Watch SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts move Crew Dragon spacecraft to new ISS parking spot on Nov. 3

[Admin]

Live coverage begins at 6:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT).

Watch SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts move Crew Dragon spacecraft to new ISS parking spot on Nov. 3 : Read more

 

[24launch]

Oh to be a fly on the wall inside the Crew Dragon capsule to hear what Butch and Suni had to say about the state-of-the-art Dragon capsules compared to the 60's era Starliner. Of course they're all professional astronauts but they're people too and this kind of technology is their industry. Their excitement and amazement would be difficult to hide.

 

[Rob77]

Four astronauts to move Dragon a few metres seems excessive, however understandable if they were doing a test run & fit for the new astronauts. So, did SpaceX send up extra spacesuits for them or are are they able to keep their Starliner flight suits?

 

[ChrisA]

Four astronauts to move Dragon a few metres seems excessive, however understandable if they were doing a test run & fit for the new astronauts. So, did SpaceX send up extra spacesuits for them or are are they able to keep their Starliner flight suits?

They ALWAYS put all the astronauts onboard when they move the capsules. The reason is if the docking fails and they can't reconnect to the space station. Then they can abort and return to Earth without leaving any of them stranded. Yes, new space suits were flown up for them.

 

[rradina]

They ALWAYS put all the astronauts onboard when they move the capsules. The reason is if the docking fails and they can't reconnect to the space station. Then they can abort and return to Earth....

Excellent observation.

Dragon is stocked with sufficient oxygen, first-aid, battery charge, rations and whatever else necessary to sustain the crew for as long as it takes to execute a weather-permitting splashdown. In space, all known contingencies have a plan B.

Is there a plan C that launches an emergency Dragon should something go wrong with the crewed-Dragon's thrusters not being able to return to ISS or execute a re-entry maneuver?

Is a Dragon to Dragon space walk feasible? The mass of moving four humans will probably require periodic thruster execution to keep them together.

Toward the end of the shuttle program, I recall scuttlebutt around an emergency shuttle launch should damage to the heat shield preclude a safe return. NASA started including a repair kit which might have been the only contingency plan?

 

[ultimatewizz]

Four astronauts to move Dragon a few metres seems excessive, however understandable if they were doing a test run & fit for the new astronauts. So, did SpaceX send up extra spacesuits for them or are are they able to keep their Starliner flight suits?

The whole problem with return was that Boeing space suits are not compatible with the dragon capsules.