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I tried it a few times and it was all fine and dandy until the last few feet when each time I somehow managed to 'drive' the thing sideways into the ISS.

The Dragon has landed! That was quite intense but I managed to dock it on my 2nd attempt. I had to abort the first one but the 2nd one was easy. I had the pitch, yaw and roll at 0 degrees with 200+m to go and just guided it it with small corrections on the left controls.

It was great.
 
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It's amazing how they land the boosters back, and when they use the drone ship
even though the sea is quite rough there seems to be quite a bit of movement
on the deck yet it lands and just sits there, I did try to look is there was some
sort of clamping system but cant see anything.
 
Dunno if this is the place for it....but I'm currently watching 'nerdlecam' at Boca Chica as they assemble the spaceship SN8.
Putting the nosecone on with a BIG crane!
superbastard.png
 
And the nose is on!
And there is a youtube timelapse of it being done too.
nose on.png


 
Love this! It brightened up a dull Friday
Excellent. I was expecting to see a puppet of Elon Musk though, lol.
Good timing too as this weekend sees a double-header for SpaceX.
We have a new flight of Dragon Capsule taking a 4 person crew up to the ISS (due to happen tomorrow but....weather?)
And over at the Boca Chica site the Starship SN8 has gone through various tests during the past couple of weeks and is due to have a 15km high 'hop' today, technical issues allowing.
Watch it here;
 
Just watching the live feed from 'LabPadre' now as SpaceX prepare for their 12.5km 'hop'.
We could be minutes away!
 
Bugger. They scrubbed the launch with 1.2 seconds to go!
They might try again today.
 
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So....take 2.
Starship SN8 on the pad, ready to go, tanks being pressurised.
Lift Off expected in a couple of hours.
Looks like a lovely day for it too.
starship SN8.png
 
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We are about 10 minutes away from launch
 
Catastrophic unplanned disassembly!
Well....they tried...and failed....but what a attempt!
 
The lesson is.....'never try'.
lol
Excellent.
SN9 ......you're next.
 
Yes, it has an authentic sf vibe.

This is the future we were promised.
 
Catastrophic unplanned disassembly!
Well....they tried...and failed....but what a attempt!
I don't call that a failure. It went up and came to the end of its flight (as it was only intended to go up so far).
Unfortunately, it fell rather than coming down under power.
They'll just have to knock the bugs out.
 
Flight vidio 0 points for the landing but 9 out of 10 for positioning,
it seems low fuel pressure reduced power on landing no doubt they
will get it right in the end.
 
Impressive that such a large rocket can stand without a launch tower. It's a real spaceship.
Until the landing, everything was pretty much textbook.
 
The Orion spacecraft is now 15 years old and has flown into space just once

It was supposed to be the beginning of the Mars era.


NASA has spent $23.7 billion developing the Orion spacecraft. This does not include primary costs for the vehicle's Service Module, which provides power and propulsion, as it is being provided by the European Space Agency.

KSC-314D-0556_0006_medium-800x533.jpg


For this money, NASA has gotten a bare-bones version of Orion that flew during the Exploration Flight Test-1 mission in 2014. The agency has also gotten the construction of an Orion capsule—which also does not have a full life support system—that will be used during the uncrewed Artemis I mission due to be flown in 12 to 24 months. So over its lifetime, and for $23.7 billion, the Orion program has produced:

  • Development of Orion spacecraft
  • Exploration Flight Test-1 basic vehicle
  • The Orion capsule to be used for another test flight
  • Work on capsules for subsequent missions

SpaceX is generally considered one of the most efficient space companies. Founded in 2002, the company has received funding from NASA, the Department of Defense, and private investors. Over its history, we can reliably estimate that SpaceX has expended a total of $16 billion to $20 billion on all of its spaceflight endeavors. Consider what that money has bought:

  • Development of Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy rockets
  • Development of Cargo Dragon, Crew Dragon, and Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft
  • Development of Merlin, Kestrel, and Raptor rocket engines
  • Build-out of launch sites at Vandenberg (twice), Kwajalein Atoll, Cape Canaveral, and Kennedy Space Center
  • 105 successful launches to orbit
  • 20 missions to supply International Space Station, two crewed flights
  • Development of vertical take off, vertical landing, rapid reuse for first stages
  • Starship and Super Heavy rocket development program
  • Starlink Internet program (with 955 satellites on orbit, SpaceX is largest satellite operator in the world)
To sum up, SpaceX delivered all of that for billions of dollars less than what NASA has spent on the Orion program since its inception.

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...paceflight-america-still-waits-for-an-encore/

maximus otter
 
... To sum up, SpaceX delivered all of that for billions of dollars less than what NASA has spent on the Orion program since its inception. ...

Bullshit born of vacuously comparing apples and oranges ...

To date, SpaceX's Dragon program has successfully provided a generational upgrade to the manned spacecraft previously used for near-earth orbit missions, most especially ISS support. In other words, it's developed a new generation platform that could take over the earth-orbital functions previously handled by Soyuz (60s-era tech) and the Shuttle (70s-era tech). That's it, that's all ...

Orion was planned from the beginning to handle two additional mission profiles - lunar and deep space. SpaceX has yet to make headway on these two extended mission types, having cancelled its Red Dragon program.

Three flightworthy Orion craft are under construction, and a fourth has been ordered.

The associated SLS (Space Launch System) rocket program is still trundling along, and it's conceivable SpaceX (and / or some other independent contractor(s)) might finally catch up and demonstrate super-heavy launch capabilities analogous to SLS specs.

In effect, this is what SpaceX's Starship program is trying to accomplish. Even if they succeed in developing a viable alternative to the SLS rocket they have nothing to match Orion's capabilities and requirements.

It's relatively cheaper and easier to replicate and improve capabilities that are 4 decades old. Developing entirely new systems for entirely different mission types is a whole different ball game.
 
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Now that the majority of the remains of SN8 has been cleared from the area after it's 'hard landing', Space X has moved SN9 out to the pad ready for testing.
Looks mighty fine.
 
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