Live View of Dragon Spacecraft

The Dragon spacecraft is now just about 3,000 meters away from the International Space Station, and it's preparing to enter an orbital nighttime. The station is approximately 266 statute miles above the earth, just south of Australia. As the station approaches this altitude, the views will get a little bit darker.

From this perspective, we can see the forward view of the Dragon spacecraft, with its nose cone no longer covering the docking port. Instead, we're looking right at the end of the nose of the dragon, near where the nose cone used to be. This is also the location of the docking port for the Dragon spacecraft. Right now, we're getting a view back at the International Space Station, which appears as a large structure in the background.

The crew would see this exact view if they were inside the Dragon spacecraft and looking out the commander's seat. There's an overlay on top of the centerline camera that shows the docking port and the position of the dragon relative to it. If the dragon tilts away from its target, the tracker will stay engaged with the docking port.

Currently, we're getting this feed from a different camera, which is slightly off-center. However, it still simulates what an astronaut would see in the commander's seat. We can see the Draco thrusters firing, and their exhaust gases are spewing away from the dragon. The contrast is a bit off due to the brightness of the scene, but we can still see the thrusters firing.

The Dragon spacecraft is a totally autonomous vehicle that station-keeping itself without any input from the crew. It's holding its position with precision, thanks to its advanced flight computer systems and the six arms attached to it by Springs. These arms will help dampen any relative velocity differences between the dragon and the space station once contact is made.

From this forward media cam at the top of the Dragon 2 module, we can see the dragon in all its glory as it approaches the International Space Station. Normally, when we're getting views from the dragon for this webcast, you'd be seeing a camera that's not quite on the centerline, so it may appear like we're heading directly towards the docking adapter but with a slight angle.

However, if we're lucky enough to get some views from the centerline camera in the very center of the hatch, we can see the dragon 2 spacecraft in full light. The soft capture ring is deployed and visible above the hatch by six hexapod arms that are attached to the dragon by Springs. These pedals are now starting to make contact with the IDA, marking an important step towards docking.

As the Dragon spacecraft makes contact with the International Space Station, we'll see the latching poles engage and hold onto each other. The contact pins will then depress, signaling a successful soft capture operation. Crew hands-off is currently at point two meters away from the dragon, as it's fully autonomous now. We can hear the cheers behind this at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

The dragon spacecraft remains still for a moment before any further motion. The card caps are complete, and we've confirmed a successful soft capture of the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. As we continue to monitor the dragon's movements, it's clear that it's doing everything on its own, thanks to its advanced systems and precise engineering.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enten nine eight seven six five four three two one here ignition liftoff the infamous pitching down take one throttle bucket power and telemetry Nomo for those of you just joining us you are watching a live view of the Falcon 9 rocket as it ascends through the atmosphere carrying the SpaceX Dragon 2 capsule to vehicle is different the vehicle just passed through max Q which is the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure on the vehicle as you can hear in the background the excitement of SpaceX headquarters is unbelievable here coming up at t plus 2 minutes and 35 seconds is going to be event so quick succession the first one is going to be the main engine cutoff or miko that's when the nine merlin 1d engines that you can see on your screen right now will cut off shortly before a stage separation at 2 minutes and 38 seconds shortly after that the merlin vacuum engine on the bottom of the second stage of the Falcon 9 will ignite and what we call a second engine start or SES that'll be at 2 minutes and 46 seconds so stand by for main engine cutoff stage separation and second engine start coming up in just about 20 seconds from now as you can hear from the cheering here at SpaceX headquarters we did have a successful main engine cut off the stage separation and as you can see on the right hand side of your screen that second second stage engine is currently started and accelerating dragon towards orbit on the left-hand side of your screen that is a view from this first stage as it makes its way back down towards the Earth Stage one that typically stage one entry barn has started so a little back-to-back action now as you see stage one coming back down towards Earth stage two still making its way up into outer space dragon still nestled on top getting ready stage one every bird but then there's the end of that stage one okay so stage one is gonna continue to coast its way down using those grid fins for how to do control and steering in Baxter I'll leave now for Seco Paige waters dream they've had a successful shutdown in back at the start of that burn stage one is made traveling at 275 meters per second that single-engine burn is gonna bring that from 275 to 0 we did just hear that stage by Mandy burn has started all right let's see if we get it kick about 500 kilometers away from where it launched from the vehicle will now undergo it's safe and procedures and the recovery team we make sure it's strapped down so there's still a lot more to go here we have dragon separation coming up let's go back to Tom for Dario to cover that next big milestone Wow what a landing coming up very shortly in just about 20 seconds hear how the Dragon spacecraft is going to be separating from the top of the Falcon 9 rocket separation should be occurring around 11 minutes and 5 seconds just about now let's wait for comfort racket separation confirmed and there it is you're looking at a view from the top of the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket and hard to make out in the shadow of the earth but that is the dragon 2 spacecraft flying in space for the first time after a successful separation you are looking at a live view of the Dragon spacecraft as it approaches the International Space Station for a planned docking in just under two and a half hours from now that light you can see your screen is indeed the Dragon 2 spacecraft from a view on the International Space Station this is Mission Control Houston you are getting a live view of the Dragon spacecraft now just about 3,000 meters away from the International Space Station at this time the International Space Station about to enter into an orbital nighttime 266 statute miles above the earth just south of Australia again about to enter an orbital nighttime you'll see the views get a little bit darker and so this is our first view from the camera on Dragon so this is a forward view so right on the end of the nose well right where the nose cone used to be no longer covering it but right by the docking port for the Dragon spacecraft so that's actually view back at the International Space Station right here you can see the over the overlay that the crew would be seeing if they were inside dragon right now there is a little green dot in the very center that's currently tracking the docking port and if dragon tilts away from it should stay tracked but right now since we're getting us on the ground it's this this would normally be overlaid over the centreline camera right now we're getting this feed from a different camera it's a little bit off-center so it's not going to be exactly on all the time but it will simulate what a dragon astronaut would be seeing if they were in the commander's seat on those touchscreen displays on your screen you can you can see the the Draco thrusters firing of that dragon right now it's a little bright the contrast is a little off but you can see the every time one of those Draco thrusters fires you can see it's exhaust gases spewing away from the dragon it's a great view right there it is it's great to get some views from the station side of Dragon yeah and hopefully once it gets in close we'll get some views those cameras were right on the end of the docking adapter but it's it's always cool to see the thrusters fire in space - look at him go I'm under that dragon is a totally autonomous vehicle it's station-keeping it's holding its position all by itself right now those are all the dragon flight computers making my new adjustments whenever it feels it needs to to stay pointed and in the right position you can start to see the space station in great detail here again this is from a view of the forward media cam at the top of the Dragon 2 module just to reiterate this camera is not directly on the centerline of the docking axis oh this is a fantastic view of dragon in the sunlight from the International Space Station so normally when we're getting views from the dragon for this webcast you're going to be seeing a camera that's not quite on the centerline so it's a little bit off and it may not look like we're heading directly towards the docking adapter but if we're lucky enough we might get some views from the centerline camera in the very center of hatch from the space station and you can see us kind of headed on right in right now this is an unbelievable view from a space station you can see dragon 2 in full light with its nose cone open it's soft capture ring deployed you can actually start to see those three pedals that I was talking about earlier on that ring 120 degrees apart that ring is extended above the hatch by six hexapod arms that are all attached to dragon by Springs so that that will be the first part of Dragon to make contact with the ISS and when it does those Springs will compress and absorb and dampen any of the relative velocity differences between the space station and Dragon so the light you're seeing is both light from the International Space Station pointed at dragon and then the docking light which is the bright spot in the center of dragon's hatch you can see right now on the right-hand side you can start to see the mechanisms of the SpaceX docking system aboard the dragon the very first part of dragon that will make contact with the ISS is that soft capture ring you can see it's extended forward from the hatch of the Dragon right now as soon as those pedals make contact latching poles will engage and hold the pedals against the opposite ones on the ID a and contact pins will depress and we should hear the call out for soft capture achieved or as off point copy alright so we're at that crew hands off point that means for about two meters away crew no longer sending commands every dragon doing everything on its own caPSURE come from she cookers you can hear the cheers behind this at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne California we have confirmation of a soft capture of the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station you can see in your view the Dragons still moving around a little bit that's the soft capture ring is attached to dragon by way of six arms that are all attached to Springs that help dampen the motion their difference in the relative velocities between the dragon and the space data and your problems and one we can confirm hard capture is complete card caps are completeten nine eight seven six five four three two one here ignition liftoff the infamous pitching down take one throttle bucket power and telemetry Nomo for those of you just joining us you are watching a live view of the Falcon 9 rocket as it ascends through the atmosphere carrying the SpaceX Dragon 2 capsule to vehicle is different the vehicle just passed through max Q which is the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure on the vehicle as you can hear in the background the excitement of SpaceX headquarters is unbelievable here coming up at t plus 2 minutes and 35 seconds is going to be event so quick succession the first one is going to be the main engine cutoff or miko that's when the nine merlin 1d engines that you can see on your screen right now will cut off shortly before a stage separation at 2 minutes and 38 seconds shortly after that the merlin vacuum engine on the bottom of the second stage of the Falcon 9 will ignite and what we call a second engine start or SES that'll be at 2 minutes and 46 seconds so stand by for main engine cutoff stage separation and second engine start coming up in just about 20 seconds from now as you can hear from the cheering here at SpaceX headquarters we did have a successful main engine cut off the stage separation and as you can see on the right hand side of your screen that second second stage engine is currently started and accelerating dragon towards orbit on the left-hand side of your screen that is a view from this first stage as it makes its way back down towards the Earth Stage one that typically stage one entry barn has started so a little back-to-back action now as you see stage one coming back down towards Earth stage two still making its way up into outer space dragon still nestled on top getting ready stage one every bird but then there's the end of that stage one okay so stage one is gonna continue to coast its way down using those grid fins for how to do control and steering in Baxter I'll leave now for Seco Paige waters dream they've had a successful shutdown in back at the start of that burn stage one is made traveling at 275 meters per second that single-engine burn is gonna bring that from 275 to 0 we did just hear that stage by Mandy burn has started all right let's see if we get it kick about 500 kilometers away from where it launched from the vehicle will now undergo it's safe and procedures and the recovery team we make sure it's strapped down so there's still a lot more to go here we have dragon separation coming up let's go back to Tom for Dario to cover that next big milestone Wow what a landing coming up very shortly in just about 20 seconds hear how the Dragon spacecraft is going to be separating from the top of the Falcon 9 rocket separation should be occurring around 11 minutes and 5 seconds just about now let's wait for comfort racket separation confirmed and there it is you're looking at a view from the top of the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket and hard to make out in the shadow of the earth but that is the dragon 2 spacecraft flying in space for the first time after a successful separation you are looking at a live view of the Dragon spacecraft as it approaches the International Space Station for a planned docking in just under two and a half hours from now that light you can see your screen is indeed the Dragon 2 spacecraft from a view on the International Space Station this is Mission Control Houston you are getting a live view of the Dragon spacecraft now just about 3,000 meters away from the International Space Station at this time the International Space Station about to enter into an orbital nighttime 266 statute miles above the earth just south of Australia again about to enter an orbital nighttime you'll see the views get a little bit darker and so this is our first view from the camera on Dragon so this is a forward view so right on the end of the nose well right where the nose cone used to be no longer covering it but right by the docking port for the Dragon spacecraft so that's actually view back at the International Space Station right here you can see the over the overlay that the crew would be seeing if they were inside dragon right now there is a little green dot in the very center that's currently tracking the docking port and if dragon tilts away from it should stay tracked but right now since we're getting us on the ground it's this this would normally be overlaid over the centreline camera right now we're getting this feed from a different camera it's a little bit off-center so it's not going to be exactly on all the time but it will simulate what a dragon astronaut would be seeing if they were in the commander's seat on those touchscreen displays on your screen you can you can see the the Draco thrusters firing of that dragon right now it's a little bright the contrast is a little off but you can see the every time one of those Draco thrusters fires you can see it's exhaust gases spewing away from the dragon it's a great view right there it is it's great to get some views from the station side of Dragon yeah and hopefully once it gets in close we'll get some views those cameras were right on the end of the docking adapter but it's it's always cool to see the thrusters fire in space - look at him go I'm under that dragon is a totally autonomous vehicle it's station-keeping it's holding its position all by itself right now those are all the dragon flight computers making my new adjustments whenever it feels it needs to to stay pointed and in the right position you can start to see the space station in great detail here again this is from a view of the forward media cam at the top of the Dragon 2 module just to reiterate this camera is not directly on the centerline of the docking axis oh this is a fantastic view of dragon in the sunlight from the International Space Station so normally when we're getting views from the dragon for this webcast you're going to be seeing a camera that's not quite on the centerline so it's a little bit off and it may not look like we're heading directly towards the docking adapter but if we're lucky enough we might get some views from the centerline camera in the very center of hatch from the space station and you can see us kind of headed on right in right now this is an unbelievable view from a space station you can see dragon 2 in full light with its nose cone open it's soft capture ring deployed you can actually start to see those three pedals that I was talking about earlier on that ring 120 degrees apart that ring is extended above the hatch by six hexapod arms that are all attached to dragon by Springs so that that will be the first part of Dragon to make contact with the ISS and when it does those Springs will compress and absorb and dampen any of the relative velocity differences between the space station and Dragon so the light you're seeing is both light from the International Space Station pointed at dragon and then the docking light which is the bright spot in the center of dragon's hatch you can see right now on the right-hand side you can start to see the mechanisms of the SpaceX docking system aboard the dragon the very first part of dragon that will make contact with the ISS is that soft capture ring you can see it's extended forward from the hatch of the Dragon right now as soon as those pedals make contact latching poles will engage and hold the pedals against the opposite ones on the ID a and contact pins will depress and we should hear the call out for soft capture achieved or as off point copy alright so we're at that crew hands off point that means for about two meters away crew no longer sending commands every dragon doing everything on its own caPSURE come from she cookers you can hear the cheers behind this at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne California we have confirmation of a soft capture of the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station you can see in your view the Dragons still moving around a little bit that's the soft capture ring is attached to dragon by way of six arms that are all attached to Springs that help dampen the motion their difference in the relative velocities between the dragon and the space data and your problems and one we can confirm hard capture is complete card caps are complete\n"