Reminder, I won't be available to see what happened till a few hours after the launch window opens at 1:30 PM EST. When I get home I'm going to start the webcast and just watch as though it is live, not try to look for news.
George, you may know this already, but your picture was used on a SpaceX Instagram page. I'm not sure but this may be just a fan page. You were credited though. There's three pictures and yours is the second.
https://instagram.com/p/BezdW9DAdv2/
Thanks for sending the link. I recently re-posted my three photoshopped FH images on the SpaceX Facebook group, and someone asked for permission to use them on the instagram page.
OK, here's the non-cropped image of the Tesla Roadster mounted for flight:
So, those arm assemblies to the right, and far side (car's left side) have cameras mounted to them. So that's how they'll get video of the Roadster.
The video SpaceX released is nice, but they lost me when they showed the car, by itself, going to Mars. Even if it flies exactly as planned, it ain't gonna EVER get close to Mars, at least not in our lifetimes. Maybe some random comet/asteroid perturbation in a few millennia might throw it into Mars' path (It's intended to be an elliptical orbit around the sun, which happens to go farther out than Mar's distance from the sun. And may not be in the same plane). Don't know why they had to screw with an incredible real-life technical achievement with Science Fiction like that. Also, BTW, I'll really be surprised if they do make the car separate from the 2nd stage.
Some real rocket-science and not Sci-Fi info from today: It will go into Low Earth Orbit, then SIX hours later, will make a 3rd and final burn to reach Escape Velocity, and go into a highly elliptical heliocentric orbit. Why six hours? To prove to the USAF that the second stage can remain operational for that long. What does the USAF have to do with FH? Well, this flight is actually supposed to be a test flight to prove to the USAF that FH can launch heavy USAF payloads that the F9 can't. Well, this won't be much of a heavy payload, but a successful flight with a 6 hour delay before final second stage burn will go a long way (heavier payloads to be flown on FH before the USAF agrees to fly any of theirs)
So, webcast link:
[video=youtube;wbSwFU6tY1c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbSwFU6tY1c[/video]
Tom Cross, of Teslarati.com, took a number of nice photos near the pad Monday:
https://twitter.com/_TomCross_
Note the people at the bottom.
NEW IMAGE ADDED - Posted by Vikash Mahadeo on the SpaceX group. An great view of details of the "other side" of the TEL (Transporter Erector Launcher) near the hinge area (remember this pivots 90 degrees).
