
Dragon has successfully achieved splashdown - jgrahamc
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18273811?
======
pbreit
This is pretty cool and I think the naysayers have it wrong (there aren't many
but still; and the pre-launch reportage was pretty staunch in mentioning
delays).

Launching a rocket, berthing at the ISS (commercial company first) and
returning back to earth (no other current spacecraft does this) is extremely
difficult. Doing it privately on a budget is just as noteworthy...or more so.

News stories have highlighted the delays but will have little room to
criticize the mission now (the only glitch I am aware of was a laser guidance
problem which was quickly and adeptly resolved by SpaceX staff).

And as a web developer, it's difficult to imagine what it's like to build
something with very long feedback cycles, little or no ability to test in
actual conditions and extremely slim error margins.

Great job, SpaceX!

~~~
ChuckMcM
I agree it is cool, the Soyuz actually does have a return to earth capability,
its the Progress modules that don't. Now in their defense the Russians would
be happy to return stuff in a Progress module but often they have trash in
them and up until recently you could always bring things back in the shuttle.

All of that aside, SpaceX has hit one right out of the park here. They have
effectively re-done all of the Mercury goals and most of the Gemini goals (the
last being the whole man in space part). For comparison that took the Chinese
10 years [1] (some western observers would tell you it actually took them 20
years to get to the level that SpaceX is now but we'll give them the benefit
of the doubt, and NASA couldn't talk to them.)

I am super excited about having someone who is commercially motivated to step
into adjacent markets with space flight capability. It makes talking about
doing things in orbit a much more serious thing than it was.

[1] <http://www.sinomania.com/CHINANEWS/China_Space_Program.html>

~~~
InclinedPlane
The soyuz has the capacity to return crew to the Earth, but Dragon is actually
the only unmanned capsule capable of returning significant amounts of cargo.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Part of the problem is that the name 'Soyuz' is the name for the whole thing,
the module on top is called 'Progress' and the current generation, Progress-M
[1]. From the wikipedia page (but I've heard this from my Russian space
enthusiast friends as well) _"The Progress M is essentially the same
spacecraft as the Progress, but it features improvements based on the Soyuz T
and TM designs. It can spend up to 30 days in autonomous flight and is able to
carry 100 kg more. Also, unlike the old Progress crafts, it can return items
to Earth. This is accomplished by using the Raduga capsule, which can carry up
to 150 kg of cargo."_ [2]

So in a strict language mapping Falcon-9 -> Soyus, and Dragon -> Progress if
we talk about the various parts. And yes, the _amount_ of cargo the Progress-M
can return it quite limited compared to Dragon. But my Russian friends tell me
that there are variants that are an equivalent to Dragon either available or
designed but not deployed. I don't know one way or another and it takes
NOTHING away from the huge thing SpaceX has accomplished. I would be hugely
proud to be part of a team that has shown such a stunningly good ability to
execute against their goals.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress-M>

[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_%28spacecraft%29>

~~~
InclinedPlane
For clarity: soyuz is the name of a launch vehicle as well as a manned
spacecraft (the Soyuz-TMA-M). The Soyuz _spacecraft_ can return humans to the
Earth and of course has the ability to return cargo as well, but since the
space is taken up by people that capacity is extremely limited. The Progress
can return a very tiny amount of cargo (about 150kg) to Earth using a
specialty capsule that was last used in 1994.

------
krschultz
When NASA recovered capsules, they sent a carrier battle group.

When SpaceX recovers capsules, they send a barge with a crane, a single crew
boat, a couple of inflatables, and a P3 Orion. [1]

That's pretty Lean.

[1] <http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20120530>

~~~
jonknee
To be fair, there were people in NASA's crafts. National heroes even. They
sent out pretty lean teams to capture the SRBs for the Shuttle (which are much
larger than the Dragon capsule):

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWR_MHkuBMU>

Also, carriers weren't used. Destroyers were (they're a lot more nimble) and
we have a bunch chugging around doing exercises at any given point so that's
probably a fairly cost effective method.

~~~
PerryCox
>To be fair, there were people in NASA's crafts.

The Dragon capsule is designed to hold people, so SpaceX wouldn't need a
bigger ship or crane to haul them in.

~~~
cdash
The crew capsule will probably never land in the ocean as they plan to land on
a pad with thrusters.

~~~
crusso
I was all, like, "Really?"

Google went all, like, "Really..."

<http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20120530>

> In the future, Dragon will use SuperDraco thrusters to land on a landing pad
> on ground.

This then led to looking up SuperDraco, which is on this Wikipedia page:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_(rocket_engine_family)>

And then we all know how wikipedia is. I'll be following links for the rest of
the afternoon and probably shake myself out of it when I realize that I've
been looking at Wikpedia articles for Marvel superheroes for 20 minutes.

[edit ooh, this is worth seeing too]
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUUnYgo1-lI>

~~~
rory096
Musk said during the press conference today that they're targeting thruster
landings (in any atmosphere!) within 3 years, or more like 4-5 if they
encounter difficulties.

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Arjuna
Dragon Splashdown Coordinates:

[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=27.0N,+120.0W+%28Dragon+Splas...](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=27.0N,+120.0W+%28Dragon+Splashdown+Coordinates%29)

~~~
pavel_lishin
I hope someone on the recovery team snaps a photo suitable for StreetView.

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j_col
Fantastic achievement, well done to everyone at SpaceX and NASA! Hopefully the
start of something very exciting in space exploration.

------
methodin
The article mentioned in the future the capsule will use thrusters to land on
the ground. Is this something that has been done before or is that a new
advancement?

~~~
john-n
Not done by spacex, they made this vid to demonstration the idea -
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSF81yjVbJE>

I dont know of any ship that has the ability to land like that, except for
craft in development like from blue origins -
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NANePoo_p30>

I believe the Soyuz uses rockets to slow its decent before it hits the ground,
but thats to assist the parachute rather than replace them.

~~~
thematt
Speaking of Blue Origin, if anybody is interested in working for us, we're
hiring :)

<http://www.blueorigin.com/careers/careers.html>

~~~
davidcuddeback
Hey, Blue Origin looks pretty cool, and I go on the job market tomorrow. I
might like to ask you some questions about Blue Origin if you don't mind, but
your HN profile doesn't have any contact info. Would you mind adding contact
info to your profile or emailing me to start a chat? (My contact info is in my
profile.)

~~~
thematt
Email sent.

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mikekij
So unbelievably bad ass. Way to go Elon.

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robomartin
This seems very appropriate:

"On small step for man; one giant leap for mankind" -Neil Armstrong

This truly marks the start of a new era.

~~~
vecinu
I'm not sure if I would say it marks the start of a new era.

~~~
robomartin
Really? What event would you use to mark the start of private space
exploration?

~~~
treeface
I personally wouldn't use any single event to mark the "start" of private
space exploration. It's a gradual process, not something that happens all of a
sudden.

~~~
robomartin
If they succeed in evolving this to a higher level of sophistication and
functionality people will point to this mission as the start of it all.

If they fail they will point at this mission as an example of a foolish
pursuit that should have been left in the hands of government agencies.

Either way this is, without a doubt, the start of the private sector launching
into space exploration. Nobody can point to any other private mission that
launched a capsule, docked at the space station and then returned cargo to
earth.

put in other terms:

$ git commit -a -m 'Here we go!'

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stcredzero
What is that crooked line in the picture?

[http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60628000/jpg/_60628685...](http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60628000/jpg/_60628685_spacexdragoninpacific5-31-12creditmichaelaltenhofen.jpg)

Is that from the parachute?

~~~
dag11
Yep, the parachute and its lines were deployed out of there.

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srik
When they progress onto human transportation if, god forbid, there happens to
be any catastrophic casualties, would the public be as forgiving as they would
if it was NASA.

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Fizzadar
A fine finish to an awesome mission, at last commercial space flight seems a
reality; we're one step closer to holidaying on the moon :)

------
planetguy
What's next? Here's a list:

<http://www.spacex.com/launch_manifest.php>

Looks like they've got plenty to keep 'em busy for the next five years.

~~~
rwhitman
I wonder what their financials look like. Curious to know what the profit
margin is on a rocket launch...

~~~
planetguy
Wait for the IPO next year and you'll find out!

~~~
rst
It might well happen then if everything goes well, but I'm not sure they've
ever given a specific date. In public statements that I've seen, Elon's been
pretty consistent about saying he wants a "steady cadence of launches" before
a public offering, because that's what it takes to convince Wall Street that
something as exotic as a space launch company is a sustainable business,
particularly if the CEO keeps talking about colonizing Mars. He went on in
COTS-2/3 press conferences to define "steady cadence" as a launch a month or
so, which would be a breakneck pace for any other organization on Earth.

If they launch everything on their manifest successfully, they may be on path
to do that by the end of next year --- but that, too is an ambitious goal.
(Heck, even if he can produce all the rockets, his customers may not have the
payloads ready!)

~~~
tsotha
The joke for many years has been "If you want to be a billionaire, take ten
billion dollars and start a rocket company." Wall Street is right to be
skeptical, though nobody has ever had this much success before.

------
horsehead
So I live in western Virginia .... I'm thinking this occasion merits a viewing
of Apollo 13 and a trip to the national space museum.

I sincerely hope we can expand our reach into space soon. And hopefully the
commercial space industry will further that mission.

And while I'm not a fan of Obama's policies, I do appreciate his decision to
increase the role of the private sector in space. Kudos all around !

~~~
techiferous
Although not really "nearby", you can also try to view a launch yourself:
<http://www.marsspaceport.com/>

I saw a satellite launch from this site a few years ago. It's one of my
favorite memories.

