SpaceX News

[ladajo]

Note that even though they are attempting a controlled touchdown with legs, it is in water, not on dirt.

[Skipjack]

Note that even though they are attempting a controlled touchdown with legs, it is in water, not on dirt.

Yepp, it is in water and downrange from the staging point. No RTLS yet.

[ladajo]

I hope that they get a good video of it and share.
Love to see how it goes.

[Skipjack]

I hope that they get a good video of it and share.
Love to see how it goes.

Me too. The weather might prevent ships from getting close though (according to Elon Musk). There is still hope that a chase plane will get a picture. Otherwise, there is hope the on board camera will capture video of the splashdown (it did last time). I definitely cant wait for the day when the stage will come back to the launch site. That will be quite the spectacle.

[Skipjack]

And just to add some coolness today, SpaceX flew the F9R at McGregor for the first time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... UjWqQPWmsY

[ladajo]

So very cool.

[Skipjack]

They had a perfect launch! Dragon has separated and the solar arrays have been deployed. All looking great! Cant wait to see what they got on the first stage landing attempt!

[ladajo]

So much for the 40% chance of viable launch weather.
Looks like they got "lucky".

[GIThruster]

Uhm, this is not Grasshopper 1 and not F9R 1 (Grasshopper 2) either, which is in McGregor right now doing hover tests.

I was speaking figuratively. I had no idea they had already named stuff Grasshopper 1 and 2. The point is they're flying the legs!

I will just point out here, Skippy converted me on the whole Grasshopper gig. If you look back, I originally thought tail landing a rocket was silly but now I think it's just as cool as can be and I'm a huge fan of DC-X as well.

GO ELON!

[Aero]

Tweet from Elon: Data upload from tracking plane shows landing in Atlantic was good! Several boats enroute through heavy seas.

[mvanwink5]

"Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal."

[mvanwink5]

SpaceX has scored a very large victory with this mission having succeeded with a controlled "landing." Maybe next mission where the first stage has legs will target a solid surface to land on.

[Skipjack]

Yepp! Awesome work today!

[ladajo]

I think it is very cool that his engines and cost control has added enough boost efficiency to do a controlled touchdown of the first stage.
The savings of getting that kit back is going to be huge.

My only concern is that he is going to be heavily regulated for boost areas and corrosponding touchdown sites. I am thinking coastal only due to abort requirements. That is a big chunk of stuff to go wrong and drop on a town.

[GIThruster]

I've wondered about that myself. Anyone here know what the surrounds are like at Spaceport America? I think there are now one or two other ports presenting themselves as viable options. One in FL maybe? Any little town within many miles would be cause for concern. Mostly empty tanks rupturing and igniting at touchdown would be very bad. There is so much empty space out in NM though, that I can't help but wonder. After all, they did sell the whole notion of a spaceport based on the idea of it being safe.