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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

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Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#481

Post by andrewwharton »

peterwaller wrote: post #127
djaychela wrote: post #16

That was like watching a sci fi film when the two cores landed.... I watched it with my mother (who is 80!), and she said it was as significant as the moon landing. Do we know the fate of the centre core yet?

Of the centre core, these are the last few moments before it is lost from the feed. Smoke can be seen... https://youtu.be/wbSwFU6tY1c?t=38m20s ... and then back to the presenters. As someone said to me, "That's their lying face!" :) Can't fault them for wanting to dwell on the positives though, was an amazing moment to watch. Edit: You can switch cameras on the above youtube video to the countdown net; you can clearl…

I noticed on the top right screen when landing the 2 outside boosters that they did a 3 engine landing burn. Previously they'd only done this over the water, but considering that the last one went well on 31 Jan, perhaps they also tried a 3 engine landing burn over the drone ship this time and something went wrong.

Just speculation, but it makes sense to me...

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#482

Post by NamTaf »

adventured wrote: post #397
janoc wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, but to be fair to the Soviets, they had to do it with really "stone age" electronics and technology and not knowing the many things we know today. I am pretty sure that SpaceX was able to achieve what they did today also because they studied the Soviet N1 rocket and learned from what the engineers at that time had to figure out from scratch. The other thing is that the N1 Moon rocket was a very different design…

I don't see how that's much of a credit boost to the Soviet failures the parent is referencing. The Apollo program had the same constraints of lacking modern electronics and not knowing many of the things we know today.

The comparison was that N1 had a some 30 engines (Falcon Heavy has 27, given it's 3x Falcon 9's) and that was its downfall.

In comparison, the Saturn V used only 5, they were just that much bigger. It's widely regarded that the 5 vs 30 was the difference as to why Saturn V was successful and N1 was not, as the Soviets simply had to roll too many dice in a situation where a failure resulted in complete mission loss.

It's a lesson in system engineering, particularly around failure durability and parallel vs serial critical subsystems.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#483

Post by warent »

euphoria83 wrote: post #439
komali2 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely love that Musk is putting a car into Mars orbit. Assuming mankind doesn't have an extinction event (or dark ages event), it is extremely likely we'll populate the solar system over the next millenia. In 200 years, Martian children can look up in the sky and know that one of the quickly moving visible satellites is a hilarious, old-Earth car. Depending on how accessible orbit is from planets over the next…

Is it okay to put unnecessary stuff in the orbits around our or other planets? Isn't this space trash that can potentially be problematic for future endeavors? Are we creating problems for ourselves to satisfy our vanity?

Mars is really big relative to a car. You could probably put dozens or hundreds of cars in orbit around Mars without any added difficulty.

Anyway I wouldn't normally consider it to be space trash, but in this case it's pretty much just a big Tesla ad billboard orbiting the planet so I agree with you sentiment

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#484

Post by stevekenney318 »

codeulike wrote: post #423
stevekenney318 wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they sure looked like the same landing pad to me ... and the videos of 'each booster' all the way down seemed to be from the same booster to me.

Yep I believe on the live feed they showed the same booster camera twice. You can tell when they land and you see the landing pad coming up. Maybe this was a mistake, or maybe one of the boosters wasn't returning video and someone improvised? Its a bit weird.

yeah, I thought so too ... even when she said they were 2 different video feeds. It was still an amazing launch and dual landing !!

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#485

Post by taneq »

mabbo wrote: post #192
buildbuildbuild wrote: post #61

Love that SpaceX’s own team shoots, announces, and switches the live production in-house rather than hiring a production company. Also love seeing machinists side by side cheering with software engineers, standing by a mission control which is placed feet from where engines are assembled on the shop floor. Open company culture well-executed. Congratulations to all there!

This is why I love the live streams hosted by John Innsprucker. He doesn't look like a TV star, he looks like an engineer, a rocket scientist. He looks real. The other hosts are great, but if you told me they were hired actors or PR people I'd believe it.

> He doesn't look like a TV star, he looks like an engineer, a rocket scientist. He looks real.

Which is funny because, reading the job titles given to the SpaceX announcers, my first thought is always "wow, SpaceX hires some really attractive engineers."

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#486

Post by robeastham »

andrepd wrote: post #445
icebraining wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it racist and sexist?

I think a good-faith reading of the parent commentary is that he was talking about the mannerisms and language and overall appearance of the person, not that he was white-skinned and a man. Immediately assuming he was saying he looks like an engineer because he isn't a women, or dark-skinned, is ironically a racist and sexist assumption.

I find it fascinating that SpaceX manages to pull off one of the most amazing things in the history of humanity and the top comment thread here on HN somehow manages to get bogged down in discussing race, gender and sexual orientation as it relates to the "hosts" of the live stream. These are important issues to be sure, but the self appointed thought police of generation "I'm offended" who feel the need to instruct everyone on how they should behave, write and think are beginning to get on my tits. I clicked on here hoping to feel and read everyone buzzing about this great news and instead I just switch off from HN and think "meh". Disclaimer: I'm a privileged middle aged white guy.

Edit: grammar and rephrasing to allow for the inclusion of the phrase "beginning to get on my tits".

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#487

Post by taneq »

zhoujianfu wrote: post #3

There was something doubly awesome about the two falcons landing at the same time right next to each other!

In the past few years we've gone from not even having a reusable launch vehicle to synchronized spaceships as performance art. (Oh and sending a car to Mars for fun.) What a time to be alive.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#488

Post by [deleted] »

robeastham wrote: post #486
andrepd wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a good-faith reading of the parent commentary is that he was talking about the mannerisms and language and overall appearance of the person, not that he was white-skinned and a man. Immediately assuming he was saying he looks like an engineer because he isn't a women, or dark-skinned, is ironically a racist and sexist assumption.

I find it fascinating that SpaceX manages to pull off one of the most amazing things in the history of humanity and the top comment thread here on HN somehow manages to get bogged down in discussing race, gender and sexual orientation as it relates to the "hosts" of the live stream. These are important issues to be sure, but the self appointed thought police of generation "I'm offended" who feel the need to instruct…

[deleted]

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#489

Post by taneq »

protonimitate wrote: post #110
aphextron wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm this was the greatest thing I've ever witnessed in my life. https://youtu.be/AGPH_i0ZlyM?t=56

There's something awesome (in the literal sense) and unsettling about watching something and being able to say "I am witnessing history".

It's not quite our generation's "one small step for Man" moment (I'm saving that for when we actually land a human on Mars) but it's damn close.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#490

Post by robotkdick »

CydeWeys wrote: post #283
mabbo wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I love the live streams hosted by John Innsprucker. He doesn't look like a TV star, he looks like an engineer, a rocket scientist. He looks real. The other hosts are great, but if you told me they were hired actors or PR people I'd believe it.

You're showing your biases here. The other people on the livestream are also rocket scientists. They aren't PR people. They just happen to be younger, or women, or of color. So you might want to re-evaluate what you think a rocket scientist "looks like", because your notion is outdated. Sorry to call you out like this, but these kinds of prejudices about who is the "correct" kind of person for tech jobs are harmful a…

Hey, thought police, there's just one small problem: your reply is boring.

Unless there's a crime that's been committed, that is.

Then, it's safe to say the culprit should be dragged through the street and hung by the shoelaces of his converse sneakers.

Otherwise, your bias toward boring us to death with your tedious puritanism is like Chinese water torture; although I could have just as easily have said, Swedish meatball torture, or English bangers and mash torture if that were to please you better.

We'll all have to check with you before we post to make sure, Big Brother.

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