Enter the Dragon?

Not much has been mentioned in official circles that the SpaceX Dragon
could help to fill the U.S. manned spaceflight gap that will run from
2010, when the shuttle retires, to 2015, when the manned Orion files
for the first time.

It seems to me that the Dragon, once proven, could be quite a viable
taxi for the ISS.

MO wrote:

:Not much has been mentioned in official circles that the SpaceX Dragon
:could help to fill the U.S. manned spaceflight gap that will run from
:2010, when the shuttle retires, to 2015, when the manned Orion files
:for the first time.
:
:It seems to me that the Dragon, once proven, could be quite a viable
:taxi for the ISS.
:

And when is it going to be 'proven'?

The plan says it does its first 'proof of concept' flight in 2010.
There's still a lot of work to be done after that.

--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw

MO wrote:

Not much has been mentioned in official circles that the SpaceX Dragon
could help to fill the U.S. manned spaceflight gap that will run from
2010, when the shuttle retires, to 2015, when the manned Orion files
for the first time.

When Orion flies for the first time? Hahaha hahahaha ... that's rich.

It seems to me that the Dragon, once proven, could be quite a viable
taxi for the ISS.

You mean once demonstrated, of course.

It's the only option, besides the other options. Ares isn't one of them.

On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:31:44 -0700 (PDT), MO
wrote:

Not much has been mentioned in official circles that the SpaceX Dragon
could help to fill the U.S. manned spaceflight gap that will run from
2010, when the shuttle retires, to 2015, when the manned Orion files
for the first time.

It seems to me that the Dragon, once proven, could be quite a viable
taxi for the ISS.

If the delays that SpaceX has endured just getting Falcon 1 up and
running are any guide, Dragon won't be available to fill the gap.

Brian

Brian Thorn wrote:
On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:31:44 -0700 (PDT), MO
wrote:

Not much has been mentioned in official circles that the SpaceX Dragon
could help to fill the U.S. manned spaceflight gap that will run from
2010, when the shuttle retires, to 2015, when the manned Orion files
for the first time.

It seems to me that the Dragon, once proven, could be quite a viable
taxi for the ISS.

If the delays that SpaceX has endured just getting Falcon 1 up and
running are any guide, Dragon won't be available to fill the gap.

The gap is now irrelevant. The problem is the IDIOT'S ROCKET - Ares I.

Falcon and Dragon will solve that problem completely, as do the EELVs.

Brian Thorn wrote:
If the delays that SpaceX has endured just getting Falcon 1 up and
running are any guide, Dragon won't be available to fill the gap.

Especially since getting Dragon "up there" requires both Dragon and
Falcon 9, unless SpaceX has some sort of "Little Joe III" (as it were)
hiding in the back of the shop with which to test Dragon while they
debug Falcon 9.

rick jones
--
portable adj, code that compiles under more than one compiler
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

"MO" wrote in message
...
Not much has been mentioned in official circles that the SpaceX Dragon
could help to fill the U.S. manned spaceflight gap that will run from
2010, when the shuttle retires, to 2015, when the manned Orion files
for the first time.

It seems to me that the Dragon, once proven, could be quite a viable
taxi for the ISS.

It's those two words, "once proven" that are critical.

Any new system is going to take a lot of work to meet those two words.

In sci.space.policy message
, Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:25:31, Brian Thorn
posted:
On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:31:44 -0700 (PDT), MO
wrote:

It seems to me that the Dragon, once proven, could be quite a viable
taxi for the ISS.

If the delays that SpaceX has endured just getting Falcon 1 up and
running are any guide, Dragon won't be available to fill the gap.

NASA will probably keep on delaying the far end of the gap.

If next year's administration is sensible, it will remove the time limit
on Shuttle and replace it by just allowing the presently-planned number
of flights, with the delivery of the International Expensive Observing
Thing included. NASA clearly want to launch those flights before
2010-10-01, but ISTM that they probably don't have enough margin to
accommodate an unfortunately-timed Bad Weather Month plus a problem such
as the ET sensors - they should not be forced into haste.

--
(c) John Stockton, nr London, UK. Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
Astro stuff via astron-1.htm, gravity0.htm ; quotings.htm, pascal.htm, etc.
No Encoding. Quotes before replies. Snip well. Write clearly. Don't Mail News.

Dr J R Stockton wrote:
In sci.space.policy message
, Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:25:31, Brian Thorn
posted:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:31:44 -0700 (PDT), MO
wrote:


It seems to me that the Dragon, once proven, could be quite a viable
taxi for the ISS.

If the delays that SpaceX has endured just getting Falcon 1 up and
running are any guide, Dragon won't be available to fill the gap.


NASA will probably keep on delaying the far end of the gap.

If next year's administration is sensible, it will remove the time limit
on Shuttle and replace it by just allowing the presently-planned number
of flights, with the delivery of the International Expensive Observing
Thing included. NASA clearly want to launch those flights before
2010-10-01, but ISTM that they probably don't have enough margin to
accommodate an unfortunately-timed Bad Weather Month plus a problem such
as the ET sensors - they should not be forced into haste.

I would guess that that is in reality what they have in mind. But you
don't want to say so. You don't want guys who are going to lose their
jobs after the last launch to find reasons to delay the launch 1 or
2 or 3 more years. So you want to make sure that if you do have to delay
the last launch, it has to be for a short period and for a good reason.
But I would be very surprised if bad weather on 2010-09-30 would
completely scrap the last launch instead of delaying it to the next day.


Alain Fournier

Dr J R Stockton wrote:
In sci.space.policy message
, Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:25:31, Brian Thorn
posted:
On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:31:44 -0700 (PDT), MO
wrote:

It seems to me that the Dragon, once proven, could be quite a viable
taxi for the ISS.
If the delays that SpaceX has endured just getting Falcon 1 up and
running are any guide, Dragon won't be available to fill the gap.

NASA will probably keep on delaying the far end of the gap.

If next year's administration is sensible, it will remove the time limit
on Shuttle and replace it by just allowing the presently-planned number
of flights, with the delivery of the International Expensive Observing
Thing included. NASA clearly want to launch those flights before
2010-10-01, but ISTM that they probably don't have enough margin to
accommodate an unfortunately-timed Bad Weather Month plus a problem such
as the ET sensors - they should not be forced into haste.

Agreed with the sentiment, but there is more margin in the schedule than
you imply. There are four months margin at the end of the manifest, and
a few weeks margin between each vehicle flow.