That's some sci-fi sh*t right there

03/01/13 23:32:00    

By Michael Mealling

Earlier today Elon Musk had this to say on Twitter:

Pods 1 and 4 now online and thrusters engaged. Dragon transitioned from free drift to active control. Yes!!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2013

Thruster pods one through four are now operating nominally. Preparing to raise orbit. All systems green.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2013

This was after a very hard day that started off very well. The Falcon 9 put Dragon into its intended orbit perfectly but almost immediately three of the four thrust pods failed to initialize:

Issue with Dragon thruster pods. System inhibiting three of four from initializing. About to command inhibit override.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2013

What followed was an intense several hours. If the pods didn't initialize then not only would Dragon not be able to reach the station it wouldn't be able to circularize its orbit and would re-enter within a couple of days. Hopefully it could have enough control authority to re-enter normally. But Elon's statements about Dragon being in free drift suggests it wouldn't, losing not only the vehicle but its cargo.

But the SpaceX team pulled it out (apparently with the help of the Air Force's comms system). And that's some sci-fi shit right there.