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SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”

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Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”

#111

Post by sandworm »

SpaceX is certainly doing great things, but where was this vid a couple days ago?

When I first heard of the hard landing I jumped online to see the vid. But no vid appeared. Then I realized what was happening. A vid of a crashing rocket is never a good thing for a spacelaunch company. It's just bad PR. Thinking back, we don't see many vids from SpaceX that aren't unqualified successes.

They surely had this vid withing minutes, of not seconds of the landing attempt. But they delayed its release until the media and the public were educated sufficiently to understand that, despite the flames, this landing was not a failure.

Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”

#112

Post by Florin_Andrei »

ufmace wrote: post #4

Cool video! Just what we've been waiting to see. I wonder what actually exploded there? Part of the argument for why the landing was supposed to be relatively safe was that the stage would be mostly empty of fuel by the time that it landed, so there wouldn't be much to explode if something went wrong. So is that an explosion of the remaining fuel in the rocket, or something on deck?

> I wonder what actually exploded there?

The last few teaspoons of fuel it had left.

Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”

#113

Post by hawkice »

Someone1234 wrote: post #63
sixQuarks wrote: post #23

Sorry for sounding like such a fanboy, but during my 40 years on this earth, I have never been more impressed with a human being. The guy is pushing the envelope on perhaps the most difficult engineering/technological endeavor ever attempted by a private company - and he's making it look cool and futuristic. As if that wasn't enough, he's doing this in two different industries simultaneously. I'm not saying he can do…

> I'm not saying he can do no wrong, but I'm just flabbergasted that there are still so many armchair critics and naysayers when it comes to Elon Musk. That's why you're a fanboy. Nobody is perfect, and Elon Musk likes to make fun of the competition quite publicly when they have an issue, while ignoring his project's own failures. It is hard to even discuss the man on HN as anything that could even be taken as critic…

> Elon Musk likes to make fun of the competition quite publicly when they have an issue, while ignoring his project's own failures.

This seems pretty harsh. It's not like he went home, curled up in a blanket with a hot cocoa and told the engineers to figure it out by the time he came back to the office.

Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”

#114

Post by Florin_Andrei »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #47
ufmace wrote: post #4

Cool video! Just what we've been waiting to see. I wonder what actually exploded there? Part of the argument for why the landing was supposed to be relatively safe was that the stage would be mostly empty of fuel by the time that it landed, so there wouldn't be much to explode if something went wrong. So is that an explosion of the remaining fuel in the rocket, or something on deck?

Not easy to do with Vine's crappy interface but if you step through it and stop you will see that the rocket is decelerating and when it gets close to the platform it adds thrust which then increases its pitch over (which would be expected without anything on the top to control pitch) and then it increases thrust still more (presumably to right itself) but the back end of the stage is already below deck level at that…

> If you are reading this SpaceX, here is my suggestion for capturing more data in future flights. Install quad copters on the barge which launch once the barge detects the landing stage is inbound

I'm sure they will do that - once the landings become predictably successful.

Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”

#115

Post by scrollaway »

ForHackernews wrote: post #85
Someone1234 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not saying he can do no wrong, but I'm just flabbergasted that there are still so many armchair critics and naysayers when it comes to Elon Musk. That's why you're a fanboy. Nobody is perfect, and Elon Musk likes to make fun of the competition quite publicly when they have an issue, while ignoring his project's own failures. It is hard to even discuss the man on HN as anything that could even be taken as critic…

Amen. It's also kind of insulting how much HN has bought into this "Great Man" theory of engineering and development. Sure, Elon Musk is a smart guy and seems to be a good leader who sets bold goals, but the real geniuses that make SpaceX possible are the brilliant engineers working there--who you've never heard of. Watching the way HN reacts to SpaceX, in contrast to say, NASA, or the ESA makes me think those organi…

> Watching the way HN reacts to SpaceX, in contrast to say, NASA, or the ESA makes me think those organizations should hire a charismatic frontman, too.

Well, yes, I think they should. People are drawing the completely wrong lessons from Jobs/Apple. "There's too much worship!" well, duh. Jobs inspired people, and that inspiration led to extremely dedicated fans.

Jobs made use of that in the tech sector, but where we really need it is in sectors which are highly affected by the good will of humans.

Charity. Science. Care of the planet. The development of the human race. Very-long-term thinking. All these need charismatic frontmen, people who inspire others to think about their own future and the future of others.

Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”

#116

Post by ceejayoz »

ForHackernews wrote: post #85
Someone1234 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not saying he can do no wrong, but I'm just flabbergasted that there are still so many armchair critics and naysayers when it comes to Elon Musk. That's why you're a fanboy. Nobody is perfect, and Elon Musk likes to make fun of the competition quite publicly when they have an issue, while ignoring his project's own failures. It is hard to even discuss the man on HN as anything that could even be taken as critic…

Amen. It's also kind of insulting how much HN has bought into this "Great Man" theory of engineering and development. Sure, Elon Musk is a smart guy and seems to be a good leader who sets bold goals, but the real geniuses that make SpaceX possible are the brilliant engineers working there--who you've never heard of. Watching the way HN reacts to SpaceX, in contrast to say, NASA, or the ESA makes me think those organi…

> Watching the way HN reacts to SpaceX, in contrast to say, NASA, or the ESA makes me think those organizations should hire a charismatic frontman, too.

Absolutely, yes. Hell, look at what Chris Hadfield did for the CSA.

Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”

#119

Post by sosuke »

ForHackernews wrote: post #87

HN when SpaceX screws up: "Wow, what an amazing job they've done learning from this mistake and moving forward!" HN when NASA screws up: "Wow, this shows how government can't do anything right. They should privatize everything and outsource it to SpaceX."

I'll bite, the second phrase never happens. NASA isn't trying in the same way that SpaceX is trying at all, they are doing amazing stuff, incredible feats like Mars rovers. When that feel of commentary comes around is when the bureaucracy of the government gets in the way of taking the risks to make the discoveries possible. We cheer SpaceX because we see them taking action, taking risks, and making progress.

We get frustrated with NASA because we've gotten use to the idea of go fast break things. However http://www.nasa.gov/missions/schedule/index.html shows they are launching 3 new projects, they just aren't the sexy science right now so don't get all the cheering. You better believe there was a lot of ooo's and aaahhh's around the new Hubble photos. So they come out with something amazing like that, then you hear that the government (in 2004 mind you) is not willing to fund them enough to keep Hubble alive, combined with the feature of loss of human life from the 2003 Columbia disaster making them risk averse.

When we see SpaceX taking risks and making discoveries, or SpaceShipOne doing the same and exploding, but then the team keeps going, we cheer that, we rally around the against all odds determination to make space accessible.

NASA has done amazing things, but they are hamstrung by the government and their own bureaucratic growth. What once was a warm blanket in the space race is now being used to try and smoother them to death now that there isn't a commercial or war time payout.

Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”

#120

Post by ceejayoz »

ForHackernews wrote: post #87

HN when SpaceX screws up: "Wow, what an amazing job they've done learning from this mistake and moving forward!" HN when NASA screws up: "Wow, this shows how government can't do anything right. They should privatize everything and outsource it to SpaceX."

This wasn't really a screw up, though. The mission was accomplished - successful resupply flight to the ISS. The landing was a R&D test - the first of this nature - with the leftover pieces.
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