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Looks like the landing was only partially successful - Rocket booster reentry, landing burn & leg deploy were good, but lost hull integrity right after splashdown (aka kaboom) https://twitter.com/elonmusk
Looks like the landing was only partially successful - Rocket booster reentry, landing burn & leg deploy were good, but lost hull integrity right after splashdown (aka kaboom) https://twitter.com/elonmusk
Edit: Seems like Musk is making that point himself: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/488719729599578112
I'll admit I do not regularly follow space launches but I am amazed at the various places that they have installed video feeds. Seeing the first stage drop off was incredible.
Looks like the landing was only partially successful - Rocket booster reentry, landing burn & leg deploy were good, but lost hull integrity right after splashdown (aka kaboom) https://twitter.com/elonmusk
The rocket isn't really made to survive tipping over onto its side in the water. If they "landed" properly (legs deployed, descending at a slow speed when they hit the water), I think one can make an argument for a fully successful landing.
It really depends on how fast they hit the water.
Looks like the landing was only partially successful - Rocket booster reentry, landing burn & leg deploy were good, but lost hull integrity right after splashdown (aka kaboom) https://twitter.com/elonmusk
I think it's hard to say that, yet. The rocket isn't really made to survive tipping over onto its side in the water. If they "landed" properly (legs deployed, descending at a slow speed when they hit the water), I think one can make an argument for a fully successful landing. It really depends on how fast they hit the water.
Wow I can't believe this finally launched. So far so good! And of course, the most exciting thing about this is the return attempt of the F9 first stage core. I don't think that'll be covered in the webcast but we'll certainly get video of it later. MECO successful. Edit: r/spacex has good updates regarding the landing attempt [T+27m]: Elon's jet and NASA plane circling a particular area... http://www.reddit.com/r/sp…
I wonder if they have tracking planes or a spotter out on the water. After all this bad press and the violent ocean churn from the last attempt, it would be nice to get a money shot of the vehicle hovering over the water.
(Weight conditions at launch are obviously very different. In addition to the weight of the second stage and payload, there's also the weight of the first stage fuel -- and the fuel will be most of the weight of any rocket at launch.)
Was this a normal venting, or a non-catastrophic failure of the second stage engine? Congratulations, SpaceX, on designing such a robust engine!
Video of launch: http://new.livestream.com/spacex/events/2980259/videos/56576...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
AKA stage separation. The first stage must provide a lot of thrust to get into lower gravity, so it's quite heavy with fuel and has 9 engines. After the fuel in that stage is expended, the rocket splits in two, dropping that first stage back to earth. The top half of the rocket contains additional fuel and whatever payload the rocket is delivering (including potentially an additional stage + engine) and is powered wi…
It isn't higher gravity they're overcoming with the first stage, but rather the much higher atmospheric pressure near the surface. Gravity in orbit is almost identical to gravity at the surface.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if they have tracking planes or a spotter out on the water. After all this bad press and the violent ocean churn from the last attempt, it would be nice to get a money shot of the vehicle hovering over the water.
It doesn't actually hover over the water. For that, the rocket's thrust would have to exactly balance the weight of the first stage, with the tanks nearly empty, and even a single Merlin engine can't actually throttle down that low. As long as the engine is firing, the rocket is accelerating up, so the actual landing maneuver is something they call a "hoverslam", which is designed to zero out vertical velocity close…