[kellyhound]

A pair of astronauts have been propelled into space after the historic SpaceX rocket launch went ahead this evening.

NASA and SpaceX were forced to postpone Wednesday's take-off until tonight due to poor weather, and there were concerns it would have to be scrapped a second time.

But now Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are on their way to the International Space Station aboard a ****** 9 rocket after the mission was given the green light.

It marks the first time humans have been launched from the US since 2011.

Bob Cabana, Kennedy Space centre Director, said ahead of the launch: “I don’t have to tell you all how exciting it is to have the first flight of humans to space from the Kennedy Space Center in nine years.

“Now, rather than rusting away in the salt air, through our partnership with SpaceX, that pad is being used once again, and it’s now for our Commercial Crew Program as well as other missions for SpaceX, and I think that’s absolutely outstanding.”

SpaceX, which is billionaire Elon Musk’s company, teamed up with NASA to launch the spacecraft from US soil - which will be the first for a private firm.

Excited Scots will be able to see the rocket up to an hour after it launched at 8.22pm UK time. The skies are mostly clear of cloud or fog.

The capsule is scheduled to dock with the ISS at around 10:29 EDT (15:29 BST) tomorrow, and the hatches between the two craft will open about 2.5 hours later.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft will dock with the station to test whether it’s capable on future missions of remaining connected for up to 210 days.

However, the length of the mission remains unclear, with NASA only revealing that Demo-2 will last between 30 days and four months.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/u...asted-22113371

[Dr Thrumpkinz]

Were you trying to Livestream the first launch a few days ago?
I could see "SpaceX Launch" (or something) from outside the board, but I'd get a 404 error whenever I clicked it, and it wasn't even visible at all from inside Current Events.

[soja]

those are some pretty slick space suits. I wonder who designed them, NASA, or elon musk?

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by sojalemmi ↗

those are some pretty slick space suits. I wonder who designed them, NASA, or elon musk?

The spacesuits were designed by SpaceX in collaboration with NASA and the astronauts going up today, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. They’re intended to bring modern materials and technology to a comfortable form factor that integrates seamlessly with the Crew Dragon capsule.

These aren’t, it is important to note, a replacement for the familiar EVA suits that have been in use for decades, though those are also being redesigned in-house. The ones Behnken and Hurley will wear are pressure suits, akin to what fighter-jet pilots wear.

These custom-fitted garments are meant to provide protection against the dangers of launch, including brief periods of vacuum or high heat, but not outer space.

The SpaceX suits are flame and impact-resistant and have communications and climate control built right in. The helmet has the radio and mics, naturally, and air and electricity flow through a single umbilical cable that connects to the wearer’s seat in the spacecraft.

“One of the things that was important in the development of this suit was to make it easy to use, something that the crew just has to literally plug in when they sit down, and then the suit kind of takes care of itself from there,” said SpaceX’s Chris Tripp in the NASA video highlighting the suits. “It’s really part of the vehicle, so we think of it as a kind of suit-seat system.”

Considering the advances that have been made over the last decade in electronics and software, astronauts and mission control should expect improved and simplified communications — the kind of noise reduction and voice detection we expect in our video calls nowadays is also very useful in aerospace.

Another interesting change is in the gloves, which must be durable yet flexible, and at the same time conductive — because the astronauts operate the Dragon capsule via touchscreen. It would be no good if they had to take off a glove to make a selection.

“It took us three, almost four years to design suits that both look good and work well,” said SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk in a recent interview. “We want to inspire kids to say that that one day they want to wear that uniform, get them fired up about, ‘Yeah, I want to be an astronaut. I want to work on aerospace engineering, on advanced spaceflight.’ What today is about is reigniting the dream of space.”

[kellyhound]

Docking confirmed! Behnken and Doug officially docked to the Space Station at 10:16am ET.

[soja]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

These aren’t, it is important to note, a replacement for the familiar EVA suits that have been in use for decades, though those are also being redesigned in-house. The ones Behnken and Hurley will wear are pressure suits, akin to what fighter-jet pilots wear.

so these are like the launch suits



and these are still like the spacewalk suits?


that is cool. I really, really like those old suits. they have made me want to be an astronaut since I was a kid, and I still find them cool. even cooler than the new launch suit, which is rad, but they kinda got a bit of that slick, imperial bad guy look, don't they?

[William May]

YESSS!!!! WE are BACK in SPACE!!!!!! YAHOOOOOOO!!!!!! I am so happy!

[kellyhound]

NASA Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley safely and successfully splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico after two months on board the International Space Station. This completes the flight demonstration of the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, which will now be used to ferry astronauts to and from the space station from American soil.

[Dr Thrumpkinz]

Imagine gaining a couple hundred pounds in like a minute or two. Those sailors can probably hear all their cursing right through all that fancy space insolation.