter. NASA is pretty kick ass IMO.

But that same bureaucracy is also a problem and has created the boondoggle now known as the James Webb Telescope. Billions have been spent from NASA and contractor mistakes. There are other projects as well.

We might have still been restricted by some advances in computing and miniaturization that SpaceX is benefiting from (not to mention an adult-aged Elon Musk), but the Shuttle definitely hurt.

Absolutely! Elon himself has said that SpaceX stands on the shoulders of NASA. He has also admitted that NASA has repeatedly helped them. A lot of their engineers came from NASA as well.

What SpaceX and Boeing really represent here is a major shift in how NASA does things. At first the idea was that a company like SpaceX would handle the low Earth orbit stuff while NASA did exploration. But Elon dared to dream big. Now it is looking rather likely that NASA's future moon plans will involve the Falcon Heavy. IMO it is fairly likely an upgraded Dragon will eventually take us back to the moon. I think it is highly likely NASA's SLS will eventually be cancelled. The Trump administration has taken some good steps IMO. We are on the cusp of a new space age and I can't wait to see what happens next.

[Strychnine]

Just imagine how far US Space exploration could have advanced if it had been done this way from the beginning...without NASA and big government strangling it with bureaucracy and red tape.

This I have to disagree with. Up until the 1970's, NASA had no issues with government bureaucracy.

Agreed. When Apollo 1 burned up on the pad and killed 3 astronauts it was Frank Borman (considered one of NASA's top astronauts at the time, the first to go inside the charred remains of Apollo 1 command module) who went before congress to try to keep NASA and the Apollo program alive. He basically got up there and said, "Stop the witch hunt and let us get on with this. We have faith in ourselves, do you have faith in us?" And he won - they stepped back to watch the show. Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were arguably the craziest, most ballsy, "fuck you guys, we're awesome and you can't stop us" things human beings have ever done, similar to the pace SpaceX is trying to keep now.

But after Apollo 11 I can see how an argument could be made for a decline and a transition into bureaucracy.

[Broncojohnny]

Government has to do things that private industry can't because of scale. Like fight wars, build the interstate system in the 1950s or go to the moon. I believe that a public/private partnership is the best, where you can capitalize on the best attributes of both systems. Even then, it doesn't always work well to have government involved, see the NTTA for an example. For a positive example just look at Alliance Airport, everyone involved is benefiting from that one.

[YALE]

Agreed. When Apollo 1 burned up on the pad and killed 3 astronauts it was Frank Borman (considered one of NASA's top astronauts at the time, the first to go inside the charred remains of Apollo 1 command module) who went before congress to try to keep NASA and the Apollo program alive. He basically got up there and said, "Stop the witch hunt and let us get on with this. We have faith in ourselves, do you have faith in us?" And he won - they stepped back to watch the show. Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were arguably the craziest, most ballsy, "fuck you guys, we're awesome and you can't stop us" things human beings have ever done, similar to the pace SpaceX is trying to keep now.

But after Apollo 11 I can see how an argument could be made for a decline and a transition into bureaucracy.

It could be argued that for the ballsy/sexy, relatively near space missions, the low hanging fruit was gone after Apollo 11. The shuttle program was never as sexy as the Apollo program, but we got a metric shit ton of good science done with it, and the entire world benefited from what we learned through it.

[Ruffdaddy]

We might have still been restricted by some advances in computing and miniaturization that SpaceX is benefiting from (not to mention an adult-aged Elon Musk), but the Shuttle definitely hurt.

Excellent point. NASA also gave us NASTRAN which is like the grandparent of any major FEA solver. That alone has sped up the pace of development and dropped the cost in just about any industry.

Government has to do things that private industry can't because of scale. Like fight wars, build the interstate system in the 1950s or go to the moon. I believe that a public/private partnership is the best, where you can capitalize on the best attributes of both systems. Even then, it doesn't always work well to have government involved, see the NTTA for an example. For a positive example just look at Alliance Airport, everyone involved is benefiting from that one.

Even McKinney airport has been growing pretty damn well and I suspect the tax support had a fair amount to do with that.

[Sgt Beavis]

Government has to do things that private industry can't because of scale. Like fight wars, build the interstate system in the 1950s or go to the moon. I believe that a public/private partnership is the best, where you can capitalize on the best attributes of both systems. Even then, it doesn't always work well to have government involved, see the NTTA for an example. For a positive example just look at Alliance Airport, everyone involved is benefiting from that one.

Totally agree. It will be some time before the "new space" industry can stand on its own. I suspect asteroid mining will be the next big step that pushes them into independence. SpaceX, for it's part, is seeking that profitability by building it's space based internet network. Musk could rake in billions with that. I'm imagining affordable satellite phones with 5G connectivity.

[Gasser64]

I'm imagining affordable satellite phones with 5G connectivity.

how affordable

[Ruffdaddy]

5G looks a lot more like massive MIMO than satellites. I'm not sure satellites are practical for 5g.

[Sgt Beavis]

Did anyone watch last lights test flight of the manned capsule?

It will dock with the space station tonight to test the auto docking system. No actual people on board for this flight, just a maniquen named Ridley.

If this mission goes well, SpaceX will next conduct an in flight test of the abort escape system. That will be followed by the first manned test flight.

Boeing will be testing their manned capsule later this spring.

[jw33]

I just finished watching it and am now watching the media conference. Is it just me or does the inside of the Dragon 2 spacecraft look similar to the interior of a Tesla?

[Sgt Beavis]

I just finished watching it and am now watching the media conference. Is it just me or does the inside of the Dragon 2 spacecraft look similar to the interior of a Tesla?

It’s not just you.

[Sgt Beavis]

This mornings docking was a complete success. The capsule stopped 20m short of the station, backed off in a planned maneuver then went back in and completed the docking.