6 ms·

Could anyone explain what is historic about this test flight? Why is that so different from a bog standard Soyuz or Mercury/Gemini/Apollo?

robbiep 8y ago
If you read the article you’d probably be able to work it out, but essentially: - it marks the return of American human launch capabilities after a several year hiatus from the retirement of the space shuttle - it is being done on by a private company (with government funding), which is unprecedented - dragon crew is intended to be reusable (in opposition to Shuttle/mercury/Gemini/Apollo - the capsule is designed to have inflight abort capability, which is unprecedented and a differentiator from the Boeing effort (previous abort capability came from a ‘towed’ approach (the big pointy thing on top of Apollo) and was only available on the pad, not in-flight, so if something goes wrong during flight the crew is probably buggered) (Edit: removed Soyuz from list of non-in flight abort capsules)
- geuis 8y ago
  Question about the inflight abort: Soyuz has this too. It was used a few months ago when a launch to the ISS went non-nominal. How is the one on Crew Dragon different?
  - robbiep 8y ago
    You’re right. I believe the Soyuz uses two modes, the first is architecturally similar to the Apollo system (ie uses the ‘towed’ mode) whereas the crew dragon has abort built into the capsule.
    - avmich 8y ago
      Soyuz has one "tower", which can work both before liftoff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_7K-ST_No._16L https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_7K-ST_No._16L and in flight.
- JshWright 8y ago
  The tower style launch escape system works in flight as well. Here's a video explaining how it works, with footage of it being tested during the Apollo era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqeJzItldSQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqeJzItldSQ
  - hoorayimhelping 8y ago
    The video is from Moon Machines. Great series if you're interested in Apollo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Machines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Machines
- mikejb 8y ago
  Small nitpick, but the shuttle was technically reused. It needed some refurbishment, yes, but if that doesn't cut it, it should be mentioned that Dragon 2 is not reused for crewed missions at all (Used capsules will be reused for cargo missions only).

robbiep 8y ago

If you read the article you’d probably be able to work it out, but essentially: - it marks the return of American human launch capabilities after a several year hiatus from the retirement of the space shuttle - it is being done on by a private company (with government funding), which is unprecedented - dragon crew is intended to be reusable (in opposition to Shuttle/mercury/Gemini/Apollo - the capsule is designed to have inflight abort capability, which is unprecedented and a differentiator from the Boeing effort (previous abort capability came from a ‘towed’ approach (the big pointy thing on top of Apollo) and was only available on the pad, not in-flight, so if something goes wrong during flight the crew is probably buggered) (Edit: removed Soyuz from list of non-in flight abort capsules)

geuis 8y ago
Question about the inflight abort: Soyuz has this too. It was used a few months ago when a launch to the ISS went non-nominal. How is the one on Crew Dragon different?
- robbiep 8y ago
  You’re right. I believe the Soyuz uses two modes, the first is architecturally similar to the Apollo system (ie uses the ‘towed’ mode) whereas the crew dragon has abort built into the capsule.
  - avmich 8y ago
    Soyuz has one "tower", which can work both before liftoff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_7K-ST_No._16L https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_7K-ST_No._16L and in flight.
JshWright 8y ago
The tower style launch escape system works in flight as well. Here's a video explaining how it works, with footage of it being tested during the Apollo era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqeJzItldSQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqeJzItldSQ
- hoorayimhelping 8y ago
  The video is from Moon Machines. Great series if you're interested in Apollo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Machines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Machines
mikejb 8y ago
Small nitpick, but the shuttle was technically reused. It needed some refurbishment, yes, but if that doesn't cut it, it should be mentioned that Dragon 2 is not reused for crewed missions at all (Used capsules will be reused for cargo missions only).