SpaceX and NASA Host Teleconference Today on SpaceX 2 Mission to Space Station

In article ,
says...

March 1, 2013

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100


MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-041

SPACEX AND NASA HOST TELECONFERENCE TODAY ON SPACEX 2 MISSION TO SPACE STATION

WASHINGTON -- SpaceX and NASA will hold a media teleconference at 3
p.m. EST today to discuss the latest information about the company's
second cargo mission to the International Space Station under NASA's
Commercial Resupply Services contract.

The teleconference participants a

- Elon Musk, chief designer and CEO, SpaceX
- Gwynne Shotwell, president, SpaceX
- William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human
Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters, Washington
- Michael Suffredini, International Space Station program manager

For dial-in information, journalists must contact Josh Buck at
or 202-358-1100, or the Kennedy Space Center newsroom
321-867-2468.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's website
at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For more information about NASA's International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

I didn't get to watch this, but Spaceflight.com had this to say:

SpaceX and NASA issued a statement at 8pm UTC, confirming
ISS rendezvous on Saturday was missed. Dragon will have
other opportunities to hook up with the ISS, most likely
on Monday. However, SpaceX did confirm they were back to
two of the three thrusters, with the remaining two
expected to return to life shortly.

The root cause is still preliminary, but the initial data
points to a stuck valve that was resolved by ?jackhammering?
it open and close to free it.

Good that they got this working. Although it's a bit concerning that
one stuck valve could cause several of the four thruster pods trouble.
Of course, adding additional valves and plumbing could make this
redundant, but could introduce other possible failure modes.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer