JF Mezei wrote:
On 2016-01-05 13:52, Fred J. McCall wrote:

Pretty sure I read somewhere that NASA is going to fly 4 (vice 7)
people and require parachute landings. In other words, force Dragon
V2 into the same mould as the other capsules. SpaceX is pricing
things accordingly.

But that still means firing the engines for the landing, right ?

With a parachute deployed, does that absolutely preclude engines
being used except for last few feet ? Engines could still slow
descent and steer the craft with parachutes still staying "inflated"
above.

They already have the engines on board to use for launch escape.
Using parachutes as (part of) the primary landing procedure means
adding complexity to the 'chutes - either steerable parachutes or
coding the landing program(s) to deal with being more at the mercy of
the wind(s) while coming down on parachutes, without removing any of
the engines or, presumably their fuel, which must remain for launch
escape.

rick jones
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