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7 minutes ago, NSEP said:

Speaking of 'other countries' will SpaceX (and maybe also boeing) launch ESA, JAXA, and maybe even Roscosmos Astronaut/Cosmonauts to space using Dragon or Starliner.

I highly doubt ULA would ever send anyone to space other than US astronauts, but I don't see any barriers to astronauts from other countries flying on Dragon.

Unless it comes down to ITAR, but I don't see why it would.

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I thought commercial crew vehicles were specifically supposed to leverage the existence of the vehicle to uses outside ISS service as part of the program.

One, all flights after the first crew test of each will always have a cosmonaut aboard, as all Soyuz flights will also have 1 astronaut aboard.

Two, I see no reason why they would not also take any other visiting astronauts from ESA, JAXA, etc, just as Shuttle did. That's kind of the point.

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16 minutes ago, tater said:

I see no reason why they would not also take any other visiting astronauts from ESA, JAXA, etc, just as Shuttle did. That's kind of the point.

The only possible issue is if the other astronauts need to be vehicle-ops-certified, which could conceivably mean access to ITAR-protected data.

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2 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

The only possible issue is if the other astronauts need to be vehicle-ops-certified, which could conceivably mean access to ITAR-protected data.

How is that different from Shuttle?

 

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16 minutes ago, tater said:

How is that different from Shuttle?

With the Shuttle, I believe that US astronauts were always commanding/piloting. US astronauts are trained to operate Soyuz but I don't know that the reverse was true with the STS.

It may be that cosmonauts onboard the Shuttle were "passenger-only" status to protect ITAR, in which case the same may be true for Dragon 2. If so, then having an all-foreign crew would potentially violate ITAR.

16 minutes ago, tater said:

 

Privacy curtain...ok, well, that's better than nothing.

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1 minute ago, sevenperforce said:

With the Shuttle, I believe that US astronauts were always commanding/piloting. US astronauts are trained to operate Soyuz but I don't know that the reverse was true with the STS.

It may be that cosmonauts onboard the Shuttle were "passenger-only" status to protect ITAR, in which case the same may be true for Dragon 2. If so, then having an all-foreign crew would potentially violate ITAR.

The commander on commercial crew will always be a NASA astronaut. Cosmonauts only flew on shuttle 3 times.

Other astronauts (European, JAXA, Canadian, etc) can fly on the commercial crew vehicles just fine. Really the only ITAR issue at this point is probably China.

4 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

Privacy curtain...ok, well, that's better than nothing.

Visual, not auditory or olfactory privacy, though.

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7 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

It may be that cosmonauts onboard the Shuttle were "passenger-only" status to protect ITAR, in which case the same may be true for Dragon 2. If so, then having an all-foreign crew would potentially violate ITAR.

There will always be a mix on board, at least one US, on Russian, the other two (for now) seats for international partners. This was mentioned in several of the articles about the crew selection, after DM-1 the first "operational" flight will fly four astronauts, two more in addition to the designated US crew, so Russia and someone else will choose people.

Basically the same arrangement that's been used on Soyuz since the start, same goes for Boeing. 

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Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Squeeze" into the "2-person" capsule?

Good grief. There hasn't been a 2-person capsule since Gemini, and the Dragon 2 is the roomiest spaceship ever (with the possible exception of the Shuttle, which was basically an orbiting laboratory).

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6 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Squeeze" into the "2-person" capsule?

Good grief. There hasn't been a 2-person capsule since Gemini, and the Dragon 2 is the roomiest spaceship ever (with the possible exception of the Shuttle, which was basically an orbiting laboratory).

If I don't make it as an astronaut or aerospace engineer I could become an aerospace reporter and actually get things right.

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2 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

If I don't make it as an astronaut or aerospace engineer I could become an aerospace reporter and actually get things right.

Unfortunately, that video title was, like most headlines, likely not actually chosen by the reporter. I didn't understand this for a long time, and always wondered why Eric Berger's Ars Technica articles were accurate and well researched, but the headlines were always inaccurate and clickbaity. It turns out that headlines are picked by A/B testing with random audiences or by editors rather than being written by the reporter.

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On 8/14/2018 at 3:23 AM, NSEP said:

The Soyuz crew must be really jealous when this thing arrives :D

Well, apart from it being brand new latest tech, of which everyone flying older tech will be jealous, the actual room and space in the capsule will be VERY different once it's fully stocked with gear for a real launch to the ISS as compared with these gorgeous promo views. It'll be interesting to see just how much roomier it ends up being in full real flight trim, not mocked up.

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6 hours ago, micha said:

Well, apart from it being brand new latest tech, of which everyone flying older tech will be jealous, the actual room and space in the capsule will be VERY different once it's fully stocked with gear for a real launch to the ISS as compared with these gorgeous promo views. It'll be interesting to see just how much roomier it ends up being in full real flight trim, not mocked up.

Probably something similiar to this:

500_F_139704789_ybNQHg59pNxZsEhEmFT5deUP

:sticktongue:

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On 8/10/2018 at 4:15 PM, tater said:

It's already supposed to be Heart of Gold.

 

On 8/10/2018 at 4:22 PM, sevenperforce said:

That's the spaceship end.

IDK about the booster end.

The Bistromath? 

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11 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

There hasn't been a 2-person capsule since Gemini

Technically the Soyuz can be seen as a two person capsule. Soyuz MS-10 launching next October will carry only two people, and i don't think they will have an extra seat for a non-existent space traveller.

Last year, Soyuz MS-04 also carried only two people, and judging from the footage, there isn't an extra seat in the middle.

 

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12 minutes ago, NSEP said:

Technically the Soyuz can be seen as a two person capsule. Soyuz MS-10 launching next October will carry only two people, and i don't think they will have an extra seat for a non-existent space traveller.

Last year, Soyuz MS-04 also carried only two people, and judging from the footage, there isn't an extra seat in the middle.

 

Many launches has however been three man, good chance they move the seat a bit together with two man to get more space for cargo. 
Same way dragon 2 is designed for 7 but will be flying with 4 on the planned launches. 

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