
NASA, SpaceX set May 27 as target date for first crew launch - whiskers
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/17/nasa-spacex-set-may-27-as-target-date-for-first-crew-launch/
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skunkworker
It looks like SpaceX will gain the pride of having the 8 by 12 inch American
flag left by the last shuttle mission.

"The shuttle replica accompanied an expected presentation of a U.S. flag that
was flown on the first and last shuttle missions. The 8- by 12-inch flag,
which was revealed by President Barack Obama during his call to the astronauts
last week, will stay on board the station until the shuttle's successor
arrives.

"This flag represents not just a symbol of our national pride and honor, but
in this particular case, it represents a goal," Ferguson said. "This flag will
be flown prominently here by the forward hatch of Node 2, to be returned to
Earth once again by an astronaut that launches on a U.S. vehicle, hopefully in
just a few years." [9 Weird Things That Flew On NASA's Shuttles]

Both the model and flag were hung near and on the hatch where 35 space shuttle
crews have entered the station and where the STS-135 astronauts exited for a
final time soon after presenting the mementos."

[https://www.space.com/12335-shuttle-astronauts-flag-model-
sp...](https://www.space.com/12335-shuttle-astronauts-flag-model-space-
station-tribute.html)

~~~
corywright
Doug Hurley was the pilot on the shuttle crew that left the flag on the ISS,
and will be the commander of the crew that brings it back to Earth.

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jacquesm
There are several very large assumptions implicit in that sentence.

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gputhrowaway630
Hurley is going to be the "Spacecraft Commander" as mentioned in the article.
The parent comment also indicates that they will be bringing the
flag/memorial/token back. I'm not sure what "large implicit assumptions" you
are referring too.

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jacquesm
\- mission not being scrubbed for a variety of possible reasons

\- mission commander not being changed

\- rocket not blowing up on the pad

\- rocket reaching correct orbit

\- mission not being completed, for instance docking issues

\- everything that could possibly go wrong on the return flight

Really, the ease with which everybody seems to assume that this will go off
without a hitch is impressive, this is not exactly walking to the corner store
to pick up a small parcel.

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hanniabu
You must be real fun at parties.....

Friend: I'm going to grab more drinks from the store

You: There are several very large assumptions implicit in that sentence

Friend: ?

You: Your car can break down, you can get in an accident on the way there, the
store can be robbed and you can get shot, you may get a call about your
parents dying on the way, a meteor may strike and kills us all...

~~~
sitkack
I would love to party at jacquesm, we could talk about all the ways that
civilization is a rube goldberg machine.

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dgritsko
This is incredibly exciting. Watching SpaceX over the last few years has made
me feel like a kid again (watching the livestream of the first Falcon Heavy
launch, culminating with footage of Elon's Tesla in orbit, is a memory I won't
soon forget). I wish them nothing but continued success, they are an
inspiration to many.

~~~
soperj
The landing was way more exciting than the car in space in my opinion.

~~~
alpaca128
Definitely. Both thrusters landing simultaneously was incredible. They truly
made a part of scifi reality with that milestone.

The Tesla in space was cool but in the end it wasn't more of an accomplishment
than placing any other satellite out there.

~~~
toomuchtodo
SpaceX recently released new 4k footage of the first stage returns to the
landing zones:

[https://youtu.be/fbbSCqaeWyA](https://youtu.be/fbbSCqaeWyA)

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nickik
> American astronauts on American rockets from American soil Jim Bridenstine

Jim Bridenstine really knows how to talk politics. I must say I very impressed
with his tenure so far, the NASA Administrator is not really all that powerful
of a position but given how much opposition there was to him being a Trump
selection he does do well.

This is such a vital step to make LEO a commercial domain. NASA is spending
way to much money on LEO and to make any moon/mars future possible that needs
to be commercial. NASA only want to launch max. 4 people per ship, but it can
take 7. So the price could really be cheap pretty cheap to allow a fair amount
of non-NASA groups to send up people.

Axiom Space got the contract extending the ISS and a more commercial ISS could
operate more efficiently in the longer run.

Eventually, with the cost of Cargo Space transportation coming down, we could
actually build Space Stations in Space and make them way bigger.

~~~
Mountain_Skies
NASA Administrator is such a bland boring title. I wonder if that's
intentional, to indicate the focus shouldn't be on management but rather on
the engineers, scientists, and astronauts.

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reaperducer
"President" was supposed to be the most boring title. It was chosen because
the role was supposed to be simply that: To be present, while the rest of the
federal government did its thing.

As the government evolved, the title gained more meaning. I sometimes wonder
if the leaders of younger countries that use it understand its original
meaning.

~~~
SECProto
> "President" was supposed to be the most boring title. It was chosen because
> the role was supposed to be simply that: To be present

President doesn't come from the word "present" [1], and has been used for
millennia (2ish) more than you're implying.

[1]
[https://www.etymonline.com/word/president](https://www.etymonline.com/word/president)

~~~
dplavery92
Maybe you meant _centuries,_ and not _millennia?_ English, even it's oldest
forms, hasn't been around for millennia. Anyway, as your own etymology link
demonstrates, the word's first use in its present meaning, as an executive
leader of a republic--especially of something the size and importance of a
nation state--is first in the US Constitution. Prior to that it generally
meant leaders of more modest organizations: "heads of religious houses,
hospitals, colleges and universities."

~~~
SECProto
I meant linguistic usage - it has had a very similar definition (head of
something) for millennia.

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BiasRegularizer
Another loss for Boeing on top of the 737MAX debacle and Covid-19. I would
hate to be their CEO right now.

~~~
tw04
Why? He's head of a company that is too big to fail. A company that the
federal government has refused to demand a stake in, in order to bail out. No
matter what he does, he's going to make $10s of millions of dollars. I would
LOVE to be CEO of Boeing right now.

And oh, by the way: since he started in Janaury, he can blame literally
everything on the previous leadership. Probably one of the most cake jobs in
America right now.

~~~
zpeti
You may be right, because there are rare cases, but I find it unlikely. Not
many human beings go into life aiming to just rip people off and not achieve
anything, or aiming to fail at a lot. Especially someone who becomes the CEO
of a huge corporation. You have to be quite drive to succeed, not just at your
bank balance, to get there. You don’t become CEO of boeing overnight, it
probably took a lot of work.

I doubt the CEO feels all that good about life right now.

And even if you are right, that fact that you’d want the same says a lot about
you.

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mrfusion
It’s a shame no one will be allowed to watch it :-(

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croh
Isn't it the stupidest thing to do in current situation ? Endangering lives of
crews, operations and families.

~~~
vermontdevil
We just launched three astronauts last week. They have quarantine process
they've been using for years even before COVID-19 came up.

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cm2187
First I am not aware that these three astronauts are the only people required
to launch that rocket. And it feels very much like "do as I say not as I do"
from the government. How is it an essential activity?

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m4rtink
Essential as in the first and so far only permanent manned orbital station
with countless research projects ongoing & likely tens of thousand of people
supporting the project directly and indirectly by their jobs ?

ISS is not really designed to operate unmanned for any length of time & you
could easily loose it due to some simple failure that the crew on board can
easily address.

