The Space Thread - Launches, Events, Live Streams, Governments, Corporations, drama in Spaaaaaaaaaaaace

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msd said:
I know when I went to space center houston last year, they had been showcasing all of the Artemis stuff that I'm seeing now, so I can always just schedule another trip there and just ask employees your questions in person, if you're interested in me playing amateur interviewer.

I do recall seeing everything you've described, but it all looked, I guess very very basic, and clearly still being tested, so your guess of 2028 might not be too far off.
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My diagnosis based on the inside is that Starship HLS won't be ready until 2029 or later (especially given the sudden stepwise change to V3, to be determined how that goes when it launches in May or June). Blue Moon Mk2 is a wildcard because Blue doesn't leak like a sieve. Mk1 looks good so far, and New Shepard nailing a landing was a major milestone. The accelerated plan for Blue looks pretty robust.

SpaceX might try to fly a dummy Starship HLS as a docking target, but the build on that hardware would have to start about now or soon (approx 1 year lead time). The refueling hurdle is also much more significant as the whole thing has to work pretty much perfectly to get a landing in by end of 2029, and even in a perfect world that seems highly unlikely. All of the associated on-orbit testing is pushed back to H2 2026 at the earliest.
 
While I was pulling over to watch the launch, I saw the car in front of me almost rear end the turning car in front of them. Luckily they swerved onto the shoulder within 2-3 feet of the turning car. I saw other cars pulled over watching too.
I wonder how many car accidents NASA caused.

:thinking:
 
Fooby said:
While I was pulling over to watch the launch, I saw the car in front of me almost rear end the turning car in front of them. Luckily they swerved onto the shoulder within 2-3 feet of the turning car. I saw other cars pulled over watching too.
I wonder how many car accidents NASA caused.

:thinking:
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The God-Emperor recognizes sacrifice is necessary to expand the domains of the Imperium
 
You can see those ears from space.
ears.png
 
So Apollo 8 lasted less time, and unlike this mission it orbited the moon. Is that just because the rockets not as powerful?

The next mission is meant to be landing yet? Wouldn't orbiting and leaving the moon's orbit be a critical thing to test? If not, then why not do it now?
 
Screamer_2 said:
So Apollo 8 lasted less time, and unlike this mission it orbited the moon. Is that just because the rockets not as powerful?

The next mission is meant to be landing yet? Wouldn't orbiting and leaving the moon's orbit be a critical thing to test? If not, then why not do it now?
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This rocket is more powerful. This isn't about testing Lunar orbiters. This about heavy lift tech for more involved stuff to go beyond earth orbit and carry cargo to the moon.
 
Screamer_2 said:
So Apollo 8 lasted less time, and unlike this mission it orbited the moon. Is that just because the rockets not as powerful?

The next mission is meant to be landing yet? Wouldn't orbiting and leaving the moon's orbit be a critical thing to test? If not, then why not do it now?
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It's a few things.

When Orion was developed the reference mission was meeting a station in something called Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) for deep space research, with landing coming as a planned add-on to station ops orbiting the Moon. That directorate has changed over time, with the vague idea of deep space missions around the Moon becoming dedicated landing missions, to the point that the station is probably canceled for good and surface ops are taking precedence. Diving deep into the Moon's gravity well is not something Orion is designed for, and NRHO is really convenient for full-surface access (it gradually rotates around the Moon to provide for landings almost anywhere on the surface), so it doesn't have to be built around that, and the pros of NRHO greatly outweigh the cons (the Moon is surprisingly hot and staying away from it is good for propellant storage).

This mission is designed to get Orion 90% of the way to the Moon with the last 10% coming from an in-space service module burn. That's sufficient to test the system in space, while getting the added bonus of a 24 hour holding orbit for final checkouts and a flyby of the Moon to fully test near-lunar operations. Additionally, if something goes wrong, there's plenty of opportunity to either abort back to Earth or just coast on the flyby trajectory.

Apollo 8 was pretty high-risk in that regard. If the service module failed to light, they wouldn't be able to break orbit. Using the LM as a contingency made later missions more fault tolerant, as Apollo 13 demonstrated. Artemis II accomplishes largely the same test domain as Apollo 8 without the risk. Artemis IV will once again have the added bonus of a lander available to kick Orion back home should issues arise after insertion.
 
Kari Kamiya said:
Leave it to an American to ask about if the crew are getting fed.
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The first, and probably only, sandwich ever launched into space was by an American astronaut John Young. It was a corn-beef sandwich. I'm sure John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich would be proud that his invention got to outer space before any French food.
mindlessobserver said:
This rocket is more powerful. This isn't about testing Lunar orbiters. This about heavy lift tech for more involved stuff to go beyond earth orbit and carry cargo to the moon.
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Agree. This rocket is also carrying 33% more astronauts and it comes with a functioning toilet instead of an Indian ziplock.
 
Just posting some pure fucking kino I've discovered in the past hour:



HE3E7TtasAAFRcM.jpeg

HE3F13RWEAAsokn.jpeg

HE25Oo1WEAA2hEE.jpeg

These photos go hard as fuck.
 
Could someone please put the videos of the launch to the tune of "America, Fuck yeah?" Thanks in advance.

The Orion is about to do final stage seperation.


1775095146474.png

They are testing the attitude control thrusters now.

1775095514809.png

Interestingly, the manual controls are all analogue it looks like. Twist knobs and switches.
 
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