Space X Success!: Dragon Hooks Up With International Space Station
This morning, the first private spacecraft was captured by the robotic arm of the International Space Station. It happened very, very slowly, starting at around the 19 minute mark:
So that was pretty awesome.
And here's your cheesy, quotable line from the mission:
When the craft reached a distance of 10 meters (33 feet), NASA astronaut Don Pettit used the station's 17-meter-long (60-foot-long) robotic arm to grab hold of the Dragon's grapple attachment at 9:56 a.m. ET. "Capture is confirmed," NASA mission commentator Josh Byerly said.
"It looks like we've got us a Dragon by the tail," Pettit told Mission Control.
If all goes well, the Dragon will disgorge food, a laptop, and other supplies for ISS residents tomorrow. We are now officially in a bold new era of privately provided space services. Read all about it here.
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We are now officially in a bold new era of privately provided space services.
Until the feds regulate the innovation out of it.
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Keep your laws away from my space docking!
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Docking is a crime here in NC already. Sorry about that.
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Don't worry, if the feds follow us into space we'll just go further into the final frontier.
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Libertarians ... in ... space!!!!!
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No, It's Somali pirates from Mars.
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Precisely.
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Don't be silly, regulation is a sweet, invigorating elixer that improves everything it covers.
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"It looks like we've got us a Dragon by the tail..."
I bet he rehearsed that line all night, in hopes that the line (with its multiple layers of meaning) will go into the history books along with "one small step for a man."
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It's the wrong line. Here's the right one: "Look into the eyes of the Dragon, and despair! I destroy you! I consign you to oblivion!"
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The King and the land are one!
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STAND BACK! Be silent! Be still! That's it. And look upon this moment. Savor it! Rejoice with great gladness! Great gladness! Remember it always, for you are joined by it. You are one, under the stars. Remember it well, then. . .this night, this great victory. So that in the years ahead, you can say, "I was there that night, with Dragon, the spacecraft!" For it is the doom of men that they forget.
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I've only gotten 30 hours into Skyrim; is that a spoiler?
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Stand back, I've trapped the Dragon! Watch as I kill it to steal its horde.
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And missed a golden opportunity for "chasing the dragon."
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With "Dragon the Line" as the theme song.
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This wasn't private space travel! They got that rocket to the launch pad using government ROADZ!!11!11!!!
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Ug, this make me touch myself.
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Huh, I didn't realize they were so close to something workable. It seems like just yesterday that my friends were bemoaning our permanently earthbound future.
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IF PRIVATE SPACE TRAVEL WAS FEASIBLE THEN SOMALIA WOULD HAVE A COLONY ON MARS ALREADY.
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How do you know they don't? Have you been there? Somali pirates from Mars, FTW.
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I'm gonna meme the fuck out of this thread.
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You know who else thought private space travel was a good idea?
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Epi's mom?
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Bob Heinlein?
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The correct answer, of course, is Reavers.
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In season 3, it was revealed that the Reavers were actually all bureaucrats gone bad.
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Wait, how did I miss Season 2?
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I subscribe to Altflix, which allows you to queue programs from alternative realities.
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If they have the original Star Wars trilogy streaming in HD from a universe where Lucas perished in a grisly hamburger accident in the '80's, sign me up.
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Okay, hold on. Um, there's prequels directed by Kenneth Branagh, and sequels directed by Christoper Nolan. How about those? There's also the HBO series.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTwRxtmQ9IY
Do this and then I will be satisfied.
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http://spacex.com/multimedia/videos.php?id=0
And this would make me happy, too.
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I'll hook my Dragon up to your Space Station baby.
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SpaceX is signing more contracts with entities other than the U.S. government. The most exciting of which is the recent deal with Bigelow to provide manned transport to (and maybe of--not sure) the Bigelow inflatable orbital hotels. Or is that motels?
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Hotels. Classy places. Escorts only, no cheap hookers.
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Good, I'd hate to pick up a case of Space Herpes.
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I'd link the scene from Ice Pirates, but the YouTube is blocked at work.
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Whoretels.
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Of course. But those will come later. Not much later, but later.
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I'm thinking the good SLS (Stratolaunch Systems) might be an ideal candidate to getting the hotels to orbit.
And where the hell was I when ATK announced they had a design? Why did no one tell me this!?!
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yeah it's a good thing this spaceX stuff is working out because the stratolaunch center rocket is basically a falcon rocket with 4 or 5 merlin engines.
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Inflatable?
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Yup. See, they can only be so wide when launched, so to offer more room, they use like, 3 layers of air-tight Kevlar-type material and inflate them with compressed air. I believe the pilot one may still be in orbit, but I could be wrong.
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OT: Anyone else seeing the sideways Atlas Summit advert?
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No, I got Meet Chinese Women and a t-shirt ad. But I'm not in the US.