Crew Dragon launch - flawless

[USincognito]

Perfect launch.
Perfect stage separation.
Perfect stage 1 recovery.
Here's hoping for a successful Dragon docking.
SpaceX Launches Historic Crew Dragon Test Flight to Space Station for NASA

 

[ewq1938]

Nothing weird about the name being "dragon". I'm sure it's nothing.

 

[High Fidelity]

Nothing weird about the name being "dragon". I'm sure it's nothing.

Most crew vessels have interesting names.

Look at Naval ship names around the world.

 

[Strathos]

In before the flat earthers

 

[USincognito]

Nothing weird about the name being "dragon". I'm sure it's nothing.

If you want to get all end times interpretive, then please copy and paste the linked story and start your own thread.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Nothing weird about the name being "dragon". I'm sure it's nothing.

It was originally called DragonRider, it was thought because it sat atop a fiery 'beast' - the rocket, but Elon Musk says it was named after Puff the Magic Dragon...

 

[MyOwnSockPuppet]

Most crew vessels have interesting names.

Look at Naval ship names around the world.

Case in point:

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Case in point:

Oh noes, it's the end of the world!

 

[USincognito]

Anyone have any comments about the launch?

 

[Nithavela]

Nothing weird about the name being "dragon". I'm sure it's nothing.

Mark of the beast coming next thursday.

 

[Nithavela]

Anyone have any comments about the launch?

It's adorable how a small part of the human species tries to escape the planet before its inevitable destruction.

 

[FireDragon76]

Nothing weird about the name being "dragon". I'm sure it's nothing.

Nope. Nothing wierd about it at all. Not everybody thinks every reference must be biblical.

 

[Ophiolite]

Anyone have any comments about the launch?

Encouraging news. There is not much more to say as it is a step on a journey and the journey is what is interesting/inspiring/absorbing.

 

[dgiharris]

Elon Musk is shaming the world's Space Agencies.

What he is doing is on par with Nicholas Tesla. Imagine if someone like him had been in charge of NASA from the 50s...

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Elon Musk is shaming the world's Space Agencies.

What he is doing is on par with Nicholas Tesla. Imagine if someone like him had been in charge of NASA from the 50s...

I thought NASA did a pretty good job from 1958 to 1972. From X-planes and project Mercury suborbital ballistic flights to men on the moon - in 10 years - is pretty good going, especially as they had to invent all the technology as they went.

 

[dgiharris]

I thought NASA did a pretty good job from 1958 to 1972. From X-planes and project Mercury suborbital ballistic flights to men on the moon - in 10 years - is pretty good going, especially as they had to invent all the technology as they went.

NASA in their hey day did do a bang up job however...

one of the problems NASA has had historically because they are a government agency is that they have a government mindset and an incestuous relationship with defense contractors.

For instance, defense contractors will purposefully engineer parts with no regard for multi-configuration usage. In fact, they will specifically design against it so you have to buy a different part for a different system even when you could easily design multiple systems to use the same part.

You just kinda have a different mindset when you design for the government vs designing for the private sector.

 

[USincognito]

Elon Musk is shaming the world's Space Agencies.

What he is doing is on par with Nicholas Tesla. Imagine if someone like him had been in charge of NASA from the 50s...

I half agree. The only reason it's half is because Space-X is largely staffed by former NASA engineers and scientists.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

NASA in their hey day did do a bang up job however...

one of the problems NASA has had historically because they are a government agency is that they have a government mindset and an incestuous relationship with defense contractors.

For instance, defense contractors will purposefully engineer parts with no regard for multi-configuration usage. In fact, they will specifically design against it so you have to buy a different part for a different system even when you could easily design multiple systems to use the same part.

You just kinda have a different mindset when you design for the government vs designing for the private sector.

Sure, contractors do try and take advantage - but I suspect that was more of a problem after Apollo, which had an untarnished national prestige cachet for the companies involved - having hardware on the moonshot was a marketing boon - a badge of quality and a seal of approval that subsequent projects didn't seem to have once public interest waned.

As Alan Shepard, John Glenn, and others have said, their lives depended on hundreds of thousands of parts all supplied on government contract by the lowest bidder...

 

[Yekcidmij]

Anyone have any comments about the launch?

I think it's a pretty big deal in the space industry. The US is one step closer to [again] using our own rockets for space travel and one step further in going back to the moon and on to Mars.

Boeing has a test with their capsule next month. Crewed tests look set still for later this year:

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