Two American astronauts are scheduled to launch onboard SpaceX`s Crew Dragon capsule & Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center today. Coverage of their historic mission will begin at 1600 GMT. The launch itself is planned for 2033 GMT. It can be watched on T.V.. And for those who like me don`t have T.V.; online here:

 https://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

As inherently dangerous as spaceflight is, I can't help but feel that SpaceX's efforts are a step back in safety. Too many quirks, anomolies, outright failures in the past 5 years (even one involving an explosion of the Dragon spacecraft during a static fire test just last year) that Soyuz-FG (only 1 failure with safe return of crew), Ariane V and Atlas V haven't had in a long time.

I hope that the apparent rush to have astronauts on-board a SpaceX vehicle don't come with a high price.

Thanks for the link, I'll be watching, wishing ground control well and the crew a safe return from ISS.
 

Edited May 27, 20206 yr by F737NG

I hope it doesn't become an historic mission for the wrong reason.

That's the attitude, guy's. Nice and negative🙄

Welcome to AVSIM

I have been absolutely impressed by SpaceX over the past decade. I just feel that they are pushing the envelope more than NASA have done for a long time. Let's hope that NASA push back, and we start to see some real progress at last.

4 minutes ago, Jazz said:

That's the attitude, guy's. Nice and negative🙄

You hope it does? 😲

The ISS is due over England around 21:50 GMT with the SpaceX vehicle close behind. Both visible to the naked eye. Should be quite an event and with clear skies forecast I’m looking forward to it.

2 hours ago, CYXR said:

Two American astronauts are scheduled to launch onboard SpaceX`s Crew Dragon capsule & Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center today. Coverage of their historic mission will begin at 1600 GMT. The launch itself is planned for 2033 GMT. It can be watched on T.V.. And for those who like me don`t have T.V.; online here:

 https://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

Thanks for the heads-up as I too do not have a tv set so will watch online.

5 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The ISS is due over England around 20:50 GMT with the SpaceX vehicle close behind. Both visible to the naked eye. Should be quite an event and with clear skies forecast I’m looking forward to it.

Is that tonight, Ray, as I have been getting some real spectacular new moon shots with a 600mm lens?

4 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The ISS is due over England around 20:50 GMT with the SpaceX vehicle close behind. Both visible to the naked eye. Should be quite an event and with clear skies forecast I’m looking forward to it.

Me too. Should be quite the sight.

8 minutes ago, Dave Morgan said:

You hope it does? 😲

What?

1 hour ago, F737NG said:

As inherently dangerous as spaceflight is, I can't help but feel that SpaceX's efforts are a step back in safety. 
 

 

With progress comes a degree of risk. Of course we could stick to outdated launch systems but then we would be stuck in the past and make zero progress.

34 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The ISS is due over England around 21:50 GMT with the SpaceX vehicle close behind. Both visible to the naked eye. Should be quite an event and with clear skies forecast I’m looking forward to it.

From Engeland the sapce X? nice, thansk for the info! Not sure it'll be dark enough.

39 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The ISS is due over England around 21:50 GMT with the SpaceX vehicle close behind. Both visible to the naked eye. Should be quite an event and with clear skies forecast I’m looking forward to it.

 

Fantastic. I'm wondering what direction to look from the Midlands? 

 

Quote

 

Wed May 27, 10:57 PM 4 min 30° 11° above W 19° above SSE

 

 

https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/view.cfm?country=United_Kingdom&region=England&city=London#.Xs5oFWhKiUk

 

 

Edited May 27, 20206 yr by martin-w