back to article SpaceX to try reusing both rocket and spacecraft for historic ISS mission

In a first for the company, SpaceX is planning to launch a supply mission to the International Space Station using both a pre-flown first stage rocket and a Dragon capsule that has already been in orbit. The mission, which will carry 4,800 lbs of food, water, and science experiments to the astronauts in low-Earth orbit, was …

  1. bombastic bob Silver badge
    Devil

    Go mission #13!

    gotta love it!

  2. Sgt_Oddball
    Coat

    I wonder if they're taking CO2 scrubbers.. of a different size and pattern to the normal standard ones currently used?

    Well spaceX is a moonshot sort of company after all.

    I know, I know, mines the orange jumpsuit...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'd guess Musk will forego the Moon and head directly at Mars. Doing the Moon again isn't really his style, altho I'm sure he'd be happy to contract to build a Moon base for anyone with sufficient funds.

  3. MachDiamond Silver badge

    Guy who?

    Bring the marshmallows and chocolate and biscuits.

  4. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Go

    ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

    So whoever's sponsoring that one has got a lot riding on it.

    I'll wish them luck.

    But don't expect SX prices to NASA to fall just because it's a "re-flown" booster and capsule.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

      If anything, you could sell optical fiber cables made in spaaace to the hifi nuts at a good cut.

      1. BebopWeBop
        Happy

        Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

        Well having an optical link to my new amp, I am keen to upgrade and match my 'direction oriented' (I believe it is the way they pull their wires plus a small prayer - one per cable c/o a Buddhist monk - is cables). That and a little feng shui and careful marking of the CDs to balance them in the listening room and I will be the envy of the neighbourhood.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

          "pull their wires" is about right.

        2. Long John Brass
          Thumb Up

          Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

          Yes. You need a tech priest to say the appropriate prayers and spring the holy oil & light the incense

          You have to keep the machine spirits happy :)

        3. Sgt_Oddball
          Gimp

          Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

          You still listen to CDs? Philistine...

          Vinyl's where it's at now.

          1. Simon Harris

            Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

            You're still listening to vinyl?

            Don't you know, shellac's the thing these days!

            1. terrythetech

              Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

              I'm on to wax cylinders now. I can even make my own recordings through the horn. Storage space is the problem, they could do with making the cylinders a bit smaller. I have to say though that the oxygen free 99.99999% pure copper wires do improve the sound quality significantly

        4. vincent himpe

          Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

          don;t forget a few space rocks to scatter in the living room. they work better than the pebbles. i hear moon rock works really well...

    2. phuzz Silver badge

      Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

      "But don't expect SX prices to NASA to fall just because it's a "re-flown" booster and capsule."

      Mainly because SpaceX (and Orbital Sciences) are on a fixed price contract, (unlike the 'cost plus' contracts of old that Boeing and Lockheed Martin got fat on.)

      If SpaceX can reduce their costs whilst still delivering the cargo they're contracted for, then they can make more profit. If their costs are higher than the price they're contracted at then that's thier problem, NASA doesn't have to pay out any more money.

    3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

      "So whoever's sponsoring that one has got a lot riding on it."

      What's the max. G rating on the descent/re-entry? Might that deform the exceptionally well made fibre optic from space?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: ZBLAN is reckoned to be the a product that could be made at profit in space

        > "Might that deform the exceptionally well made fibre optic from space?"

        Well, unlike low-O copper, fibre optics made in microgravity actually need to be 'pulled' at high gees, and it's just serendipity that re-entry provides exactly that.

  5. Nolveys

    Reading about stuff like this gives me an exceedingly rare glimmer of hope in this desolate, malignant tumour of a society.

    Best of luck to SpaceX, NASA and all of those who toil for a brighter future.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. TrumpSlurp the Troll
    Go

    Hope they include

    A tree and some stockings to hang up on Xmas eve.

    Although the lack of chimney might be an issue.

    1. Stuart Moore

      Re: Hope they include

      The lack of an up may also be an issue

      1. BebopWeBop

        Re: Hope they include

        Actually, the down might be a problem as well.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Hope they include

          All of that is moot, since the ISS is above the "reindeer ceiling."

          1. wallaby

            Re: Hope they include

            "All of that is moot, since the ISS is above the "reindeer ceiling.""

            Citation needed

            1. DropBear
              Trollface

              Re: Hope they include

              Count your blessings for not being the parent who needs to explain how exactly Santa Claus brings presents both to Earth and Mars, a hundred years from now or so...

              1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

                Re: Hope they include

                http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058548/

                1. Mark 85

                  Re: Hope they include

                  I was hoping that went to "Mars Needs Women".... alas..alak..

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Hope they include

              > "Citation needed"

              A quick google shows no information at all about the reindeer ceiling (!).

              Therefore I withdraw my previous remark. Currently there is no authority on the subject, so we really can't say how high that "jolly old elf" might get.

              1. wallaby

                Re: Hope they include

                "Therefore I withdraw my previous remark. Currently there is no authority on the subject, so we really can't say how high that "jolly old elf" might get."

                Thank you,

                lets keep this scientific and only deal in facts people

  7. K.o.R

    "and another designed to avoid dying from explosive decompression."

    Who drew the short straw?

  8. Mystic Megabyte

    spaceshit Ctrl+W spaceship

    I used to share a house with some Ghanaian dudes and after a red-hot meat stew with foo-foo and okra you may well have explosive decompression in the morning. Not a good choice for space food!

    I'd like to go into space but only for a few days, the cuisine must be very bland.

    1. Duffy Moon
      Joke

      Re: spaceshit Ctrl+W spaceship

      " after a red-hot meat stew with foo-foo and okra "

      I eat foo-foo too, but I've never tried putting okra in it

      1. MyffyW Silver badge

        Re: spaceshit Ctrl+W spaceship

        Good for you @Duffy Moon. Being proud of my sexuality I'm certainly not adverse to Ladies Fingers being employed in this manner...

    2. Simon Harris

      Re: spaceshit Ctrl+W spaceship

      "Not a good choice for space food!"

      Could be used in an emergency if the propellant tanks run dry.

  9. Not also known as SC
    Joke

    Excuses

    "The launch had been kicked back to Tuesday due to "... space station crew availability,..."

    Am I the only one wondering why the Space Station crew wouldn't be available?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Excuses

      Maybe they'll be busy getting probed that day...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Excuses

      Well, with one third of the crew being Russian at the moment...

      Though, last time I heard Russia celebrates Xmas on the 8th of January, but you never know. There may always be another reason for: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/12/07/drunk_developers_delay_software_vendors_release/

      After all, it is the only country where getting sh*tfaced is part of a nursery rime:

      Для пьянства есть такие поводы:

      Поминки, праздник, встреча, проводы,

      Крестины, свадьба и развод,

      Мороз, охота, Новый год,

      Выздоровленье, новоселье,

      Печаль, раскаянье, веселье,

      Успех, награда, новый чин

      И просто пьянство - без причин!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Excuses

        "nursery rime"

        Ahem - that's an uncommon homonym. "rime" is hoar frost on an object. A type of poem is a "rhyme".

        The UK Victorian temperance societies' children's "Band of Hope" had modified nursery rhymes about the effects of alcohol.

        Little Tommy Dun, the piper’s son

        Drank some beer and tried to run.

        He tripped his toes and broke his nose

        And went to jail in ragged clothes.

        1. pstiles

          Re: Excuses

          unless you're Samuel Taylor Coleridge

          1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
            Happy

            Re: Excuses

            unless you're Samuel Taylor Coleridge

            Who'd have guessed that all that laudnum would affect his spelling...

            1. graeme leggett Silver badge

              Re: Excuses

              Initially recorded as "The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere" to go for that olde worlde look.

              Or perhaps he had written it after a couple of drops ("it's strictly medicinal") and a pint or two down the local hostelry.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Excuses

            "unless you're Samuel Taylor Coleridge"

            Indeed - mea culpa - "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

            I had a niggle about that possible prior usage when I went to bed. In my defence I plead that the Oxford dictionary web page had that meaning tucked away below the scroll line: "archaic spelling of rhyme".

            I should have known better as that poem was one we had to learn off by heart in our GCE "O" Level curriculum.

      2. Bangem

        Re: Excuses

        If theres so many Russians on board they might have observed the orthodox "feast of the conception" or as the roman catholics call it the "festival of the immaculate conception" ?

  10. Vulch
    Boffin

    Visible pass after launch

    If the launch goes off on schedule it ought to be possible to see the Dragon, second stage and solar panel covers go over the UK about 20 minutes later, weather permitting. There's an ISS pass about half an hour before launch that will give you an idea of where to look. On CRS-11, the first flight of this booster, the pass was videoed.

    1. ridley

      Re: Visible pass after launch

      That video is very cool.

      So much so that I have set my classes some homework to watch the launch then nip outside to watch the flyby of the CRS 13 and the ISS,

      (They could even watch the live ISS feed as it flies by the UK at the same time as they watch the it cross the sky.)

    2. phuzz Silver badge

      Re: Visible pass after launch

      A few years back I saw an ISS pass (from the UK), with the Cygnus spacecraft visible as a much smaller dot just 'behind' it. It was due to dock a few hours after I saw it I think.

    3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Visible pass after launch

      "If the launch goes off on schedule it ought to be possible to see the Dragon, second stage and solar panel covers go over the UK about 20 minutes later, weather permitting."

      Apart from a couple of light snow showers, we've had gorgeous sunny days and clear nights. At least now we know there's going to be 100% cloud cover on that day now.

  11. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Pint

    Wings of Honneamise!

    "You gotta launch NOW!"

  12. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Go

    "Musk unfazed as Boeing vows to beat SpaceX in Mars race"

    When asked whether he or Musk will get there first, Muilenberg responded: “Eventually we’re going to go to Mars and I firmly believe the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing rocket”

    These Americans.

    "You make ONE velly small mistake!"

  13. Triumphantape

    SpaceX has discerning taste

    They only blow up when Facebook sats are on board, as they should.

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: SpaceX has discerning taste

      They once blew up some of Heston's food too.

      1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

        What?

        That wasn't part of the preparation?

        1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

          Re: What?

          Oh of course. He must have been making an omelette.

  14. Mark 85

    Coming soon?

    Mad Man Musk's Used Booster and Capsule Mart. Low, low, low prices on gently launched and recovered vehicles.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Coming soon?

      They're not "used," they're "pre-owned."

      1. Kaltern

        Re: Coming soon?

        Don't buy them on eBay though.. they'll never arrive and you'll be charged anyway.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Unhappy

          Re: Coming soon?

          I really don't want a SpaceX booster "arriving" anywhere near me.

      2. Robert Moore
        Coat

        Re: Coming soon?

        They're not "pre-owned" they're "pre-loved."

        1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

          Re: Coming soon?

          I think the Official Euphemism "flight proven" is amusing enough itself.

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