When will SpaceX actually reuse one of these landed stages? That's the whole point, right?
They plan on launching one of the re-used boosters this fall.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
11–20 of 42 posts
Re: SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
#12Re: SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the CRS-8 post-launch presser Musk said "sometime in June", though lately I've seen them describe it as "later this year". That sort of implies after June.
How many do they have?
4 now, though the first one is going on display at their headquarters. I believe the second one is going to be examined and undergo ground testing only (might be wrong on that). So that leaves just the third and now this one as candidates for re-flight.
I like being able to use the term "re-flight".
Re: SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many do they have?
4 now, though the first one is going on display at their headquarters. I believe the second one is going to be examined and undergo ground testing only (might be wrong on that). So that leaves just the third and now this one as candidates for re-flight. I like being able to use the term "re-flight".
The high velocity drone ship landing (#3) landed too hard and was deemed unusable for launch duty (Edit 1: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648), so realistically, it's likely just two of the four so far.
Edit 2: per mikeash, it's definitely flyable (i.e. I'm wrong), but it'll still be grounded to aid with testing efforts. Thanks for the correction, Mike! https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/734274360588926976
Re: SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
#15It's almost like this is becoming a regular occurrence. I'm looking forward to the next generation looking back on this and being incredulous that we used to completely throw away boosters on every launch.
Well, I had to scroll down to find that entry. I expected it to be in the top 3 already. Human jades very rapidly.
Re: SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
4 now, though the first one is going on display at their headquarters. I believe the second one is going to be examined and undergo ground testing only (might be wrong on that). So that leaves just the third and now this one as candidates for re-flight. I like being able to use the term "re-flight".
The high velocity drone ship landing (#3) landed too hard and was deemed unusable for launch duty (Edit 1: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648 ), so realistically, it's likely just two of the four so far. Edit 2: per mikeash, it's definitely flyable (i.e. I'm wrong), but it'll still be grounded to aid with testing efforts. Thanks for the correction, Mike! https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/7342743…
Ah good, thanks. That might have been the one I was thinking of then that was just going to be examined. This flight though was also a high velocity landing so it might have similar issues if that's the case.
Re: SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
4 now, though the first one is going on display at their headquarters. I believe the second one is going to be examined and undergo ground testing only (might be wrong on that). So that leaves just the third and now this one as candidates for re-flight. I like being able to use the term "re-flight".
The high velocity drone ship landing (#3) landed too hard and was deemed unusable for launch duty (Edit 1: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648 ), so realistically, it's likely just two of the four so far. Edit 2: per mikeash, it's definitely flyable (i.e. I'm wrong), but it'll still be grounded to aid with testing efforts. Thanks for the correction, Mike! https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/7342743…
Nope, wrong. It took as much damage as any returning stage could be expected to, but is still reusable.
Re: SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the CRS-8 post-launch presser Musk said "sometime in June", though lately I've seen them describe it as "later this year". That sort of implies after June.
How many do they have?
At least 3 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731981135454986240
4 including todays one, granted nothing wrong happens in transportation.
Re: SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
#19Only a few frames of the actual landing, but here was the live stream.
Re: SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)
#20Congrats again to SpaceX! They had some live footage of the first stage reentry which was pretty cool.
I hope the next SpaceX technological breakthrough is cameras that don't fog up on reentry.
Such things exist already, it's a question of whether they want to invest in changing their hardware for a slight benefit.