Apple Safari On iPad Tries To Connect To Internet On SpaceX Dragon 2 In Error

Space launch services provider Infinite Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) are currently working together to bring the former's Dragon 2 Attempt safely back to Earth as part of the Demo-ii (DM-2) mission that intends to evaluate the spacecraft'south capabilities to run across NASA criteria for safely delivering and returning astronauts from the International Infinite Station (ISS).

After astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley undocked from the ISS earlier today, the pair were guided by mission control in Houston, Texas and Hawthorne, California to update their timelines for the various steps required for bringing the spacecraft back to Earth. During this guidance, an Apple iPad that was helping the astronauts in managing their timelines malfunctioned and tried to connect to the internet every bit the pair were heading back.

SpaceX Dragon ii Try Astronaut Robert Behken'due south iPad Malfunctions Slightly During Timeline Revision

Roughly an hr and a half subsequently the two astronauts successfully undocked from the ISS and commenced their journey back to Earth, astronaut Behnken was asked by SpaceX's Crew Operations and Resource Engineer (Core) Anna Menon to update his timeline for the remaining mission. This requirement was a part of requests that the engineer made to the crew, which included request them to provide details near their food and h2o consumption and post-meal movement part of their evening repast report and inform SpaceX well-nigh their slumber preferences.

Every bit part of making updates to the schedule for Solar day one, the coiffure was asked to add together thirty minutes to six events that were part of their schedule and to shift their fluid intake schedule ahead by fifteen minutes. Following the request for an update for meal and water consumption, the astronauts provided basis command with the information.

NASA astronaut Robert Behnken using his iPad subsequently the timeline mistake today. (Epitome Credit: NASA)

Immediately later on, Behnken started to written report an issue with a slice of equipment, merely ground control in Hawthorne lost contact with the Dragon 2 spacecraft for a brief catamenia of time, during which the engineer looked nervously to her left and to the main screens in her control room as the connection was re-established. One time this took place, the astronaut

Yes the timeline application on my tablet...umm..gives me a...error message that says 'Safari cannot open the folio' and then its got a HTML address...'because your iPad is not continued to the Internet'

Once it became clear that the problem was minor, Ms. Menon requested astronaut Behnken to ostend that the airplane mode on his iPad was on and WiFi was off – to which he practical to in the affirmative. He then broadcasted an image of the problem to mission control, and the team on the ground got a good await at the error.

At this time information technology's unclear whether the awarding running on the iPad was developed past Apple or by SpaceX or another developer. Given SpaceX'due south penchant for keeping things in-house, it'south likely that the awarding was developed internally. Providing more details on the matter, Behnken revealed that

This is happening on my tablet. I did have a..a fine timeline before but when we started navigating to setup to...load the..changes that you lot read up to us information technology uh went to that folio instead of the timeline I had earlier

If the application in question was non developed past Apple then the fault is likely due to an external issues on which the company had no command. For a mission that involved hundreds of complex variables and leading-border technology, such an error is more often than not inconsequential as information technology requires an astronaut to simply proceed things in his memory or brand a concrete note. Another hour and a half following the fault, the astronauts officially commenced their sleep period every bit they approach World for re-entry and splashdown.