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	<title>Comments on: When a Dragon mated the space station</title>
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	<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/</link>
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		<title>By: Logarchism &#187; Worlds Enough, and Time</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332187</link>
		<dc:creator>Logarchism &#187; Worlds Enough, and Time</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 27 May 2012 10:02:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332187</guid>
		<description>[...] When a Dragon mated the space sta­tion (blogs​.dis​cov​er​magazine​.com) [...] </description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] When a Dragon mated the space sta­tion (blogs​.dis​cov​er​magazine​.com) [...] </p>
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		<title>By: vince charles</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332186</link>
		<dc:creator>vince charles</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 May 2012 23:02:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332186</guid>
		<description>17.   Michael Mullen Says:
May 26th, 2012 at 3:57 pm

&quot;You mean the launch facilities that SpaceX built on a bare patch of ground? The overwhelming bulk of the costs for the development of the Falcon9/Dragon have been borne by SpaceX.&quot;

What the...???  SpaceX bought the rights to an old Canaveral pad, and use Canaveral range support.  Just like their previous use of Kwaj.  You&#039;re probably thinking of their PROPOSED private site in, likely, South Texas or possibly Puerto Rico.  Hasn&#039;t broken ground, hasn&#039;t even been selected yet.

Also, SpaceX developed Dragon knowing they had a market lined up.  So while the actual dollars themselves originated with private lenders, those lenders would have charged a higher rate (or, perhaps wouldn&#039;t have lent at all) without knowing the risk had largely been eased by a nice, juicy government contract.  Bigelow wasn&#039;t in the picture yet.

You&#039;re also ignoring the reentry shape, dating back to DoD research, and the reentry ablative, also derivative.  Oh, and the GPS receivers, refined since &#039;60s demonstrator flights.  And the numerous propellant and tank technologies set by researchers on military contracts, the alloys formulated by the Soviets, the solar cells enabled by numerous experimental flights, the multiple metallurgies and abort technique flown by NASA first, and of course, the use of simpler berthing by arm, allowed by a Canadian-funded arm and demonstrated by JAXA first...I could go on.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>17.   Michael Mullen Says:<br />
May 26th, 2012 at 3:57 pm</p>
<p>&#8220;You mean the launch facilities that SpaceX built on a bare patch of ground? The overwhelming bulk of the costs for the development of the Falcon9/Dragon have been borne by SpaceX.&#8221;</p>
<p>What the&#8230;???  SpaceX bought the rights to an old Canaveral pad, and use Canaveral range support.  Just like their previous use of Kwaj.  You&#8217;re probably thinking of their PROPOSED private site in, likely, South Texas or possibly Puerto Rico.  Hasn&#8217;t broken ground, hasn&#8217;t even been selected yet.</p>
<p>Also, SpaceX developed Dragon knowing they had a market lined up.  So while the actual dollars themselves originated with private lenders, those lenders would have charged a higher rate (or, perhaps wouldn&#8217;t have lent at all) without knowing the risk had largely been eased by a nice, juicy government contract.  Bigelow wasn&#8217;t in the picture yet.</p>
<p>You&#8217;re also ignoring the reentry shape, dating back to DoD research, and the reentry ablative, also derivative.  Oh, and the GPS receivers, refined since &#8217;60s demonstrator flights.  And the numerous propellant and tank technologies set by researchers on military contracts, the alloys formulated by the Soviets, the solar cells enabled by numerous experimental flights, the multiple metallurgies and abort technique flown by NASA first, and of course, the use of simpler berthing by arm, allowed by a Canadian-funded arm and demonstrated by JAXA first&#8230;I could go on.</p>
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		<title>By: Michael Mullen</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332185</link>
		<dc:creator>Michael Mullen</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 May 2012 21:57:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332185</guid>
		<description>16.   owlbear1 Says:
May 26th, 2012 at 11:53 am

Does anyone know how much NASA is charging SpaceX for use of all the launch facilities and engineering research?

----------------------

You mean the launch facilities that SpaceX built on a bare patch of ground? The overwhelming bulk of the costs for the development of the Falcon9/Dragon have been borne by SpaceX.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>16.   owlbear1 Says:<br />
May 26th, 2012 at 11:53 am</p>
<p>Does anyone know how much NASA is charging SpaceX for use of all the launch facilities and engineering research?</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-</p>
<p>You mean the launch facilities that SpaceX built on a bare patch of ground? The overwhelming bulk of the costs for the development of the Falcon9/Dragon have been borne by SpaceX.</p>
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		<title>By: owlbear1</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332184</link>
		<dc:creator>owlbear1</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 May 2012 17:53:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332184</guid>
		<description>Does anyone know how much NASA is charging SpaceX for use of all the launch facilities and engineering research?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Does anyone know how much NASA is charging SpaceX for use of all the launch facilities and engineering research?</p>
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		<title>By: Satan Claws</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332183</link>
		<dc:creator>Satan Claws</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 May 2012 10:46:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332183</guid>
		<description>May 26th. The doors were opened. What a relief! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkyUMmNl4hk</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>May 26th. The doors were opened. What a relief! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkyUMmNl4hk" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkyUMmNl4hk</a></p>
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		<title>By: Messier Tidy Upper</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332182</link>
		<dc:creator>Messier Tidy Upper</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 May 2012 04:15:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332182</guid>
		<description>@1.   Carey : &lt;i&gt;&quot; Now Thierry Legault just needs to get a picture of the ISS+Dragon in front of the Sun.&quot;&lt;/i&gt;

Seconded - and I wouldn&#039;t be surprised if he was working on that right now! ;-)
(Spacecraft trajectories and geographic day-vs-night timing permitting.)

I can&#039;t wait to see it if /when he does. :-)

Mind you, going to be more of a challenge for him given the smaller size of &lt;i&gt;Dragon&lt;/i&gt; vs the Space Shuttles. Sure Thierry Legault can still do it tho&#039;!  8)

(Legault has photographed equal sized or smaller craft in orbit than &lt;i&gt;Dragon&lt;/i&gt; if memory serves hasn&#039;t he?)
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		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@1.   Carey : <i>&#8221; Now Thierry Legault just needs to get a picture of the ISS+Dragon in front of the Sun.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>Seconded &#8211; and I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if he was working on that right now! <img src='http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';-)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
(Spacecraft trajectories and geographic day-vs-night timing permitting.)</p>
<p>I can&#8217;t wait to see it if /when he does. <img src='http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Mind you, going to be more of a challenge for him given the smaller size of <i>Dragon</i> vs the Space Shuttles. Sure Thierry Legault can still do it tho&#8217;!  8)</p>
<p>(Legault has photographed equal sized or smaller craft in orbit than <i>Dragon</i> if memory serves hasn&#8217;t he?)</p>
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		<title>By: Zucchi</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332181</link>
		<dc:creator>Zucchi</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 May 2012 00:31:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332181</guid>
		<description>@ellindsey -- thanks for that answer; I was wondering the same thing.  (About why they were using the capture-then-berth method, and what the difference is between docking and berthing.)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@ellindsey &#8212; thanks for that answer; I was wondering the same thing.  (About why they were using the capture-then-berth method, and what the difference is between docking and berthing.)</p>
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		<title>By: Grand Lunar</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332180</link>
		<dc:creator>Grand Lunar</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 May 2012 22:52:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332180</guid>
		<description>Three cheers for SpaceX!

Glad to see that this has been accomplished.

This is the first step in a much larger world.

Now we had to do this with crew on board!

I know Story Musgrave has been outspoken against private space companies.
With this success, I believe his arguements don&#039;t hold up so well anymore.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Three cheers for SpaceX!</p>
<p>Glad to see that this has been accomplished.</p>
<p>This is the first step in a much larger world.</p>
<p>Now we had to do this with crew on board!</p>
<p>I know Story Musgrave has been outspoken against private space companies.<br />
With this success, I believe his arguements don&#8217;t hold up so well anymore.</p>
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		<title>By: ellindsey</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332179</link>
		<dc:creator>ellindsey</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 May 2012 21:01:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332179</guid>
		<description>David - most do.  The Shuttle, Soyuz, Progress, and the ATV all have docking ports.  Docking ports contain guide cones, capture latches, shock absorbers, and everything else needed for one spaceship to fly up and dock to another.  The Dragon capsule (and the Japanese HTV) have Berthing ports, which essentially only have the hard capture latches.  Those require the station arm to grab the vehicle and hold it in place while the latches are engaged.  The advantage of the berthing ports is the ability to pass much larger pieces of equipment through.  Shuttle and Soyuz docking ports are barely large enough for a single person to squeeze through, and there are a lot of pieces of equipment in the station that won&#039;t fit through a docking port.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>David &#8211; most do.  The Shuttle, Soyuz, Progress, and the ATV all have docking ports.  Docking ports contain guide cones, capture latches, shock absorbers, and everything else needed for one spaceship to fly up and dock to another.  The Dragon capsule (and the Japanese HTV) have Berthing ports, which essentially only have the hard capture latches.  Those require the station arm to grab the vehicle and hold it in place while the latches are engaged.  The advantage of the berthing ports is the ability to pass much larger pieces of equipment through.  Shuttle and Soyuz docking ports are barely large enough for a single person to squeeze through, and there are a lot of pieces of equipment in the station that won&#8217;t fit through a docking port.</p>
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		<title>By: Follow Up of the Day: SpaceX Dragon Docks With International Space Station - TDW Geeks</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/25/when-a-dragon-mated-the-space-station/#comment-332178</link>
		<dc:creator>Follow Up of the Day: SpaceX Dragon Docks With International Space Station - TDW Geeks</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 May 2012 20:18:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49625#comment-332178</guid>
		<description>[...] Dragon spacecraft was successfully captured by the International Space Station this morning, making it the first privately-owned vessel in history to dock with the [...] </description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] Dragon spacecraft was successfully captured by the International Space Station this morning, making it the first privately-owned vessel in history to dock with the [...] </p>
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