June 28, 2015
By Alan Boyle
...This was (click here) to have been the first robotic cargo delivery since a Russian Progress capsule went awry in April, resulting in the loss of the craft's 3-ton payload. The Dragon's payload includes food, oxygen and other much-needed basics — and its loss will put even more pressure on the crew and mission planners....
Other government missions have failed. The problem here is why have two private missions of two separate companies failed within a short period of time?
...After stage separation, the Falcon 9's first stage was supposed to attempt a landing on a platform about 215 miles (345 kilometers) downrange in the Atlantic — but the flight never got that far.
All the fuel in the first stage is not burnt before there is separation. There is a lot going on there. The first stage has to separate and fall far enough away to allow the trajectory out of atmosphere of the main rocket. The first stage also has to maintain trajectory to a floating platform. There has to be fuel remaining to power the new trajectory. The separation of both and different trajectories is not great enough to prevent this mutual destruction sequence. Both trajectories are also within the oxygen environment.
Regardless of what happened there has to be consideration of the cargo and it's safety over and above the safe turn by the first stage. Cargo first, economy maybe never. This is the type of thing that went on with Reagan's idea of a cheaper space program. It has never been realistic.
The Dragon previously made six successful cargo runs under the terms of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, plus an initial demonstration mission in 2012.
Sunday's loss marked SpaceX's first failed mission to the space station, and extended a string of setbacks for space station resupply....
Just as a quick review. Every time the space program was seeking economy over astronaut safety, there has been tragedies. At least today there were to lives involved except for those waiting at the International Space Station.
On Jan. 27, 1967, three of the first group of NASA astronauts - Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee - died during a routine ground test of the Apollo capsule, later named Apollo 1.
The Apollo 1 was under President Johnson. It was due to the newness of the program and the nativity of the pure oxygen environment.
...The highly anticipated Jan. 28, 1986, launch of Space Shuttle Challenger, which carried the first teacher-astronaut, Christa McAuliffe, was watched live by many around the nation, including school children. But 73 seconds after takeoff, the shuttle erupted in a fireball that killed the entire crew....
The ambition of privatization has always proven to be a mistake. The space program is cutting edge. There is nothing routine about it. If nothing else the weather and now a far warmer Earth has effect on these vehicles.
This tragedy happened under Reagan and the first time the space program was to deliver a profit by launches every two weeks carrying commercial junk into space.
...Seventeen years later, tragedy struck NASA once again. On Feb. 1, 2003, following a 16-day science mission, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart upon re-entry, killing the entire crew: U.S. astronauts Rick Husband, Willie McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon....
This was under "W" and the economy of MINIMIZING reality. The Bush economy and government administration played with the extremes of every aspect of life. Safety frequently fell throw the RE-EXPOSED cracks that were absent until life became a roulette wheel.
In 2003 the USA didn't need more explosions that traumatized the country.
Recently, when it comes to lives lost, Virgin Galactica had a death during trials.
The private companies seeking to service the ISS have experienced problems. Looking for a reasonable budget to carry out space programs is not the answer. Perfection is the answer. Perfection is expensive.
The O-Rings failed because of freezing temperatures. A hot Earth adds opposite dynamics to these VEHICLES. Expansion of materials can cause leaks and break downs of materials as well. I would not be surprised if at the time of separation there were expanded joints with this Space-X vehicle and awaiting fuel had an opportunity to ignite.
Perfection requires redundancy. Redundancy is a requirement and not an option. When the Republicans state their CEO model for president is most desirable, that ideology is not mired in reality. The variables within a government is far greater than math can assign percents of extremes.
By Alan Boyle
...This was (click here) to have been the first robotic cargo delivery since a Russian Progress capsule went awry in April, resulting in the loss of the craft's 3-ton payload. The Dragon's payload includes food, oxygen and other much-needed basics — and its loss will put even more pressure on the crew and mission planners....
Other government missions have failed. The problem here is why have two private missions of two separate companies failed within a short period of time?
...After stage separation, the Falcon 9's first stage was supposed to attempt a landing on a platform about 215 miles (345 kilometers) downrange in the Atlantic — but the flight never got that far.
All the fuel in the first stage is not burnt before there is separation. There is a lot going on there. The first stage has to separate and fall far enough away to allow the trajectory out of atmosphere of the main rocket. The first stage also has to maintain trajectory to a floating platform. There has to be fuel remaining to power the new trajectory. The separation of both and different trajectories is not great enough to prevent this mutual destruction sequence. Both trajectories are also within the oxygen environment.
Regardless of what happened there has to be consideration of the cargo and it's safety over and above the safe turn by the first stage. Cargo first, economy maybe never. This is the type of thing that went on with Reagan's idea of a cheaper space program. It has never been realistic.
The Dragon previously made six successful cargo runs under the terms of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, plus an initial demonstration mission in 2012.
Sunday's loss marked SpaceX's first failed mission to the space station, and extended a string of setbacks for space station resupply....
On Jan. 27, 1967, three of the first group of NASA astronauts - Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee - died during a routine ground test of the Apollo capsule, later named Apollo 1.
The Apollo 1 was under President Johnson. It was due to the newness of the program and the nativity of the pure oxygen environment.
...The highly anticipated Jan. 28, 1986, launch of Space Shuttle Challenger, which carried the first teacher-astronaut, Christa McAuliffe, was watched live by many around the nation, including school children. But 73 seconds after takeoff, the shuttle erupted in a fireball that killed the entire crew....
The ambition of privatization has always proven to be a mistake. The space program is cutting edge. There is nothing routine about it. If nothing else the weather and now a far warmer Earth has effect on these vehicles.
This tragedy happened under Reagan and the first time the space program was to deliver a profit by launches every two weeks carrying commercial junk into space.
...Seventeen years later, tragedy struck NASA once again. On Feb. 1, 2003, following a 16-day science mission, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart upon re-entry, killing the entire crew: U.S. astronauts Rick Husband, Willie McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon....
This was under "W" and the economy of MINIMIZING reality. The Bush economy and government administration played with the extremes of every aspect of life. Safety frequently fell throw the RE-EXPOSED cracks that were absent until life became a roulette wheel.
In 2003 the USA didn't need more explosions that traumatized the country.
Recently, when it comes to lives lost, Virgin Galactica had a death during trials.
The private companies seeking to service the ISS have experienced problems. Looking for a reasonable budget to carry out space programs is not the answer. Perfection is the answer. Perfection is expensive.
The O-Rings failed because of freezing temperatures. A hot Earth adds opposite dynamics to these VEHICLES. Expansion of materials can cause leaks and break downs of materials as well. I would not be surprised if at the time of separation there were expanded joints with this Space-X vehicle and awaiting fuel had an opportunity to ignite.
Perfection requires redundancy. Redundancy is a requirement and not an option. When the Republicans state their CEO model for president is most desirable, that ideology is not mired in reality. The variables within a government is far greater than math can assign percents of extremes.
