With a quizzical look, JF Mezei observed:
During launch, once an astronaut is installed in a seat, do they get to
test pressurization of launch-entry suite ? Or is that done during the donning of suits at KSC before the trip to the rocket?
Both, probably. Pilot Josh, after hatch closure, failed a leak test,
and the close-out crew re-opened the hatch and checked his umbilical
and zippers. The hatch was re-closed (and then had it's test repeated
after removing a hair in the seal).
I take it in such a capsule, egress during catastrophe is never
contemplated since the capsule has the launch escape system so NASA
agreed to allow a system where astronauts remained strapped in even
during catastrophe?
BTW, NASA now allows manned Dragon to be reused 5 times.
Endeavour did 25 flights, Atlantis 33 and Discovery 39. ( Columbia and Challenger had incimplete lifes, so not mentioning their stats).
(Columbia made 28 flights, but I'm not sure it would have done 33; it's
last flight did hasten the end of the program, but the program would
have ended in the same decade any way, probably).
Is it conceivable that a single Falcon9 would exceed those stats?
Fleet leader is at 14, and already scheduled for another flight. Also, refurbishment time has improved, so I'd say 39 is reachable. But once
Starship is carrying commercial cargo, the F9 fleet will be reduced,
the last flights being Dragon and dedicated cargo.
Would
be interesting to see Dragon also exceed it, which would make
Falcon9/Dragon more re-usable than Shuttle.
It's a long way between 5 and 39. And Starship will eventually be
crewed, and each of the commercial space stations has its own flock of
vessels. But we'll see what happens in a couple of years.
/dps
--
Killing a mouse was hardly a Nobel Prize-worthy exercise, and Lawrence
went apopleptic when he learned a lousy rodent had peed away all his
precious heavy water.
_The Disappearing Spoon_, Sam Kean
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