Live: SpaceX Dragon docking with ISS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18202702

by kingofspain • 14 years ago

214 98 14 years ago

bbc.co.uk

j_col2• 14 years ago

NASA is broadcasting:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html

Anyone know what time it's expected to dock at?

jluxenberg2• 14 years ago

4:12AM CT according to the NASA broadcast

j_col2• 14 years ago

Perfect, I haven't missed it yet!

johnchristopher• 14 years ago

Which is 09:12 UTC.

hammock• 14 years ago

Wow, it's 4:07ct and I just woke up (insomnia)...great timing. All I see is a small blinking light though.

est• 14 years ago

anyone got a Youtube Live stream link? UStream is very slow here.

carbocation2• 14 years ago

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html?param=stati... works for me, even though the ustream one did not.

It also appears that the docking isn't really supposed to start for another 2 hours.

waterlesscloud3• 14 years ago

Someone here submitted this last night as the low-def nasa-tv link. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-mobile

6ren4• 14 years ago

spaceX says "coverage begins at 4:30 PT" http://www.spacex.com/

Here is that in your local time: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=4%3A30am+pt+in+local+ti...

It's in 1 hour 48 minutes from the timestamp of this comment

bemmu3• 14 years ago

"Webcast start time now targeting 5:45 AM PT / 8:45 AM ET. Times are subject to change so please check back for updates."

https://spacex.com/updates.php

mih• 14 years ago

What are the tiny objects that seemed to be criss-crossing all over the background of the blinking light (visible clearly in fullscreen) ? Other satellites?

mkramlich• 14 years ago

either a city or another satellite. The first "mysterious light" I saw, which I thought was another lit satellite, was eventually described by the channel narrator as the city of Los Angeles going by far below. It was late at night, and we were seeing the lights from the LA metro area.

throwaway016383• 14 years ago

They just announced an 8:10 am central time for robotic capture. After the arm makes the capture it's about 3 hours until it is fully docked to the station.

asmithmd1• 14 years ago

Docking in orbit is harder than it appears. Speed and altitude are linked so you can't just thrust towards the station or you will wind up in a different orbit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_rendezvous#Methods_of_app...

onedev• 14 years ago

The NASA guy is using Windows XP, its pretty funny, he just screen-shared in the stream.

I'm sure its some super custom software though.

throwaway016383• 14 years ago

If NASA had switched to Vista, station would have deorbited.

bemmu3• 14 years ago

One of the monitor feeds: mms://a1709.l1856953708.c18569.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/1709/18569/v0001/reflector:53708

(opens at least with VLC)

jluxenberg2• 14 years ago

Where did you find a link to this?

bemmu3• 14 years ago

meefs mentioned it on #startups IRC freenode

sparknlaunch12• 14 years ago

Remarkable. Three days after launch and they're about to hook up with a space station. One small step...

amirmansour3• 14 years ago

I've been waiting for this for a long time. I spent the past two summers working on the Dragon docking as an intern.

waterlesscloud3• 14 years ago

Tell us more! Blog link about it?

amirmansour3• 14 years ago

Well I spent the last two summers as an intern at SpaceX working on several things, but one was that mechanism that the Canadian arm attaches to. I can't talk much about the specifics, but one of things I did was program the micro-controllers that interface with the motors that open the hatch door (and some other stuff) that contains the hook for the robotic arm to grab. I wish I could write more and even make a blog post, but I'm simply not allowed to do so.

nickik• 14 years ago

Are you a programmer? Is the docing full automatic? Until know the only automatic thing was the ATV right?

amirmansour3• 14 years ago

I'm an electrical engineering student. When it came to docking mechanism I was an embedded systems programmer. Yes, to my knowledge the docking is fully automatic.

aptwebapps2• 14 years ago

Anyone have any sort of commentary or chat? I can only stare at a blinking light for so long ...

jeffool• 14 years ago

They pipe up occasionally, just not so much idle banter, as they don't want to be talking when someone vital says something, and step all over it.

jurjenh5• 14 years ago

Like... (and i quote) "That's dragon passing over LA"

shiftb• 14 years ago

I watched the Nasa feed until 3am last night and now I'm up again watching it.

Seeing this gives me hope that we'll eventually get back to exploring the moon and space.

mukaiji2• 14 years ago

code. hack. code. hack. code. hack. watch spaceX make history. sleep. school. eat. code. hack.

PerryCox• 14 years ago

You should think about adding showering to that list.

sasha-dv2• 14 years ago

Most likely, he's working at home: http://bit.ly/9NiLQB

mukaiji2• 14 years ago

shower and interacting with real human beings hah

Tim-Boss• 14 years ago

From https://spacex.com/updates.php

"FRIDAY MORNING - Final Approach, Dragon Grapple

Around 2:00 AM Pacific/5:00 AM Eastern NASA will decide if Dragon is GO to move into the approach ellipsoid 1.4 kilometers around the space station. If Dragon is GO, after approximately one hour Dragon will move to a location 250 meters directly below the station. Dragon will then perform a series of maneuvers to show systems are operating as expected. If NASA is satisfied with the results of these many tests, Dragon will be allowed to perform the final approach to the space station.

Sometime around 6:00 AM Pacific/9:00 AM Eastern, astronauts on the space station will grapple Dragon with the space station’s robotic arm and the spacecraft will attach to the station."

jurjenh5• 14 years ago

Looking at the screen with the cross-hairs it seems like the bottom right set of figures shows the distance to ISS, which was sitting at around 255m, and should go down to 235m (EDIT: was originally supposed to be 220m) before the crew on ISS tells dragon to head back to the 250m mark.

Here's hoping that they keep showing these shots from the ISS monitors throughout - kinda like watching someone coding but on a whole different level!

jurjenh5• 14 years ago

Another test done, now for a hold at 235m.

Does anyone know why this has been changed? I'd hazard a guess at dragon being slightly off the target position (slightly northwest), but haven't heard any commentary about why this may be.

I thought the planning and preparation would have some allowance for slight discrepancies, so are the changes to the planned points (220m to 250m) a part of this procedure, or would these "deltas" be a reactive response to real life?

tim_hutton2• 14 years ago

"two diameters to starboard" - to the right of the ISS? Or in the direction of the stars? :)

yread• 14 years ago

It's moving 5cm/s very carefully

rmc• 14 years ago

More details about this flight and what it's doing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COTS_Demo_Flight_2

surrealize• 14 years ago

The monitor view that they're occasionally showing displays a reticle over Dragon. Or it's supposed to, but the reticle is a bit off (Kuipers spent some time talking to houston about it).

It reminds me of the adventures that Pettit had with camera calibration yesterday, I wonder if there's a connection?

Anyway, listening to Pettit talk through the camera calibration yesterday made me think that there's a lot of room for improved UX in the software they use.

earnubs• 14 years ago

As an aside, I strongly dislike the term UX/User eXperience, it makes no sense to me. I could substitute 'UX' for 'design' above and all would be well in my world.

I might say that the operators of the 3 Mile Island nuclear reactor where having a fine "user experience" because the interface was telling them everything was OK...

agilebyte• 14 years ago

User experience is the overall feeling you get from a well combined language, graphic design, sound, motion, information design, interface design, interface design, interaction design and programming.

That is the "industry accepted" meaning of the term, http://uxdesign.com/assets/ux-defined/user-experience-design...

jstsch• 14 years ago

Nasa TV has a hidden video stream for their iPad app (http://liveips.nasa.gov.edgesuite.net/msfc/Wifi.m3u8), works great on Safari as well. Post here: http://t.co/b9jSxeqI

sylvinus2• 14 years ago

Watching the Dragon approach from the point of view of the ISS is incredibly exciting in itself, but almost unbelievable when you think about the speeds they are flying at relative to the ground!

ash• 14 years ago

What's unbelievable about this? If I approach you on the ground we are both moving fast relative to center of the Earth. Or imagine us onboard the airplane.

sylvinus2• 14 years ago

It would be unbelievable if you approached me from the center of the earth, if you want to keep the same analogy :)

There was a moment when the Dragon had a speed of 0 in that frame of reference, what's unbelievable is the complexity of catching up to the ISS!

phireal• 14 years ago

Map showing Dragon's real time position: http://www.n2yo.com/?s=38348

javert4• 14 years ago

Couple of people are discussing right now in #bitcoin on freenode if anyone wants to join :)

javert4• 14 years ago

In the next 30 minutes, they are planning to go from 150m out to 30m out. Should be dramatic to watch the capsule get closer.

inovica• 14 years ago

I'm glued to watching this and doing very little work. I was born in 1969 and was fascinated by space as a kid, but then went off and did other things. To see this happening is wonderful but I have done screenshots of a number of places which would make dramatic and beautiful paintings

javert4• 14 years ago

Now (8:00 AM EDT) they are saying capture time is planned for 9:10 AM EDT, so a bit over 1 more hour.

javert4• 14 years ago

Update: #space seems to be more active.

mds101• 14 years ago

Just joined and heard that SpaceX had commanded Dragon to retreat from ISS. Can someone explain why? Also, what is the blinking section on the Dragon spacecraft?

mparlane• 14 years ago

Just a light, I believe it is used to detect the reflective panel on the ISS. But dragon is having a problem at and detecting a different reflector.

6ren4• 14 years ago

Question: if Dragon is about 200m lower than ISS, and they are moving at the same velocity at one instant, wouldn't that put them in different orbits?

Assuming ISS's orbit was perfectly circular, then Dragon would be moving too slow for its lower orbit, and would sink down, to its perihelion when on the opposite side of the earth, and so on, oscillating up and down, in an elliptical orbit with respect to ISS.

The only solution I see is for Dragon to artificially make its elliptical orbit circular by continuously thrusting upward. But I don't see this in the video stream. Have I got this all wrong?

EDIT s/too fast/too slow/ # and related edits, thanks mmaunder

mmaunder• 14 years ago

Aren't lower orbits faster? So wouldn't dragon be moving too slowly to maintain it's orbit, not too fast?

pasbesoin2• 14 years ago

Think of energy. The higher orbit has higher energy with respect to the earth -- gravitational, and by virtue of comparing stable orbits, also kinetic. Dragon will "catch up" with the space station by converting some additional chemical energy (propellant) into kinetic energy, moving into and matching the station's orbit (and gaining the additional gravitational potential). (Or, given the small adjustment needed, perhaps mechanical energy, depending upon how the positional thrusters work -- compressed gas?)

Ugh, my physics classes are a long time away. Hope that's worded halfway comprehensibly.

akjetma• 14 years ago

I don't think 200m is enough to put them in significantly different orbits. Every once in awhile, dragon probably fires a thruster to make small adjustments.

edit, clarification: The problem is that the object closer to the earth will experience more gravitational force, which needs to be counteracted by orbiting faster, so that it's constantly falling 'tangent' to the earth. If they had the same angular velocity and the ISS was known to have a static distance from earth, Dragon would be slowly falling towards the earth because in order to maintain a static distance from earth, things above the ISS need to travel slower while things below need to travel faster.

rst• 14 years ago

ISS video of the Dragon is from above, so upward thruster firing wouldn't be visible (that thruster would be on the other side of the vehicle).

matthavener• 14 years ago

At some point when they were a few meters away, the NASA video mentioned the Dragon was now "free floating". So, I think they were continuously gently firing the thrusters to maintain orbit until they got extremely close.

zheng• 14 years ago

They are now looking at a capture time of ~9:40AM CT (about 90 minutes from this comment)

oz4• 14 years ago

Dragon now 30m below the ISS

corford• 14 years ago

This is just awesome.

I'm sitting in the middle of the French country side in a building that was built during Galileo's life time with these links up across three monitors:

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=38348

mms://a1709.l1856953708.c18569.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/1709/18569/v0001/reflector:53708

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html?param=stati...

Watching all of this makes me realise just how lucky we are to be alive at this point in human history.

Oh and looks like first capture attempt could be as soon as 20ish minutes from now (i.e. 14:02 UTC).

Edit: they've just given a go for capture.

Edit 2: and here's a screen shot of the Dragon capsule and space station arm: http://imgur.com/OWit7

sasha-dv2• 14 years ago

Watching all of this makes me realise just how lucky we are to be alive at this point in human history.

Indeed. Sexy times!

Captured dragon: http://imgur.com/Vmnzj and http://imgur.com/mQU91

D3lt42• 14 years ago

The capture is occurring about now. Link: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html

elliotanderson• 14 years ago

Final checks are complete, they are now go for capture with the robotic arm

oz4• 14 years ago

"Station, Houston: You have a 'go' for capture."

I'll never forget these words.

minikomi2• 14 years ago

That was great. Arm moving now!

Edit: CAPTURE CONFIRMED!

oz4• 14 years ago

Did you hear the part when he said "Looks like we have a dragon by the tail?" I cracked up.

roqetman• 14 years ago

Opened this with 1/2m to go - good timing

conover• 14 years ago

"We've got a dragon by the tail..."

zalew• 14 years ago

http://i.imgur.com/9RiOY.png

bengl• 14 years ago

That's the sort of picture that makes me feel a tad patriotic (I'm Canadian).

christiangenco• 14 years ago

I see your static image and raise you a gif! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/123449/dragon/Dragon%20docking%20wit...

jpendry• 14 years ago

"This sim went really well, let's do this for real."

Excellent to see astronauts with a refined sense of humor as well.

CWuestefeld• 14 years ago

Is NASA doing the Ender's Game thing with their astronauts?

D3lt42• 14 years ago

9:56 ET Dragon was successfully captured!

bbguitar• 14 years ago

Its captured the Dragon

SudarshanP• 14 years ago

Thanks to Elon Musk for making transport to Low Earth Orbit boring :-). Now we can work towards doing more interesting things in space ;-)

kodisha• 14 years ago

Dragon over Atlantic http://i.imgur.com/WgCPA.jpg

Live: SpaceX Dragon docking with ISS

Related Stories