S8 Ep256: RISKING IT ALL TO DOCK DRAGON WITH THE ISS Colleague Eric Berger. To fund its Mars ambitions, SpaceX needed NASA contracts to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) using the Dragon spacecraft. Unlike traditional capsules, Dragon integrate

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 29 December 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

RISKING IT ALL TO DOCK DRAGON WITH THE ISS Colleague Eric Berger. To fund its Mars ambitions, SpaceX needed NASA contracts to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) using the Dragon spacecraft. Unlike traditional capsules, Dragon integrated propulsion directly into the vehicle to support future reusability. Behind schedule, SpaceX combined two test missions (C2 and C3) into one high-stakes attempt. During the approach, the spacecraft's LIDAR navigation system faltered, forcing NASA flight director Holly Ridings to make a "brave call": she allowed SpaceX to rewrite software on the fly, defying standard mission rules to achieve a successful docking. NUMBER 3
MAY 1953

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0:30.9	This is CBS. Eye of the World. I'm John Batchler. With Eric Berger, the author of the new book
0:37.2	re-entry, SpaceX, Elon Musk,
0:39.5	and the reusable rockets that launched a second space age.
0:42.8	Not a reusable rocket yet.
0:44.7	Soon, soon.
0:46.1	However, what it needs SpaceX is a source of income to fund all of these madcap adventures to get to Mars to live there.
0:55.0	Now, no one lives plushly for SpaceX.
0:58.8	Eric goes through a long list of people who give up a great deal of their young lives.
1:04.9	I think the average age at this point of the SpaceX employees is at 26.
1:10.5	Yeah.
1:10.7	And when they say party, that means they go to bed a little inebriated and wake up a little
1:16.6	hungover and go back to work for 40 or 80 hours that day.
1:20.7	And yet they need a source of income to maintain the California headquarters mcgregor test site
1:29.0	and the ability to move back and forth with boosters
1:32.5	along comes as a s to say
1:34.7	perhaps you can build a space
1:37.5	space craft to go to and from the i s
	...

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