News: 1605601872

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Baby Yoda stowed away on Crew Dragon, boards International Space Station

(2020/11/17)


Crew-1, the first ever four-passenger flight to the International Space Station (ISS) and also the first time NASA has formally used a commercial craft to carry astronauts, has docked safely.

The craft brought Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi to the ISS. Noguchi was the last to emerge from Crew Dragon’s hatch and as he did so, released a small soft toy that looks an awful lot like Baby Yoda. SpaceX’s launch fees work out at around $2,700 a kilogram, in case you were wondering.

The 27-hour trip to the ISS went off without a hitch. The propellant heating glitch NASA worried about yesterday turned out not to be a problem. Crew Dragon stayed on schedule, was able to navigate autonomously to its destination, and arrived on time.

Warm hugs awaited the arriving crew members, while mask-wearing ground crew in California grouped for a team photograph that may have made social distancing challenging but seemed well-deserved.

[1]

Soichi Noguchi and his baby Yoda. Click to enlarge

The four new arrivals join Expedition 64, which gets right down to business tomorrow with a six-hour spacewalk for Russian crew members Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov who will prepare for the arrival of the new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module named “Nauka”.

NASA says the pair will first “conduct leak inspections outside the hatch, as this will be the first spacewalk using the Poisk module for its purpose as an airlock. Next, they will relocate an antenna from another module, the Pirs docking compartment, to Poisk, the first in a series of tasks over the course of several spacewalks that will prepare Pirs for decommissioning, undocking, and disposal.”

The cosmonauts also will replace a fluid flow regulator on the Zarya module, retrieve hardware that measures space debris impacts, and reposition an instrument used to measure the residue from thruster firings.

It’s the first spacewalk for both men, but the eighth for 2020 and the 232nd overall in support of ISS assembly, maintenance and upgrades. ®

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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/11/17/screenshot_nasa_live.jpg

[2] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/

Baby Yoda

Phil O'Sophical

That's a bit disappointing. I thought it might be [1]this one .

[1] https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/jennifer-aniston-feels-force-of-baby-yoda-cocktail-rustled-up-in-northern-ireland-39716397.html

It is the way

Bit Brain

"Where I go, he goes"

Re: It is the way

Anonymous Coward

" Come on, baby! Do the magic hand thing.”

Scott Broukell

I really can't wait for the advent of truly commercial space tourism. Just think how wonderful it will be to have a hen night / stag party in micro gravity - all that vomit and piss floating about! (shudders, eeewww!). Mind you, a brawl breaking out between punters could be really hilarious to watch!

Chris G

That bring a new meaning to the typical Spaced Clubbers that you see in Ibiza.

Anonymous Coward

Has the launch rocket landing for re-use become so reliable that it is no longer mentioned?

another day, another thunderbirds landing

Anonymous Coward

Yes, I had to go hunting to find footage of the booster landing and nobody mentioned if it did or didn't succeed.

That's the best bit!

Shame it wasn't a KSC landing - that is something else if you are nearby.... double sonic booms shake the ground!

Re: Shame it wasn't a KSC landing ...

Anonymous Coward

I've had Kerbal Space Cockup landings providing far more than a mere two sonic booms! :-)

$2700 per kilo?

Anonymous Coward

I'm sure Disney will pay way over that for the advertising.

Re: $2700 per kilo?

Chris G

Jeez! Don't give 'em ideas, I don't relish the thought of looking up at the moon and seeuny a mickey mouse shaped crater.

Why don't you fix your little problem... and light this candle?
-- Alan Shepherd, the first man into space, Gemini program