Blue Origin thread.

[Ultimate Steve]

I'd expect there to be fewer creepy noises, but WOAH THAT VIEW!

[SuperFastJellyfish]

20 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2017 by SuperFastJellyfish

[CatastrophicFailure]

1 hour ago, Ultimate Steve said:

I'd expect there to be fewer creepy noises, but WOAH THAT VIEW!

Good thing in space no one can hear you scream. 

 

Those windows certainly look hard core (and rightly so). But they should have included some fuzzy dice so the accelerations would be more apparent. 

[NSEP]

Was the inside pressurized? The dust particles seem to move continuously rather than float silently in the air.

[Streetwind]

Whether it's pressurized or not makes little difference in microgravity as far a object floating behavior is concerned. Compare floating particles on the ISS.

[tater]

This is a slip from previous statements. They need to be less gradatim.

[CatastrophicFailure]

24 minutes ago, tater said:

This is a slip from previous statements. They need to be less gradatim.

Last I heard, I thought they were saying early 2018 for manned flights. That’s a pretty big slip...

C’mon, guys, more with the ferociter!

[mikegarrison]

1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Last I heard, I thought they were saying early 2018 for manned flights. That’s a pretty big slip...

C’mon, guys, more with the ferociter!

Haven't we all learned lessons by now about trying to be too schedule-focused with personed space flight?

[tater]

Mercury flew 4 unmanned Mercury Redstone tests before Shepard flew. The first was a failure, BTW.

There were 5 Mercury Atlas test flights (2 of which failed).

Obviously they want better safety for tourists, but they are on flight 6 now, so they're pretty good in terms of safety at this point for a manned test flight.

[CatastrophicFailure]

55 minutes ago, tater said:

Obviously they want better safety for tourists, but they are on flight 6 now, so they're pretty good in terms of safety at this point for a manned test flight.

The booster design has been pretty thoroughly tested, moreso because they get all of that wonderful data from looking at it after it flies. This newest booster shouldn’t need such a wringing out (again, they get to examine after the flight), I think they’re mostly testing capsule systems at this point. IIRC, this capsule is supposed to be man-ratable. So a year long delay till they get someone in it does seem noteworthy.

 

 

[Ultimate Steve]

I volunteer as the next test dummy!

[mikegarrison]

1 hour ago, Ultimate Steve said:

I volunteer as the next test dummy!

I don't think I would want all those wires stuck into my neck, though. And having my hands strapped to the armrest might not be super fun either.

Edited December 18, 2017 by mikegarrison

[tater]

 

[Josh IN SPACE]

Whoa! Insane! What a great space video to send off 2017. Those sounds are like something by 65 Days of Static from No Man's Sky when you leave a planet and go back up into space.

Also sleep paralysis comes to mind when looking at that mannequin being strapped in with his mouth covered, head locked to look at the ceiling. 

That landing looked pretty soft. What common occurrence for a civilian would you compare that landing to? Being backed into in the grocery store parking lot? Being tackled? Having the wind knocked out of you?

[tater]

6 hours ago, Josh IN SPACE said:

That landing looked pretty soft. What common occurrence for a civilian would you compare that landing to? Being backed into in the grocery store parking lot? Being tackled? Having the wind knocked out of you?

The landing speed is about 0.45 m/s.

That's about like dropping you 1cm onto the floor.

Edited December 21, 2017 by tater

[cubinator]

13 minutes ago, tater said:

The landing speed is about 0.45 m/s.

That's about like dropping you 1cm onto the floor.

And the acceleration seems to be spread over at least a second, so it may be as smooth as falling on your back into a foam pit. Overall, the ride looks exceptionally comfortable in terms of spaceflight.

[tater]

Just now, cubinator said:

And the acceleration seems to be spread over at least a second, so it may be as smooth as falling on your back into a foam pit. Overall, the ride looks exceptionally comfortable in terms of spaceflight.

The velocity at impact ("1 mph") is about the same as dropping 1 cm. The passengers will be in a padded couch, however, so it's like dropping 1cm onto the sofa. When I said floor, I meant "the ground" in terms of impact velocity (not accounting for padding, obviously).

[cubinator]

3 hours ago, tater said:

The velocity at impact ("1 mph") is about the same as dropping 1 cm. The passengers will be in a padded couch, however, so it's like dropping 1cm onto the sofa. When I said floor, I meant "the ground" in terms of impact velocity (not accounting for padding, obviously).

Right. I'm also taking into account the acceleration from the retrorockets prior to touchdown, which provides most of the final acceleration. Overall, it seems pretty smooth. I would ride it given the opportunity.

Edited December 21, 2017 by cubinator

[Ultimate Steve]

2 hours ago, cubinator said:

Right. I'm also talking into account the acceleration from the retrorockets prior to touchdown, which provides most of the final acceleration. Overall, it seems pretty smooth. I would ride it given the opportunity.

I'd ride the next test flight if they let me! They've got 100% success for the capsule unless they're keeping something secret, I'd take my chances!

[NSEP]

People hate on BO because of their lack of orbital capability but they never look at the tourism friendliness of the New Shepard. Just look at those windows! How is that not Wunderbar?

[tater]

56 minutes ago, NSEP said:

People hate on BO because of their lack of orbital capability but they never look at the tourism friendliness of the New Shepard. Just look at those windows! How is that not Wunderbar?

Some hate on them, dunno, just because. i suppose there is the sense that given Bezo's resources, they should be moving faster than SpaceX, which is by comparison poor.

[mikegarrison]

34 minutes ago, tater said:

Some hate on them, dunno, just because. i suppose there is the sense that given Bezo's resources, they should be moving faster than SpaceX, which is by comparison poor.

Mainly I think that people hate on them here in this forum because there are a ton of SpaceX fanboys here in this forum.

I do think that SpaceX is way, way better at PR than Blue Origin. Those real-time videos of the launch (even with their own intro) are great, and also brave. Blue Origin never shows anything real-time, I think because they don't want any videos of any failures out there. Musk, on the other hand, was willing to show us crash after crash when they were trying to get the landing thing right.

And of course, SpaceX is well ahead of Blue Origin in the development cycle. The question is whether BO will have much of a "second-mover" opportunity to jump into a part of the market that SpaceX doesn't cover.

ULA seems hopelessly left behind, although they are actually the only one of the bunch that has any real experience with crewed launches.

[CatastrophicFailure]

1 hour ago, tater said:

Some hate on them, dunno, just because. i suppose there is the sense that given Bezo's resources, they should be moving faster than SpaceX, which is by comparison poor.

“Make haste slowly.” 

[_Augustus_]

21 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

Blue Origin never shows anything real-time, I think because they don't want any videos of any failures out there.

So, like the Soviets?

[mikegarrison]

10 hours ago, _Augustus_ said:

So, like the Soviets?

Yes, rather like them.