SpaceX F9v1.1 Launch w/ Dragon: CRS-3 4/18/2014

[rabar10]

If it were salvage that'd just mean they have the right to receive a proportion of fair value for recovering it, not the right to do anything with it.

Maybe SpaceX were aware the Russian would want to steal it, so the US government deliberately created the fire in the radar to force a delay that would allow SpaceX time to come up with something that would give the Russian invalid information when they recovered the stage.

Here's a relevant comment posted on the NasaSpaceFlight forum a few days ago:

This Russian tug, as best I can determine from the Marine tracking sites, wasn't anywhere near Cape Canaveral (or Georgia/S. Carolina where it would had to have been to see the first stage reentry) when the Falcon 9 launch occurred yesterday. It was off Miami, headed south.

But, alas, since it was reported in the news and since Elon linked to the report in a tweet, it will forever incorrectly be recorded in history that Russia sent a ship to spy on a SpaceX launch.

Other posts there note that the Russian ship may have been there to monitor the earlier NRO reconnaissance i.e. spy satellite launch (or at least to annoy the US as it launched its spy satellite), and had little/no interest in the SpaceX launch.

So enough about the Russian ship already... ;-)

 

[doug]

SpaceX Jobs @SpaceXJobs

Ever wonder what it sounds like when hundreds of @SpaceXers celebrate a successful launch? Listen on @SoundCloud: http://bit.ly/1ppfQDB
Retweeted by SpaceX


I'd bet that worried "huh?" sound from the crowd around the 8 second mark was when all that dirty water splashed up on the rocket.

 

[Auzie]

Sounds like Ode to joy

 

[VolkerP]

BBC covering the "bring back" aspect of the launch:
BBC News - SpaceX rocket stage in 'soft landing'

 

[Discoducky]

BBC covering the "bring back" aspect of the launch:
BBC News - SpaceX rocket stage in 'soft landing'

Cannot wait for this!

For safety reasons, the touchdown was actually commanded to take place east
of the Cape, far out at sea.

Nonetheless, the stage was vertical and had zero velocity on contact.

The company has video of the event - albeit of poor quality - that it plans
to post on its website.

 

[doug]

I know this was posted elsewhere, but the first half of this video is relevant to this thread.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Thanks for posting, hadn't seen this before.

 

[doug]

Dragon just released from Canadarm2.


NASA Television | NASA

 

[Skotty]

CRS-3 Dragon Returning to Earth Webcast

Did anyone else have trouble finding the webcast this morning for CRS-3 Dragon returning to Earth? I never did find it.

Around 15 minutes or so after it was to have started they finally posted something on the SpaceX webcast page about it being televised over at nasa.gov, but when I went there (45 minutes after original planned start, because I decided to do a load of dishes when I couldn't find anything initially) I didn't find anything. Maybe I had already missed it by then?

I think they really botched this one. They need to either indicate in advance where you need to go to watch the live broadcast, or they need to do a recording so you can watch it later when you have had time to hunt the internet for it and find it.

 

[Lump]

I follow SpaceX on Twitter, keeps me well informed of all their events SpaceX (SpaceX) on Twitter

When I saw this tweet Twitter / SpaceX: Dragon is set to return home ... I was reminded & watched it on their webcast SpaceX | Launch Central

 

[Grendal]

Splashdown confirmed.

 

[Skotty]

I follow SpaceX on Twitter, keeps me well informed of all their events SpaceX (SpaceX) on Twitter

When I saw this tweet Twitter / SpaceX: Dragon is set to return home ... I was reminded & watched it on their webcast SpaceX | Launch Central

Really? I went to the SpaceX webcast page and there was nothing there. Just a post from the prior day. Maybe you have to log in to see anything? I didn't see any point to logging in at the time, so I didn't bother to set up an account to log in with.

I think there as a "Follow" button, but "follow" doesn't mean "watch" to me. Was that what I needed to click on? Or did I need to log in? Or what?

I'm guessing the "Follow" button is what I should have proceeded with. Not exactly intuitive. "Follow" usually signs you up for some news feed that you have to figure out how to unsubscribe from later. It certainly doesn't say "live video webcast" to me. If that was the button, then it should have said "Watch", or "Start", or "Click Here", or "Webcast", or "Start Webcast", or "Begin", or "Connect"... certainly not "Follow".

 

[rabar10]

Unberthing, decor bit and splashdown article: SpaceX Dragon homecoming successfully concludes CRS-3 mission | NASASpaceFlight.com

And Skotty -- I tried to see some live coverage this AM as well and didn't find any on the link SpaceX tweeted either. Got distracted and just now came back to check up on it...

 

[HVM]

 

[jdevo2004]

Not everything went smoothly it seems:

SpaceX Dragon Capsule Seawater Leak - Business Insider

 

[NigelM]

Not everything went smoothly it seems:

SpaceX Dragon Capsule Seawater Leak - Business Insider

Odd that the article suggests doubt as to where the water came from. I'd imagine the water was immediately tested for salinity, dissolved oxygen etc; it could be confirmed as seawater (or something else) in about 10 seconds.

 

[rabar10]

FYI - split the 1st stage landing pics/video/restoration into its own thread.