SpaceX Falcon 9 FT launch - JCSAT 14 - SLC-40

[Grendal]

There were some different views on the technical broadcast. You might want to check them out.

So now SpaceX has had a successful landing in four out of five attempts. One on land, one using their older non-FT rocket that was lost because of a bad leg, the failure happened in an extreme hot landing, finally we had a completely successful landing on the ASDS, and now SpaceX has achieved a landing in a hot landing GTO burn situation. This really covers the full range of landing possibilities for the Falcon 9.

Awesome SpaceX. We're proud of you.

 

[ICUDoc]

Real close to dead center on this one. I really hope they have a chase plane that got video of this landing. This will be incredibly cool since it is a night landing.

I agree - aerial footage will look absolutely fantastic!

 

[Grendal]

Elon's going to need to start a used booster lot with all of these gently used boosters piling up. Come on down to Crazy Elon's Used Booster Emporium.

On a more serious note:
The next big step is to re-fly one of these babies... Until that happens SpaceX has just managed to get some spare parts for future boosters.

Congratulations again, SpaceX.

 

[ecarfan]

I just woke up and immediately watched the video, skipping ahead to the good parts. Awesome! It was so different to watch the stage landing at night. We didn't get a shot of the stage descending, all of a sudden the drone ship onboard camera was saturated with light and I thought the stage had exploded, then in a few seconds the image sharpened and there was the stage sitting in the bulls eye of the deck target circle, like magic! Totally cool. I'm stunned that SpaceX nailed the landing dead center, no drama. As Elon would likely say, that was a "super hard" landing given the stage started its return to earth at twice the speed of pervious attempts. Kudos to the SpaceX team!

 

[Nikxice]

Just incredible. To imagine that in our lifetime these landings will soon be considered routine still seems like science fiction. To paraphrase the Jaws of Elon Musk this morning, looks like we're gonna need a bigger hangar!

 

[RubberToe]

Florida Today:

About 10 minutes after liftoff, cameras on the SpaceX ship named “Of Course I Still Love You” showed a brilliant flash as the booster entered the picture with several engines blazing. Employees who had gathered to watch the launch at SpaceX headquarters near Los Angeles groaned, thinking the flash signaled the crash that many expected. But moments later, after the flash faded and smoke cleared, the rocket surprisingly appeared upright on its four landing legs, engines flickering in the darkness over the “X” marking the center of the ship’s deck. The groans were replaced by a roar, then chants of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

And they you have people actively hoping for Elon Musk to fail. People here, people running GM, Bob Lutz, Sergio Marchionne, etc. If it wasn't for people like Elon, there would be no hope for the future. Absolutely none.

RT

 

[tdelta1000]

The "Space race" has entered a new phase. Next stop...human flight certs and then human flights. Congrats to SpaceX and E. Musk for pushing beyond the norms.

 

[xmetal]

The fact that this is not on the lips of every kid in school, or every adult standing around the water cooler is a testament to how far our society has fallen. This stuff is INCREDIBLE and yet no one talks about it, thinks about it or is inspired by it. Man, what a damn shame.

Amazing work SpaceX and I'll at least make sure my own kids know how fantastic this is.

 

[palmer_md]

I just woke up and immediately watched the video, skipping ahead to the good parts. Awesome! It was so different to watch the stage landing at night. We didn't get a shot of the stage descending, all of a sudden the drone ship onboard camera was saturated with light and I thought the stage had exploded, then in a few seconds the image sharpened and there was the stage sitting in the bulls eye of the deck target circle, like magic! Totally cool. I'm stunned that SpaceX nailed the landing dead center, no drama. As Elon would likely say, that was a "super hard" landing given the stage started its return to earth at twice the speed of pervious attempts. Kudos to the SpaceX team!

Same thing for me this morning. What an incredible event, and as noted earlier, I'm amazed at how little the general public knows of this amazing events happening with SpaceX. I get a rush out of the pure joy I feel watching these events live. The tension of seeing the ship light up from the engine and then a few seconds later seeing the stage sitting perfectly still dead center of the ship. Just pure joy seeing it and listening to the workers at SpaceX on the webcast. Way to go SpaceX!

 

[Grendal]

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet but this was a three engine hover slam landing. It was necessary since the booster was coming in so hot and with limited fuel.

 

[PV-EV]

The fact that this is not on the lips of every kid in school, or every adult standing around the water cooler is a testament to how far our society has fallen. This stuff is INCREDIBLE and yet no one talks about it, thinks about it or is inspired by it. Man, what a damn shame.

Amazing work SpaceX and I'll at least make sure my own kids know how fantastic this is.

The first thing I did this morning was scan the NYT for news of the launch. That was foolish. Not a word.

 

[Grendal]

If you watch the technical version, you'll see a small fire happening around the engines. The ASDS has a water extinguishing system that came on to try and put out the fire. It didn't work all that well. The wind just blew the water away and off to the side. It kind of reminded me of the scene in "Iron Man" where the fire extinguisher robots kept failing to help put out the fires created from testing his suit.

 

[BluestarE3]

The fact that this is not on the lips of every kid in school, or every adult standing around the water cooler is a testament to how far our society has fallen. This stuff is INCREDIBLE and yet no one talks about it, thinks about it or is inspired by it. Man, what a damn shame.

Amazing work SpaceX and I'll at least make sure my own kids know how fantastic this is.

Exactly! When I was a kid, space exploration represented the future and what technology can potentially accomplish. Rocket launches were carried live on TV; astronauts were on magazine covers; space suits were a popular Halloween costumes; sci-fi was a popular genre in media. The "space race" between the US and the USSR helped fuel the public fascination and willingness to fund these projects. When Sputnik was launched, the fear that we had fallen behind technologically spurred us to revamp schools curricula to place more emphasis on math and science. I used to go to the library to pore over the latest magazine articles on recent space missions as well as fanciful depictions of things to come. I didn't really care if the latest feat was accomplished by astronauts or cosmonauts; I viewed it as a win for humanity. Who, from that period, can forget the Apollo 8 Earthrise photo or Neil Armstrong stepping onto the lunar surface?

These were big and expensive projects undertaken on a national level. Now, the same kind of work is being done by a small private company. This is at once sad and amazing. Sad that we as a society no longer seem as inspired or curious about what lies outside our tiny planet as we once were. Amazing that through the vision and indomitable spirit of one man and his company, this dream is being kept alive and the way to accomplish it is being transformed. Watching the SpaceX launch videos and seeing all those young engineers and technicians working there gives me hope knowing that this dream is still alive and that there are still young people who share it.

 

[ecarfan]

The NYT did run stories about the first two successful stage landings, and the plan to send an unmanned Dragon to Mars in 2018. Give them a day to see if this latest success gets written about. They may not fully understand the difficulty of what SpaceX just accomplished and how it differs from the earlier successes.

 

[Electroman]

What happens to the 2nd stage? when the broadcast ended, the 2nd stage looked like was firing some very small thrusters, or may be not. The folks never mentioned what is going to happen to it.

Left to itself, it will probably do several orbits before it slowly loses height and burns up in the atmosphere? Or are they going to force a de-orbit?

 

[Grendal]

What happens to the 2nd stage? when the broadcast ended, the 2nd stage looked like was firing some very small thrusters, or may be not. The folks never mentioned what is going to happen to it.

Left to itself, it will probably do several orbits before it slowly loses height and burns up in the atmosphere? Or are they going to force a de-orbit?

SpaceX fires the thrusters to force it to de-orbit. Orbital space is already cluttered enough and, if it is at all possible, most responsible launch companies de-orbit their used components.

 

[GoTslaGo]

If you watch the technical version, you'll see a small fire happening around the engines. The ASDS has a water extinguishing system that came on to try and put out the fire. It didn't work all that well. The wind just blew the water away and off to the side. It kind of reminded me of the scene in "Iron Man" where the fire extinguisher robots kept failing to help put out the fires created from testing his suit.

Thanks! I was wondering why there were all those little flames sputtering about.

 

[hockeythug]

Thanks! I was wondering why there were all those little flames sputtering about.

Each landing so far there has been some sort of "little" engine fire for whatever reason after landing.

 

[bxr140]

http://sslmda.com/html/pressreleases/pr20160506.html

 

[rolosrevenge]

The fact that this is not on the lips of every kid in school, or every adult standing around the water cooler is a testament to how far our society has fallen. This stuff is INCREDIBLE and yet no one talks about it, thinks about it or is inspired by it. Man, what a damn shame.

Amazing work SpaceX and I'll at least make sure my own kids know how fantastic this is.

Nay. The fact that SpaceX has done it twice before, and it's becoming routine, is evidence that we've all accepted this new reality. We'll talk again when one that landed gets launched and lands again.