Of course, there are several videos of the events. The press briefing before the unberthing:

The unberthing itself. Watch closely at the 5:40 mark and you can see the Draco thrusters fire in the first departure burn. It is just a small bright spot in the thruster bell.

The descent and splashdown video is fairly poor, but I still think it is interesting:

And last, but not least, a press briefing to wrap everything up:

While these unmanned cargo flights are certainly a major achievement, the next big step for Dragon is manned flight. SpaceX is working on the systems necessary to enable the Dragon to conduct manned flights, with an eye toward NASA’s Commercial Crew effort. With this successful flight Dragon is certainly the odds on favorite to be selected to carry crew to the ISS. But SpaceX isn’t the only company working on manned orbital vehicles.

Boeing is working on their CST-100, a manned capsule similar in concept to Dragon. The CST-100 is being designed for operations to the ISS, as well as the commercial stations planned by Bigelow Aerospace. They’ve been conducting drop tests of a boilerplate capsule (which means it is just representative of the shape and weight distribution, and is not the actual capsule design) to verify the parachute and airbag landing system:

Also in the hunt is Sierra Nevada Corporation with their Dream Chaser lifting body. The Dream Chaser looks more like a vehicle of the future than the capsule designs, something more appropriate for Buck Rogers or John Crichton. The basic shape is similar to NASA’s HL-20 concept from the 90s, and reaches back to the lifting body research programs of the 60s and 70s such as the HL-10, M2, and X-24. I have to say I’d really love to see the Dream Chaser become operational, if only because it looks like the future. SNC has been conducting captive carry tests of a test article in preparation for drop testing:

The vehicle builders aren’t the only ones working on future systems, NASA is preparing as well. The giant Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), constructed for the Saturn V program and used for the Shuttle, is being thoroughly modernized to be ready for the next generation of rockets. Not only is it being redesigned to handle NASA’s own planned Space Launch System, but commercial rockets and spacecraft as well:

To wrap it all up, a recent episode of This Week At NASA included segments on SpaceX Dragon, Orbital Sciences Corporations Cygnus capsule (a competitor to Dragon for commercial cargo delivery to ISS, but not intended for crew), the Boeing CST-100, SNC Dream Chaser, NASA Space Launch System, and more:

NASA TV shared videos of the opening and initial entry, as well as a Q&A event with the astronauts inside the Dragon:

Note that I said berthing and not docking – they’re different. The Space Shuttle docked with the ISS. The Soyuz, Progress, and ATV (European Automated Transfer Vehicle) dock with the ISS. The HTV (Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle) and Dragon berth. Docking is done under the craft’s own power and control. The craft flies toward a docking port on the ISS and moves into contact on its own. Berthing is handled by the station’s remote arm. The craft flies in toward the port, but stops about ten meters away and flies in formation with the ISS. The station’s arm reaches out and grapples the craft, and then draws it in to meet the docking, or berthing in this case, port.

Berthing is simpler than docking, but that’s all relative – neither is particularly simple. But berthing does require less from the approaching craft, and it is easier to get certified for berthing than for docking. The Dragon may dock on its own in the future, but it will evolve there. Certainly the plans to fly to Bigelow Aerospace’s planned private space station call for docking, as the station will not have an arm like the ISS. But docking is ‘good enough’ for the current mission, and autonomous docking is something that can be added to Dragon later.

NASA TV has a video of the approach, grapple, and berthing:

For some reason they slightly edited the version posted to YouTube and cut out the CapCom from the ISS including the “got a Dragon by the tail” like, which I thought was the best line in the video.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden called the ISS to congratulate them on the successful berthing:

There was a post-berthing briefing as well, which covers a bit of what comes next:

Yesterday, as part of the tests to gain clearance for the berthing, Dragon flew below the ISS. This video shows the fly-under:

There was also a briefing last night for the truly interested:

I love the celebration at the end of the video once Dragon is in orbit and the solar panels have deployed. And an interesting contrast when they cut over to NASA’s ISS control room – a slightly different wardrobe for one.

Now the testing begins, hopefully culminating in a successful berthing at the ISS and a good re-entry.

EDIT: SpaceX posted the full hour long webcast from the launch:

In short, the flight computer aborted the launch at T?00:00:00.5. One half second before launch. It did so because it detected an abnormally high combustion chamber pressure on engine number five. And SpaceX has already diagnosed the problem – as they announced via Twitter:

Inspections found a faulty check valve on engine #5. We are replacing tonight. Next attempt Tuesday, 5/22 at 3:44 AM ET

As soon as the launch was aborted some critics started commenting on how this was a failure, and even that it shows commercial services aren’t able to supply the ISS, etc. Sure, this was a launch failure – the Falcon 9 didn’t launch, QED. But the rocket is intact and as SpaceX said they’ll be trying to launch again in a couple of days. It demonstrates that the design is sound in that it not only works when everything goes as planned – which is frankly the easy part – but it also handles anomalies.

The computer was able to detect the out-of-spec condition in the moments before launch and safely abort rather than launch and risk a catastrophic failure in flight. SpaceX’s hold-down launch system worked as designed and the rocket never moved an inch. The Falcon 9 was safed successfully, without any damage and is ready to fly again during the next launch window. That’s remarkable when compared to legacy systems. SpaceX designed multiple levels of safety and redundancy into not only the vehicle hardware and software itself, but also the policies and procedures. They’re doing it right.

Critics are quick to pounce on the ‘failure’, but how many failures have the legacy players had in their systems – including catastrophic failures? This is rocket science. It isn’t easy. While I was disappointed that the launch was aborted, it really shows the robustness of the system. And that’s a good thing, in the big picture.

So while it was a failure in the specific launch abort, it was a success in demonstrating the strength of the system overall. No one should expect SpaceX to get it right the first time, every time. There will be a learning curve. But things like this show that they’ve certainly done a lot to improve their odds.

I’m looking forward to the next attempt.

Also related to the SLS, the last of the 15 remaining RS-25D flight engines, formerly known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), has been delivered to storage at Stennis. The plan is to use up the existing RS-25D engines on the expendable core stage of the new SLS before switching over to new-build, cheaper RS-25E engines designed to be expendable. The RS-25D has a number of features required in their role as reusable engines on the space shuttle which just aren’t necessary for an expendable engine. But the existing engines still have life left, so they’ll go out in a blaze of glory on one last mission on the SLS.

In more immediate news, the SpaceX COTS 2+ Mission, aka Falcon 9 Flight 3, which has been rescheduled a few times is now set to launch this morning, Saturday, May 19, at 04:55ET. This will be the first launch of a commercial spacecraft, the Dragon capsule, to the International Space Station. A truly historic event – and they have a live webcast on YouTube! It is set to start at 04:15ET – you can join now, there is a timer counting down to the start of the webcast:

You can also watch on NASA TV:

Live video for mobile from Ustream

And for something different, the recent Lyrid meteor shower as filmed from the ISS:

There isn’t a lot to see in the video, the test firing only lasts for two seconds before the planned abort. I still think it is fun to watch, and it shows just how sparse SpaceX’s pad infrastructure is. When they start manned flights of the Dragon I suppose they’ll need a more traditional service tower for crew access.

I’m excited for the mission, while at the same time trying to temper that with the knowledge that it is very much a test flight and there is a good chance it won’t go off as planned. But if anything does go wrong SpaceX is committed to learning from the mission and trying again, just as they did with the first few Falcon 1 flights which, while failing as a larger mission, we successful as instructive test flights, leading to eventual success. And ultimately to the successful flight of the Falcon 9 and Dragon.

Good luck and godspeed, SpaceX!