- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- spacex
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- spacex
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NASA director shows up at the last shuttle pilot’s home…
“We need you back, Doug…”
He retired only a couple years ago (after flying the Crew Dragon DEMO-2 mission), so he might be up for it! To continue this jocular train of thought a bit further, which shuttle would they refurbish? Atlantis, Discovery, or Endeavor?
Atlantis obvously, it was the last shuttle to service the Hubble, and at that point it was the only one with enough oxygen for a longer stay.
I think the person who funded inspiration 2 was working with NASA to see if they could do a Hubble boost operation with a dragon spacecraft and a special adapter. I wonder if that’s gone anywhere.
They touch on that at near the end of the article, but there aren’t really any updates:
Last year, SpaceX and NASA announced a feasibility study to determine whether it might be possible for a Dragon spacecraft to link up with Hubble and reboost the observatory, extending its orbital lifetime. This six-month study, which was concluded earlier this year, was also expected to look at ways for astronauts on the Dragon capsule to potentially service Hubble. If a servicing mission is deemed possible, swapping out gyros would surely be at the top of NASA’s priority list.
NASA and SpaceX have not released the results of the feasibility study.
I think they’re planning on testing Dragon EVA capabilities on the Polaris Dawn mission early next year. If that goes well, Polaris 2 could be the Hubble servicing mission. Polaris 3 is slated to be the first crewed flight of Starship.