
Live: SpaceX Dragon docking with ISS - kingofspain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18202702
======
corford
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...](http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html?param=station)

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-dv
_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>

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j_col
NASA is broadcasting:

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

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

~~~
jluxenberg
4:12AM CT according to the NASA broadcast

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

~~~
someperson
When will it happen? Is it behind schedule or is the 4:12 CT time wrong???

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

~~~
waterlesscloud
Tell us more! Blog link about it?

~~~
amirmansour
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.

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

(opens at least with VLC)

~~~
jluxenberg
Where did you find a link to this?

~~~
bemmu
meefs mentioned it on #startups IRC freenode

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Tim-Boss
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."

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

~~~
zalew
<http://i.imgur.com/9RiOY.png>

~~~
christiangenco
I see your static image and raise you a gif!
[http://dl.dropbox.com/u/123449/dragon/Dragon%20docking%20wit...](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/123449/dragon/Dragon%20docking%20with%20ISS.gif)

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surrealize
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
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
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...](http://uxdesign.com/assets/ux-defined/user-experience-design-
diagram.jpg)

------
6ren
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
Aren't lower orbits faster? So wouldn't dragon be moving too slowly to
maintain it's orbit, not too fast?

~~~
pasbesoin
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.

~~~
dexen
Lower orbits have higher _anglular velocity_ \-- and it is angular velocity
that dictates which craft gets ahead on orbit, because we're comparing
_angular position_ , not linear one.

For example, geostationary orbit (~36'000km radius) has period of 24h -- i.e.,
takes whole 24hours to cover all 360 degrees of rotation, having angular speed
of 15deg/h, while Hubble's Space Telescope orbit (~560km radius) has period of
96minutes -- i.e., takes just over 1.5h to cover 360 degrees; with angular
speed of 240deg/h.

Sure GEO has higher linear velocity and associated kinetic energy, but that's
irrelevant.

I guess the Dragon was positioned under the Station so it gains the angular
position slowly over time in a natural way.

~~~
pasbesoin
Thanks. I felt I was missing something. I should have waited for the coffee to
kick in.

I'll leave my comment as a warning to what age does to a person. ;-)

------
jurjenh
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!

~~~
jurjenh
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?

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

I'll never forget these words.

~~~
minikomi
That was great. Arm moving now!

Edit: CAPTURE CONFIRMED!

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

~~~
minikomi
Yes! Goosebumps.. But, I must unfortunately confess.. seeing all that
unbranded space on the Dragon had me cynically thinking, how much could they
sell that ad space for?

~~~
rbanffy
You know... Someday someone will put a Pan-Am logo there...

~~~
stcredzero
How hard would it be to procure the rights?

~~~
rbanffy
Many things would have to happen to make it possible:

\- SpaceX would have to want to sell the ad space.

\- If NASA is paying for the mission, they may want to have a word (most
likely "no").

\- The owners of the Pan-Am brand would probably appreciate the gift, but I'd
like to make sure they won't get mad before any such stunt.

\- The Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick estates would also have something
to say, after all, this is more or less a reference to 2001.

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

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

------
shiftb
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.

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

~~~
PerryCox
You should think about adding showering to that list.

~~~
sasha-dv
Most likely, he's working at home: <http://bit.ly/9NiLQB>

------
jstsch
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>

------
sparknlaunch12
Remarkable. Three days after launch and they're about to hook up with a space
station. One small step...

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

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

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

~~~
jeffool
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.

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

~~~
waterlesscloud
I waved. I saw my city from space, live. That was so cool!

------
sylvinus
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
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.

~~~
sylvinus
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!

------
D3lt4
The capture is occurring about now. Link:
<http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html>

------
mds101
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
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.

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

------
D3lt4
9:56 ET Dragon was successfully captured!

------
kodisha
Dragon over Atlantic <http://i.imgur.com/WgCPA.jpg>

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

~~~
javert
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
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

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

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

------
yread
It's moving 5cm/s very carefully

------
oz
Dragon now 30m below the ISS

------
bbguitar
Its captured the Dragon

