Donald L. Gilleland: SpaceX Dragon: a worthy successor to space shuttles? Shouldn't we expect more from the next generation?
Donald L. Gilleland, of Suntree, is a veteran and former corporate director of public affairs for General Dynamics Corp.
Posted June 27, 2012 at 4 a.m.
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In this image provided by NASA, the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is grappled by the Canadarm2 robotic arm at the International Space Station May 25. Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers grappled Dragon and used the robotic arm to berth Dragon to the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony node. Dragon became the first commercially developed space vehicle to be launched to the station. (AP Photo/NASA)
Everyone seems excited over the success of SpaceX's Dragon capsule. Looks like we may once more have a way to get our supplies and astronauts to the International Space Station. Given time we may even be able to develop a new age commercial shuttle to take our astronauts to more distant planets.
But, before we get all giddy about the first success of the SpaceX Dragon, let's look at the regressive history Dragon represents. Our first manned spaceflight was Freedom 7, which carried American astronaut Alan Shepard to an altitude of just more than 116 miles in 1961.
That was followed by five more manned space flights using spacecraft, all of which looked like a bullet and all of which had to land by parachute in the Pacific Ocean.
Twenty years later, in 1981, we entered the era of the Space Shuttle. It was the only winged manned spacecraft to have achieved orbit and then returned to land like an airplane. These space vehicles were a source of great national pride. They still are.
Space Shuttle Atlantis ended a remarkable chapter in space exploration and communities across the United States will proudly display these shuttles until they become relics.
Unfortunately, their premature retirement left us with no way to resupply the International Space Station without piggybacking on the Russian Soyuz capsules. NASA has had to rent space on the Russian vehicles, at nearly $63 million per seat, to get our astronauts to the space station. There was no other way to get there.
Which raises the question: Shouldn't we have developed an alternative way to get to the space station before we retired our space shuttles? Why couldn't we have continued using these magnificent machines until we developed suitable 21st century replacements — and saved a lot of jobs in the process.
Just as relevant, why didn't we start building replacement vehicles 10 years ago? What happened to our national pride in the space program? Where were the scientists with a vision for the future? Regrettably these are now moot questions.
Retirement of the space shuttles opened a market for commercial development of space vehicles. SpaceX's Dragon capsule is the result. Its successful resupply mission to the International Space Station opens the door to further development of a system to deliver astronauts into the space environment.
But, take a close look at the Dragon capsule. Doesn't it bear a close resemblance to our early 1960s-era prototype space capsules that had to land in the Pacific Ocean?
Sure, the Dragon capsule undoubtedly has 21st century technology throughout, but doesn't it bear a strange resemblance to the 50-year-old look of the Mercury and Apollo capsules? And in the 21st century shouldn't we be able to do better than to drop our astronauts into the ocean?
A "Dragon 2.0" spacecraft is expected to do propulsive soft landings, but that is a distant dream. I'm as thrilled as the next person about regaining our national dominance in space, but I was expecting something a bit grander than a large bullet shot into space and parachuted into the Pacific Ocean again.
I was hoping to see something that resembled the sleek look of the British Concorde.
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Comments » 3Hide
June 27, 2012
7:35 a.m.
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HarryPitts writes:
"What happened to our national pride in the space program? "
Good question.
I guess we need to settle for a pride in corporatism.
Privatization seems to be the salvation, according to one political ideology, viewpoint.
I recall the saying, the business of government is business.
So, if you buy into that, the next logical step is the systematic removal of government from all functions other than the few specifically held in the Constitution, Bill of Rights.
Wo-Hoo and dang right is a popular opinion, expressed in the LTE and Guest Columnist pages.
With that in place, we would not have had a national space program to lament.
For me, a chanting of Space-X, we`re number one is just not the same.
June 27, 2012
11:47 a.m.
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clarklindsey#205273 writes:
By far, the greatest barrier to practical spaceflight is its high cost. Successful technologies usually start expensive and with limited capabilities but through competition, multiple cycles of improvements, and a survival of the fittest process, eventually become affordable and highly capable. The success of the Dragon shows that this process is finally starting to happen with human spaceflight systems.
A NASA study found that the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket had been developed at a cost 3 to 10 times less than if it had been developed in the standard NASA manner (i.e. NASA design built via cost-plus sub-contracts with paper-work & man-power heavy NASA oversight). The same would certainly be true of the Dragon, which has cost only a few hundred million dollars to develop. NASA will have spent at least $10B on the Orion spacecraft before it flies. The Orion's capabilities in no way justify 20x higher cost. The Dragon, e.g., is also capable of deep space missions.
The current Dragon is not the final answer. There are multiple competitors, including Boeing's capsule design and Sierra Nevada's lifting body, that are competing with it. Major upgrades are also planned for the Dragon such as powered landing on the ground rather than splashdowns. A fully reusable Falcon 9 is also in development.
The Dragon's flight to the ISS is tremendously exciting because it signals the start of an era of steadily decreasing space transport costs, which in turn means we are on course to become truly spacefaring.
June 27, 2012
1:12 p.m.
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Krebdj writes:
Please listen to Clark Lindsey. It pains me to see fellow space enthusiasts so confused about this at a time when we are finally on the verge of making real progress on this frontier for the first time in decades.
Make no mistake: the Shuttle was the real step backward. I know it looked "cool", but pause and think about this. We used to be able to go to the moon! Then, for thirty years, we were stuck in Low Earth Orbit (which is is much deeper in Earth's gravity well). In what sense was this a step forward? Think about the Shuttle's safety record. Look at the numbers for cost/pound to orbit. Again, it seems "cool" to land on a runway, but how does that matter compared to this incredible shrinking of capabilites? Remember, the Apollo program (which is actually something to be proud of) used ablative shielding, parachutes, and a water landing. SpaceX has returned to this because it *makes sense*. It is good engineering.
I think a lot of people are nervous because NASA's in house capabilities are at a long time low. However I think it is a mistake to equate America with the American government. Spacex is an American company that manufactures it's goods on our shores and does a better job for less money than the Russians or the Europeans. You have every reason to be prouder than ever.
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