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SpaceX 'Test' Flight Off And Running
from the well-that's-nice dept
Well, well. After some delays and an aborted attempt a few days ago, it appears that the SpaceX "test" flight to get a bit of cargo into orbit and aimed at the International Space Station has worked according to plan -- and we're now a step closer to a private space program (photo from NASA):
The SpaceX folks webcast the whole thing from its website (hopefully, they'll post the video for people to rewatch -- as of right now there's nothing). The White House immediately offered its congratulations for "the potential of a new era in American spaceflight..." powered by the private sector.
This is the second time that SpaceX has gotten this far, but rather than just orbiting the earth a couple times, the current mission goal is to have the Dragon capsule actually dock with the International Space Station (and deliver some food). The actual docking process is a bit complex, apparently, so there are still some worries. However, things certainly seem to be progressing.
And, of course, this is just one of many stepping stones towards actually offering private manned spaceflight, which goes beyond just touching the edges of space, but actually into orbit. Either way, it's an important milestone along the way.
This is the second time that SpaceX has gotten this far, but rather than just orbiting the earth a couple times, the current mission goal is to have the Dragon capsule actually dock with the International Space Station (and deliver some food). The actual docking process is a bit complex, apparently, so there are still some worries. However, things certainly seem to be progressing.
And, of course, this is just one of many stepping stones towards actually offering private manned spaceflight, which goes beyond just touching the edges of space, but actually into orbit. Either way, it's an important milestone along the way.
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and it looks like the webcast is being replayed through livestream on demand, just hit play.
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/142499/events/626741
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second time was the charm it seems!
it's not like this is rocket science or something
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Another milestone is Copenhagen Suborbitals tested their liquid rocket engine successfully.
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with everything learned from the government, it is an accomplishment, yes, but its pretty easy when you 50 plus years of stuff to learn from
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In fact, it's so easy that NASA has pretty much given up putting people in space. I guess it is just not challenging enough.
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http://www.space.com/15805-spacex-private-capsule-launches-space-station.html
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'Cause that's the only reason i can think of for the reason why you posted that.
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North Korea's embarrassing rocket launch failure sparks multi-nation search for debris
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57413501/north-koreas-embarrassing-rocket-launch-failure -sparks-multi-nation-search-for-debris/
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'over engineering' they called it.
funny how one such over-engineered building was pretty much the least damaged brick structure in several major earthquakes...
(it was a railway station. built to deal with the vibrations of the trains coming and going and such like. they went a bit nuts with the structural integrity, to the point where, from memory, the sum total damage was a few bricks coming loose from the top of the clock tower. compared to a lot of other stone and brick buildings outright Collapsing, that's pretty impressive.)
about the only area where government work is Known for being sloppy here-abouts is budgets and when ideology or greed gets in the way of facts when it comes to law making.
cutting corners and such Is a lot more common in the private sector here. at least that you hear about. (and again, usually with construction.)
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though, with the constant budget cuts and reorganizations in the name of 'efficiency' rather than getting things done Properly, i wouldn't be surprised to see that change...
(seriously: when all costs are affordable and the outcome is superior, the less efficient way is better. one boosts efficiency to save on raw materials or increase output without lowering quality. if you're lowering quality in the name of efficiency as if efficiency were some perfect goal, you're doing it wrong.
many governments and businesses need to learn this.)
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they kept running into brick walls trying to get parts due to US regulations about the parts they were after being 'strategic resources' or some such.
their response was to make their own.
what they made was, in many cases, so good, that the suppliers they were not permitted to buy from switched to buying from Them and using Their parts.
they also did some fun stuff with eco-friendly fuel.
from memory, the main problem with their setup was that their first major launch (which was on tv and everything)... the capsule with the test results (and a couple of science experiments or something) was lost at sea. it apparently came down properly and everything but sank or something before they could retrieve it.
all the spaceflight bits worked fine.
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