Space X crewed launch and downrange activity

[zero_gravity]

A quick check shows the two capsule recovery vessels off the coast of east and west CONUS.
No Space X related vessels in the eastern Atlantic.

Other than that , still no response from the operators.

ZG

[Noddi3]

Looks like no action to be had on this side of the water with 304th Rescue Squadron handling recovery from Eastern Atlantic out of Charleston, South Carolina

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019/04 ... irst-time/

Yikes:

Rescue 2 carries a requirement to have the hatch on a capsule opened within 24 hours of splashdown and a crew evacuated (via helicopter or ship) from the sea landing area within 72 hours of hatch open.

You would think it would be fairly straightforward to get something from USAF or USN out of Shannon and save them bobbing around for 24h.

[zero_gravity]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacex-nas ... scenarios/


The spacecraft's flight computer is programmed to fly the capsule back to within 200 nautical miles of Newfoundland or forward toward the coast of Ireland in case of an abort that would otherwise drop the crew into a "downrange abort exclusion zone" between North America and Europe.

[Noddi3]

Which makes it even more odd to me that they haven’t stationed anything at Shannon.

There is a 48 minute Mission Update on the NASA YT Channel and at the 38 minute mark a question from Irish press about lack of recovery assets at Shannon but to be honest the question isn’t really answered.

May I ask the source of that fascinating image?

[zero_gravity]

Hi

Yes , the image is part of the article I linked to.

Strange isn't it that Shannon and the DAEZ almost seem like an afterthought and yet I first brought the subject up with various agencies a year last March when the first recovery test warning was released !
No idea why all the lack of details , its as important a part of the mission as lift off itself.

[Morayhandyman]

4:17 p.m.: Launch scrubbed for the day due to weather

With approximately 20 minutes until liftoff, the launch has been called off for the day due to inclement weather.

There were three weather constraints that prevented liftoff today, including natural lightning, NASA officials said in a broadcast. Unfortunately, they expected all the inclement weather conditions to clear up just 10 minutes after the scheduled launch time today.

While it has been called off for today, the historic launch has been rescheduled for 3:22 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 30.

[zero_gravity]

Summary so far....


So , what have we learned so far.

We now know that there is definitely a splash zone off the coast of Ireland , but details are sparse
Indeed at the press conference two days ago Leo Enright from Irish TV raised the question direct with NASA
joking that would the crew have to be rescued by a passing fishing boat and asking about "assets" [ is he on the forum? ]

The answer was nebulous to say the least refering to military units but not saying whose.

There were no apparent connected air movements into Shannon so we can only summise that somewhere off the coast of Ireland is a US Navy vessel
on standby

Monitoring wise , 10780 Cape radio was up on usb.

ZG

[zero_gravity]

The Irish Coast Guard will lead any search and rescue operation off the Irish coast this evening in the unlikely event that the crew of SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission are forced to ditch in the Atlantic Ocean.


Image from above article...

Based at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas Mr Pearson later confirmed that NASA was looking at establishing a more formal relationship with the Coast Guard here.

Mr Pearson confirmed at the time that his visit to Shannon was personal in nature but said: “I was on vacation and wanted to drop by and see what it looks like and meet the people. We at NASA are interested in their capabilities and so we may establish more formal interfaces soon.”

Quite why the blanket of secrecy over this I don't know ,

Shannon Airport was previously a NASA selected emergency landing site during the Space Shuttle programme in case the orbiter got into difficulty on it’s return to earth.

...... along with Liverpool Fairford , etc etc , but never involved with TAL site comms.

At least now , we know the plan.

So heads up Shannon coastguard for activity during the launch phase.
I suggest using a vessel tracker to show both coastguard lifeboat and rotary activity.

[Seacat192]

Aren't they hoping to launch tomorrow (Saturday), and not today?

[GORDO47]

From
https://www.facebook.com/IrishCoastGuard

Posted 27th May:
Tonight at 21:30 the first ever launch of humans aboard a commercial spacecraft to the International Space Station will take place and the Irish Coast Guard is playing a very small part in the mission.
The Irish Coast Guard are on standby to lead the search and rescue operations for the SpaceX Crew Dragon space craft should it be forced to abort the mission and splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.
The launch even can be streamed live on NASA’s YouTube channel.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Shannon Based Irish Coast Guard Sikorsky 92 is callsign "Rescue 115", generally its visible on FR24 etc.
"Topcover" would probably be provided by a Irish Air Corp Casa 235 or a second S92 (Sligo R118, Waterford R117 or Dublin R116).

If that were to happen the Shannon ATC feed on Live ATC would be very useful for monitoring.

[GORDO47]

From https://www.spacex.com/launches/

SpaceX is targeting Saturday, May 30 for Falcon 9’s launch of Crew Dragon’s second demonstration (Demo-2) mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This test flight with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board the Dragon spacecraft will return human spaceflight to the United States.

The instantaneous launch window opens at 3:22 p.m. EDT, or 19:22 UTC, with a backup instantaneous launch opportunity available on Sunday, May 31 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, or 19:00 UTC. Tune in here to watch the launch webcast. Coverage will begin about 4 hours before liftoff.

Demo-2 is the final major test for SpaceX’s human spaceflight system to be certified by NASA for operational crew missions to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX is returning human spaceflight to the United States with one of the safest, most advanced systems ever built, and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is a turning point for America’s future in space exploration that lays the groundwork for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

[zero_gravity]

Aren't they hoping to launch tomorrow (Saturday), and not today?

Yes , that has always been the case...its a somewhat complex and tight launch window , no allowance for delays
After tomorrow it might be another couple of days before a further attempt , although SpaceX have already pencilled in June 2nd
for their next Starlink launch.
That of course could be postponed.

[Seacat192]

Thanks

[steamy]

You would think it would be fairly straightforward to get something from USAF or USN out of Shannon and save them bobbing around for 24h.

I'd imagine if the USAF did need to step in, it would be direct from Mildenhall.

Irish CG helicopters are able to cover the splash area easily enough. But anything outside of that area, the MV-22's could be easily tasked.

Before the MV-22's replaced the MH-53's, I remember they were tasked to a rescue that was outside Irish and French CG helicopter range.
The USAF sent the 2x MH-53's and MC-130 tanker to rescue people from a yacht.

Just looked it up: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews ... drama.html 18 years ago

Vividly remember Rescue 51 being on task for hours and almost certain it was replaced by Rescue 52 at some point.

Some 12 hours of listening on 5680, first time I heard American's talking to Kinloss

[zero_gravity]

After a perfect launch Dragon is now safely in orbit.

During the launch campaign there were no noticeable CG assets off the Irish coast.
As the vehicle climbed out there were numerous references to "Shannon" , this being the point at which
orbit would be achieved , or the flight aborted.


Not seen any references so far to comms being received .

So , at least now we know how future manned launches will proceed and what the involvement of the Irish Coastguards will be.

[zero_gravity]

After two months in orbit Crew Dragon is on its way home and should splash down early evening UK time,

Here's the Nav warning for the Gulf area..

Image:

311704Z JUL 20
NAVAREA IV 679/20(11).
GULF OF MEXICO.
WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS:
A. 021820Z TO 021850Z AUG IN AREA BOUND BY
30-15-43N 086-01-40W, 29-45-54N 085-30-39W,
29-16-11N 086-01-40W, 29-45-54N 086-32-42W.
B. 021830Z TO 021900Z AUG IN AREA BOUND BY
30-15-59N 087-29-59W, 29-48-03N 088-02-15W,
29-19-44N 087-29-51W, 29-48-01N 086-57-26W.
C. ALTERNATE 031740Z TO 031810Z AUG
IN AREA BOUND BY
31-24-45N 080-15-00W, 30-54-56N 079-43-36W,
30-27-56N 080-12-05W, 30-27-56N 080-17-52W,
30-54-56N 080-46-23W.
D. ALTERNATE 031745Z TO 031815Z AUG
IN AREA BOUND BY
28-59-45N 083-45-00W, 28-29-56N 083-14-20W,
28-00-14N 083-45-00W, 28-29-56N 084-15-39W.
E. ALTERNATE 031750Z TO 031820Z AUG
IN AREA BOUND BY
29-44-45N 084-12-00W, 29-14-56N 083-41-09W,
28-45-14N 084-12-00W, 29-14-56N 084-42-50W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 031920Z AUG 20.
More details here

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/31/c ... plashdown/

Full coverage on NASA TV.

Possibility of HF comms net from the recovery team.

[zero_gravity]

140014Z NOV 20
NAVAREA IV 1109/20(11,26).
WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC.
FLORIDA.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING
160017Z TO 160102Z, ALTERNATE
182306Z TO 182351Z NOV
IN AREAS BOUND BY:
A. 28-38-26N 080-37-17W, 28-38-29N 080-37-20W,
28-39-00N 080-37-00W, 28-57-00N 080-17-00W,
28-53-00N 080-13-00W, 28-34-00N 080-29-00W,
28-33-33N 080-34-01W.
B. 31-42-00N 077-24-00W, 32-12-00N 077-07-00W,
32-53-00N 076-08-00W, 32-47-00N 076-01-00W,
31-51-00N 076-51-00W, 31-36-0


Crew Dragon launch due tonight Florida time , just after midnight UK time.
No mention in the Nav Warning of the downrange abort zone off the Irish coast.

We now know that there are no prior rescue arrangements , other than should a requirement arise , recovery is left to vessels of opportunity and the Irish coastguard.

No deployment from Mildenhall.
Conditions in the eastern Atlantic are not too bright so a further delay could be on the cards.

ZG

[Cannon Gray]

The most I like the idea that now there is no need for using the old Soyuz module and pay Russian for sending astronauts to space.