In this month's Oddities in the News Page:
Fisherman makes a unique catch
IN THE ODDITIES ARCHIVES
Dr. Helen Sharman
Banana Art
Twinkie
What’s really in Loch Ness
Shark Tooth DNA
Military Admits to UFOs
PONCE INLET, Fla. – About two weeks after SpaceX intentionally blew up a rocket over the Atlantic Ocean to test its astronaut spacecraft’s emergency abort system, a Florida fisherman reeled in an unusual catch: two red parachutes and a white hatch door.
Dave Stokes said he saw the white hatch bobbing in the Atlantic Ocean 32 miles off the Daytona Beach coast last week while he was out fishing with some friends. When they pulled it onboard, they saw it had the word “Dragon” on it and an emblem on the front.
“I saw the Dragon on the door and I figured it was a door part of the Dragon capsule,” Stokes said.
The hatch wasn’t the only thing they found. Stokes and his friends pulled up two parachutes found floating near the hatch. Video by Stokes shows the anglers pulling the red chutes up inch-by-inch.
A project manager at Pioneer Aerospace, the Connecticut company that made the drogue parachutes for SpaceX, confirmed to News 6 that they were used during the recent in-flight abort test.
On Jan. 19, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 with the Crew Dragon capsule from Kennedy Space Center. About two minutes after liftoff, the spacecraft triggered an abort and separated from the rocket, proving its ability to keep astronauts safe in the event of a Falcon 9 rocket launch failure.
Aided by white-and-red-colored parachutes, the Crew Dragon splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean about 10 minutes after launch in the same place crews were standing by to retrieve the capsule.
After their find, the couple tweeted SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and called and left a message on the SpaceX debris hotline. They have not heard back.
“I’d like for SpaceX to come check it out to see what they think about it,” Stokes said. “It would also be awesome to have Elon Musk autograph it.”
Stokes said he thinks he could see a future in space debris recovery, joking his experience on the open water could help.
“I could probably find debris pretty good if they had a close place of where it went down,” Stokes said.
The day Stokes and his friends reeled in this unusual find they also managed to catch some fish, too.
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About SpaceX
SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.
SpaceX has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones. It is the only private company capable of returning a spacecraft from low Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in 2010. The company made history again in 2012 when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station.
SpaceX successfully achieved the historic first reflight of an orbital class rocket in 2017, and the company now regularly launches flight-proven rockets. In 2018, SpaceX began launching Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful operational rocket by a factor of two.
As one of the world’s fastest growing providers of launch services, SpaceX has secured over 100 missions to its manifest, representing over $12 billion on contract. These include commercial satellite launches as well as US government missions. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is flying numerous cargo resupply missions to the space station under a series of Commercial Resupply Services contracts. Dragon was designed from the outset to carry humans to space and will soon fly astronauts under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Building on the achievements of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, SpaceX is working on a next generation of fully reusable launch vehicles that will be the most powerful ever built, capable of carrying humans to Mars and other destinations in the solar system.
The Dragon
Dragon is a free-flying spacecraft designed to deliver both cargo and people to orbiting destinations. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. Currently Dragon carries cargo to space, but it was designed from the beginning to carry humans.
The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. The pressurized section of the capsule is designed to carry both people and environmentally sensitive cargo. Towards the base of the capsule and contained within the nose cone are the Draco thrusters, which allow for orbital maneuvering.
Dragon’s trunk not only carries unpressurized cargo but also supports the spacecraft during ascent. The trunk remains attached to Dragon until shortly before reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Go to their website HERE