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Heck, yeah, space travel!
May. 18th, 2012 09:45 pmSo, tomorrow, if all goes well, SpaceX (a private aerospace company) will launch an uncrewed capsule which will dock with the International Space Station. This is the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the ISS -- so far it's all been Space Shuttles and Soyuz crafts.
Now, when the Space Shuttle was slated to retire, the idea was that the US could pay private companies to pick up the slack. Which... well, I actually think it's a great idea. Basically, NASA should be encouraging private companies to take all the sweet technology developed from years of working for governments and see if they can make it commercially feasible without making it a flying deathtrap. Meanwhile, NASA can put more of its budget into building me more robots... I mean, doing new and innovating things in space exploration.
On the other hand, I would have liked the government to time it better, as the earliest commercial launch with actual humans on board isn't planned until 2015. (The US government has strong feelings about the safety of anything that will carry humans into space to visit their very expensive space station.)
Anyway, so, this launch tomorrow. NASA TV is covering it, and there's a 70% chance the weather will be good. It should be routine -- rocket goes up, drops off capsule, capsule orbits for a bit, catching up with the ISS and they dock. The Dragon capsule has been tested back in late 2010 and is the first commercial spacecraft to go up, orbit and come back down in one piece. Heck, only three nations have done this*.
Unfortunately, the launch is at 4:55 AM Eastern time, so I'm going to be asleep for it, probably. But you can watch a simulation here
* Plenty of stuff has gone up and not come down, or come down in little bits of space debris (preferably after it did its thing). But you really got to stick the landing in this business.
Now, when the Space Shuttle was slated to retire, the idea was that the US could pay private companies to pick up the slack. Which... well, I actually think it's a great idea. Basically, NASA should be encouraging private companies to take all the sweet technology developed from years of working for governments and see if they can make it commercially feasible without making it a flying deathtrap. Meanwhile, NASA can put more of its budget into building me more robots... I mean, doing new and innovating things in space exploration.
On the other hand, I would have liked the government to time it better, as the earliest commercial launch with actual humans on board isn't planned until 2015. (The US government has strong feelings about the safety of anything that will carry humans into space to visit their very expensive space station.)
Anyway, so, this launch tomorrow. NASA TV is covering it, and there's a 70% chance the weather will be good. It should be routine -- rocket goes up, drops off capsule, capsule orbits for a bit, catching up with the ISS and they dock. The Dragon capsule has been tested back in late 2010 and is the first commercial spacecraft to go up, orbit and come back down in one piece. Heck, only three nations have done this*.
Unfortunately, the launch is at 4:55 AM Eastern time, so I'm going to be asleep for it, probably. But you can watch a simulation here
* Plenty of stuff has gone up and not come down, or come down in little bits of space debris (preferably after it did its thing). But you really got to stick the landing in this business.
