All Questions
90
questions
7
votes
1
answer
204
views
Does SpaceX clean the outside of Dragon between flights?
We see that for the first stage, Falcon 9 boosters, SpaceX barely cleans the soot off. (Generally the soot comes from flying through the engine exhaust of boostback, reentry, and landing burns.)
The ...
- 80k
4
votes
0
answers
103
views
With the new (Feb 2022) NASA SpaceX Crew Dragon contract extension, how much per flight?
NASA awarded flights 7, 8, and 9 for Crew Dragon in an extension of the existing contract, bringing the total value to \$3,490,872,904 . We know that in 2014 SpaceX was awarded about $2.6 billion to ...
- 121k
14
votes
1
answer
733
views
What is the heat shield refurbishment procedure for a crew Dragon capsule?
How, specifically, is the heat shield replaced or refurbished? More precisely... How do they know it will work for the next mission? :-P
- 6,270
2
votes
2
answers
400
views
Why does the Crew Dragon seem to rely primarily on a low bandwidth downlink for voice communications?
What are the particular reasons that the Dragon Capsule is not communicating via Starlink, or that it seems that the audio and video downlinks from the Dragon Capsule are on separate streams?
- 517
10
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How does Spacex Crew Dragon capsule deorbit?
Soon the Inspiration 4 mission will launch and the crew will orbit the Earth for three days.
How will the crew capsule then deorbit? Will it use the super/regular Draco thrusters?
- 479
17
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Evacuating the ISS but wait, there's only one Spacecraft?
I was doing some research regarding the Soyuz as I'm currently planning a summer project in which I would build a close replica of a Soyuz when the question popped into my mind, "What would ...
- 487
2
votes
1
answer
119
views
Why might particulate matter be shaken loose during Crew Dragon Demo-1 launch?
Here is the picture of Expedition 58 crew members enter the Dragon 2 of Crew Dragon Demo-1 for the first time. They are wearing protective gear to avoid breathing particulate matter that may have ...
- 23
21
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Why is the SpaceX crew-1 mission more important than the previous one (demo-1)?
The previous one was also crewed (two crew) but it was called "demo" for some reason - despite taking astronauts to the ISS. How is the recent one different?
- 415
8
votes
1
answer
187
views
How many Crew Dragon spacecraft are SpaceX planning to operate?
NASA has bought six Crew Dragon flights and there is at least one private flight booked for next year. There are currently two flight-capable Crew Dragon spacecraft. Is SpaceX currently building ...
- 3,083
36
votes
1
answer
5k
views
What are these shiny wrist plates worn by astronauts in the SpaceX crew capsule
What are these shiny wrist plates worn by astronauts in the SpaceX crew capsule?
screen shot from the NASA YouTube video Watch NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 Mission Arrive at the International Space Station
- 363
6
votes
0
answers
201
views
What are the highlighted rectangular objects on the SpaceX's CRS 21 Dragon capsule?
What are the rectangular objects seemingly placed where otherwise Super Dracos would be - in this picture of the CRS 21 Dragon 2 capsule?
Reference: https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/...
- 539
3
votes
0
answers
205
views
In Crew Dragon do the astronauts feel like flying upside-down?
When looking at Crew Dragon flight paths diagrams I saw that for phasing burns and deorbit burns they don't use the side thrusters, as I would expect, but four thrusters mounted at the "top" ...
- 367
3
votes
0
answers
106
views
Is there an official flight profile of the reentry of the Dragon spacecraft? [duplicate]
I wonder whether there's an official plan of the reentry and landing of either the former Dragon spacecraft or the Dragon V2/Crew Dragon, with details like altitudes, velocities, burn length and ...
- 458
5
votes
0
answers
144
views
Is Crew Dragon rated for any non-Spacex boosters?
The Spacex crew Dragon uses the Falcon 9 for its orbital launches, and is not set to ever use a different launcher.
However, an uncrewed Dragon will probably launch on the Falcon Heavy, as is planned ...
- 5,333
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Could the Crew Dragon be used to re-boost the ISS?
In an answer to a related question, Jörg W Mittag wrote the following:
But more importantly, handling of the Superdracos is currently rather simple. They are safed after reaching orbit and then never ...
- 1,775