Posted on 04/14/2014 7:44:23 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
good luck to that
Rocket: Falcon 9 v1.1
Payload: Dragon (CRS 3)
Launch Date: April 14, 2014
Launch Time: 2058 GMT (4:58 p.m. EDT)
ISS Grapple: April 16 @ 1111 GMT
ISS Departure: TBD
Splashdown: TBD
Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral, Florida
Landing Site: Pacific Ocean
If you want on my rocket launch ping list just let me know.
Live launch coverage at these links:
http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/009/status.html
http://www.spacex.com/webcast/
http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#.U0v1q1dTNps
http://new.livestream.com/spacex/events/2833937
CRS-3 details.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_CRS-3
List of Falcon 9 launches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_launches
SpaceX Mission Gets Green Light For Launch Tomorrow
http://spacecoastdaily.com/2014/04/spacex-launch-set-for-monday-afternoon/
More SpaceX-related latest headlines...
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/spacex/
SpaceX CRS-3 Mission Press Kit/March 2014
http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/spacexcrs-3_presskit_final.pdf
NASA’s SpaceX blog
http://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/
There was a made-for-TV movie like that back in the 70’s. Created a rocket that would land back on its legs.
As with most aerospace innovations, it's not down to luck but instead good engineering.
You probably ought to watch the last test flight before you comment again. The concept is sound, and SpaceX has succeeded pretty much across the board. It's not had a single failed launch attempt so far.
Sounds good, but why does it need legs for an ocean landing?
Salvage 1?
The legs change the aerodynamics (and the weight distribution) of the booster as it re-enters back into the atmosphere so they have to make sure it’s all going to work during this test.
If recoverable they will spend more to re-unspect and validate hardware and components than it would cost to build a new vehicle and there would always be some elevated level of uncertainty that they captured everything.
Also, how would people feel about launching a billion dollar satellite or humans up the space station on hardware the had been thru the violent the event of a launch, recovery, re-inspection and rebuild?
I like the idea but these are expendable rockets.
Now if he had a fully capable single stage to orbit that was re-usable then yes that would be disruptive technology and change everything.
As far as I know he paid back that loan with interest.
Their first three test launches failed not all that many years ago, which makes their rapid success as a launch company all the more impressive.
Musk didn’t even set out to build his own rockets. He wanted to use some of his Paypal fortune to launch very small amounts of cargo to Mars using old Soviet ICBM boosters. When the Russians tried to screw him he started SpaceX.
Careful about buying into the Musk narrative. It might be true, but he’s a megalomaniac oligarch—he controls his press an media carefully and punishes all who step the slightest bit out of line.
“Sounds good, but why does it need legs for an ocean landing?”
It doesn’t, this is a test to prove the design for future landings on solid ground.
just hope the webcast it, last time when they launched off of Vandenberg didn’t see the landing attempt, just still pics hours later
“If recoverable they will spend more to re-unspect and validate hardware and components than it would cost to build a new vehicle and there would always be some elevated level of uncertainty that they captured everything.”
Entirely incorrect, or they wouldn’t be taking this approach. The entire point is to lower costs - a lot.
“Also, how would people feel about launching a billion dollar satellite or humans up the space station on hardware the had been thru the violent the event of a launch, recovery, re-inspection and rebuild?”
At first, there will be trepidation. Once a track record is established, people will know the risks.
“I like the idea but these are expendable rockets.”
No, they will be reusable first stages.
“Now if he had a fully capable single stage to orbit that was re-usable then yes that would be disruptive technology and change everything.”
SSTO is much more difficult, plus it is inherently less efficient since you’re orbiting a lot more mass for the same payload. Also, the entire vehicle has to endure a full-speed reentry from orbit - unlike the first stage that SpaceX will recover.
It will still be impressive, the version being tested today will hit a maximum speed of about 7,000 MPH, or Mach 10. That’s less than half of full orbital velocity, though.
The “Falcon Heavy” auxiliary boosters will only hit about half the velocity of these “Falcon 9 1.1” rockets, so they’re even better candidates for this kind of reuse.
And started make Muzzies feel good about themselves?
They want to re-use the rocket, regardless of the outcome of the landing gear deployment test. My understanding is that they are using the water landing as a “softer” place to test the gear. They should be able to confirm proper attitude, deployment, speed, and height at deployment from onboard sensors/recorders.
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