78
votes
Accepted
How did the Lunar Module dock with the rest of Apollo 11 and what is the "CSM"?
The Apollo spacecraft consists of three major parts:
The Command Module (CM), a conical module where the three crew members live during launch from Earth and travel to and from the moon, and which re-...
- 160k
53
votes
What are these green text/line displays shown during the livestream of Crew Dragon's approach to dock with the ISS?
The display shown is from the screen of one of the Space Station Computer laptops in the US Lab. This was being downlinked to Mission Control in Houston to monitor the functioning of tools used by ...
- 4,497
44
votes
Accepted
Has in-space refueling been done?
Short answer: Space stations have been refueled on orbit, as well as some small demonstration missions.
Long answer:
There is only a limited number of objects that this is even an option. There are ...
- 118k
33
votes
Accepted
Reasons behind the "Transposition, docking and extraction" maneuver
Three factors come to mind from my reading over the years: Heat Shield integrity, Escape Tower limitations, and avoiding fuel over the CM on the pad.
Throughout this answer, keep in mind that the ...
- 11.5k
32
votes
Accepted
What would happen to the ISS if the Russians undocked their part?
The US Orbital Segment maintains ISS attitude, so tumbling is not an immediate problem. The need to desaturate the control moment gyros used to maintain attitude and the need to reboost the ISS to ...
- 63.2k
28
votes
Accepted
Why was Space Shuttle Atlantis selected for Mir docking so frequently?
Looking at old manifest documents, it seems pretty clear that Atlantis (OV-104) was outfitted with all the hardware for Shuttle-Mir missions and they used her exclusively for that until they couldn't ...
- 158k
27
votes
Accepted
Docking in space
There were issues with the docking system so it possibly it needed to be more complex. Docking is always a trade off of mechanism simplicity VS event simplicity. Just using pipe flange with bolt holes ...
- 17k
26
votes
Accepted
What exactly makes the "bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!" sound just before "Houston, we have hard dock." in the Apollo 13 movie?
Around the perimeter of the docking system are a set of 12 spring-loaded latches that lock the two spacecraft together. I believe the latches trip as the retractable probe pulls the two spacecraft ...
- 160k
21
votes
Accepted
What is the "ISS's Keep Out Sphere" and what is its radius?
NASA has made a list of requirements for spacecraft approaching the ISS.
SSP 50808 is an ITAR controlled document that identifies the requirements for rendezvous, proximity operations, and ...
- 121k
21
votes
Why use a Mars orbital Earth return vehicle for sample return?
Earth Orbit Rendezvous is a method for applying brute force. Mars Orbit Rendezvous actually improves efficiency, potentially by a lot.
A Mars sample return (or, for that matter, a straight-up crewed ...
- 7,746
20
votes
Accepted
Can X-37B dock with the ISS
Yes and no. The current X-37 as flown by the US Air Force is not equipped with any docking ports (PMA, CBM or APAS) as described by @geoffc, nor does it have an attachment for the SSRMS (aka Canadarm) ...
- 6,073
20
votes
Has a spacecraft ever docked with the same space station twice in one mission?
The first, experimental redocking was performed on Soyuz 29 (though by crew of Soyuz 31) with the Salyut 6 station.
Afterwards, the maneuver was repeated several times, usually between different ...
- 52.4k
20
votes
Accepted
How many spacecraft can dock at the ISS at once?
Short answer: 8
For great info on available ports, check out this question on ISS Docking ports.
I will link in the awesome picture from that question here.
The Russian segment has 4 docking ports....
- 76.4k
18
votes
Accepted
With six spacecraft currently docked at the ISS, how could Santa (or anyone else) deliver presents?
Considering how all the usual docking/berthing ports at the station are occupied, Santa would likely arrive in a Dragon Crew/V2 or a Boeing CST-100 vehicle. These are the next US vehicles that will be ...
- 76.4k
17
votes
What would happen to the ISS if the Russians undocked their part?
Spacecraft such as Cygnus has previously been used to boost the ISS and might be used again, although with some difficulty with finding an appropriate launch booster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
- 5,626
16
votes
Accepted
Does the ISS team plan cargo flights when at half crew on purpose?
While I don't have a complete answer I thought I'd share what I've found in the hope that someone can come up with something better.
I can find nothing online about exactly how and why the visiting ...
- 7,078
16
votes
Accepted
Did all of the Space Shuttles dock with multiple space stations or crewed spacecraft?
Columbia did not.
Despite being in service during the Shuttle-Mir and International Space Station programs, Columbia did not fly any missions that visited a space station. The other three active ...
- 160k
16
votes
Accepted
How are Kounotori modules unbolted? Who or what does the unbolting?
The bolts are part of the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM).
The Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) is a complex collection of
latches, bolts, Ready to Latch (RTL) indicators ... and computers to
control ...
- 158k
15
votes
Accepted
What is Crew Dragon approaching in this picture?
User DarkDust provided this explanation and video link:
As you can see in the video of the approach at about 08:00 this
structure is appearing. It's in the foreground, Dragon is moving
towards ...
- 158k
13
votes
Accepted
How were the Apollo 13 CM and LM able to undock without the engines of the SM?
According to this article:
The docking tunnel connecting the two ships was pressurized, though,
so the idea was to use that pressure as a kind of “air spring” to push
the two spaceships apart.
...
- 1,714
12
votes
Has in-space refueling been done?
The ISS is periodically refueled by its cargo supply ships.
NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission has experimented with refueling satellites.
DARPA's Orbital Express demonstrated hydrazine refueling (...
- 160k
12
votes
Reasons behind the "Transposition, docking and extraction" maneuver
Probably the biggest reason is they did not want to cut a hole through the heat shield, same reason the Soyuz has the ascent/descent element in the middle of the stack, instead of at the top.
But ...
- 76.4k
12
votes
Accepted
How many docking/berthing operations can a CBM port tolerate?
ESA has a doc about the design of the docking ports (IDS - Internation Docking Standard, sometimes also called NDS NASA Docking System, sometimes called LIDS - Low Impact Docking System. Though ...
- 76.4k
12
votes
Accepted
How many times has a spacecraft docked with two or more different space stations during a single mission?
When USSR were in the final stages of putting Mir in to orbit, Salyut 7 was still in orbit containing many devices and equipment that the USSR wanted on Mir.
So on 13th March 1986 the Soyuz T-15 ...
- 326
12
votes
Who performs the docking procedure?
While the LM pilot flew the rendezvous and approach, the command module pilot took over once the craft were a few meters apart and flew the actual docking maneuver while the LM held a fixed attitude. ...
- 160k
12
votes
Accepted
What are these giant NASA boxes?
Fig. 35 View showing active EFBM
The "JPM/C2-09" marker is a dead giveaway: Its Kibo! JPM here means "JEM Pressurized Module" (with JEM being Japanese Experiment Module, the original name of Kibo).
...
- 6,760
12
votes
Why use a Mars orbital Earth return vehicle for sample return?
In this question I suggested, that, on the face of it, the SS520-5 sounding rocket could get about 5kg from the surface of Mars onto a trajectory to hit Earth. That rocket (a three stage solid fuel ...
- 18.9k
11
votes
Accepted
Can a Boeing CST-100 be used to provide station reboost?
The answer is yes, it can used to re-boost the ISS.
According to the information in spaceflightinsider.com and in rocket.com Aerojet Rockedyne site in the RCS engines paragraph, in a declaration of ...
- 2,109
11
votes
Accepted
Are space stations compatible?
The International Space Station's PMA docking adapters and Tiangong-1 both use passive APAS-95 docking adapters for spaceship operations; the ISS additionally uses CBM connectors for connecting ...
- 11.5k
11
votes
Accepted
What module(s) on the ISS do the Soyuz dock to?
Given the International Space Station's modular design, it appears spacecraft such as Soyuz and resupply freighters such as Progress can attach to many different modules.
This NASA diagram from 2008 ...
- 716
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible