During launch, once an astronaut is installed in a seat, do they get to
test pressurization of launch-entry suite ? Or is that done during the
donning of suits at KSC before the trip to the rocket?

I take it in such a capsule, egress during catastrophe is never
contemplated since the capsule has the launch escape system so NASA
agreed to allow a system where astronauts remained strapped in even
during catastrophe?

BTW, NASA now allows manned Dragon to be reused 5 times.

Endeavour did 25 flights, Atlantis 33 and Discovery 39. ( Columbia and
Challenger had incimplete lifes, so not mentioning their stats).

Is it conceivable that a single Falcon9 would exceed those stats? Would
be interesting to see Dragon also exceed it, which would make
Falcon9/Dragon more re-usable than Shuttle.

With a quizzical look, JF Mezei observed:
> During launch, once an astronaut is installed in a seat, do they get to
> test pressurization of launch-entry suite ? Or is that done during the
> donning of suits at KSC before the trip to the rocket?

Both, probably. Pilot Josh, after hatch closure, failed a leak test,
and the close-out crew re-opened the hatch and checked his umbilical
and zippers. The hatch was re-closed (and then had it's test repeated
after removing a hair in the seal).

> I take it in such a capsule, egress during catastrophe is never
> contemplated since the capsule has the launch escape system so NASA
> agreed to allow a system where astronauts remained strapped in even
> during catastrophe?
>
> BTW, NASA now allows manned Dragon to be reused 5 times.
>
>
> Endeavour did 25 flights, Atlantis 33 and Discovery 39. ( Columbia and
> Challenger had incimplete lifes, so not mentioning their stats).

(Columbia made 28 flights, but I'm not sure it would have done 33; it's
last flight did hasten the end of the program, but the program would
have ended in the same decade any way, probably).

> Is it conceivable that a single Falcon9 would exceed those stats?

Fleet leader is at 14, and already scheduled for another flight. Also,
refurbishment time has improved, so I'd say 39 is reachable. But once
Starship is carrying commercial cargo, the F9 fleet will be reduced,
the last flights being Dragon and dedicated cargo.

> Would
> be interesting to see Dragon also exceed it, which would make
> Falcon9/Dragon more re-usable than Shuttle.

It's a long way between 5 and 39. And Starship will eventually be
crewed, and each of the commercial space stations has its own flock of
vessels. But we'll see what happens in a couple of years.

/dps

--
Killing a mouse was hardly a Nobel Prize-worthy exercise, and Lawrence
went apopleptic when he learned a lousy rodent had peed away all his
precious heavy water.
_The Disappearing Spoon_, Sam Kean

"JF Mezei" wrote in message news:aDf%K.738835$BKL8.529493@fx15.iad...
>BTW, NASA now allows manned Dragon to be reused 5 times.
>
>
>Endeavour did 25 flights, Atlantis 33 and Discovery 39. ( Columbia and
>Challenger had incimplete lifes, so not mentioning their stats).
>
>Is it conceivable that a single Falcon9 would exceed those stats? Would
>be interesting to see Dragon also exceed it, which would make
>Falcon9/Dragon more re-usable than Shuttle.

I could see a Falcon 9 beating those numbers, but I don't see a Dragon doing
it.
There's just not that many flights planned at this time. I suspect Starship
will be flying before then or a newer Dragon will be flying.

Consider the most active Crew Dragon right now, C206 is Endeavour at 3, and
C208 has done 3 cargo flights (I know in theory they were planning on
converting once flow Crew Dragons to Cargo, but I think once they got
approval for re-use have never done that).

There are 14 more Crew Dragon flights planned (including Axiom and Polaris)
at this time.

There are 9 more Cargo Dragon flights currently planned.
That's 23 total flights currently planned.

So even if somehow Endeavour flew every single one, you wouldn't exceed 26.
And since they have to do crew rotation, at BEST, Endeavour could only do 7
of those flights) and none of the cargo, at best it'll hit 10.

I suspect we'll see 6-7 out of C206, C207, C210, and C212 and perhaps one
more.

--
Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/
CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net
IT Disaster Response -
https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Response-Lessons-Learned-Field/dp/1484221834/