SpaceX Falcon 9 historic landing thread (1st landing attempt & most recent missions)

[danielsadjadi]

I just found this short video on YouTube explaining the economics the and my initial impression was yet another nutty conspiracy on behalf of SpaceX, but after watching it I couldn't agree more.

[video=youtube;7kTozZDlxJg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kTozZDlxJg[/video]

 

[jeff_j_black]

Yeah can you imagine a day on the Florida beach spent of launching a bunch of these things and having drone barges bringing them back to you? Haul them back into the shop. Clean them up. Test fire the motors. Pressure test the tanks and lines. Run diagnostics on all the flight control equipment. Put them together. Repeat.

 

[Charles_McG]

It's been discussed here earlier in the thread, but Elon's recent comments about how many flights they hope to get out of a booster (I saw it at theregister.co.uk) really imply that they are going to change the run time the motors are certified for. Or change how they certify them in general - to some metric other than a tally of starts and run time.

That would really change George's earlier analysis, and the economics.

 

[georgegassaway]

Tug and OCISLY coming back very slowly. Seems like arrival near Port Canaveral will not be until sometime early Tuesday morning. And due to other ship traffic it might have to wait its turn. So, may be a daytime arrival. Not today in any case.

Meanwhile..... interesting video where someone zoomed in and "froze" the Falcon core to be stationary on screen, as it deployed the legs, landed, and sat on deck.

[video=youtube;f8ugziyTm20]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ugziyTm20[/video]

 

[georgegassaway]

And so it turns out that for April 12th in 2016, "Yuri's Night" becomes "Elon's Night"

Happening NOW - The SpaceX ASDS barge named “Of Course I Stlll Love You”, is nearing Port Canaveral, with the Falcon-9 booster onboard of course. They are going to stop just outside of the port to “transfer some people”. Sounds like some people will be on the barge as it comes into port, I suspect more than deck hands.

LIVE AUDIO from Elsbeth III, the Tugboat, on this link: https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/21054/web

Excellent Reddit page covering details:
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/4ee2zy/crs8_ocisly_returning_to_port_canaveral/

Also, NSF thread which is accumulating lots of reports and word-for-word transcription of the radio comms, likely photos soon.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40002.280


Yep, from NSF, first image that shows a hint of the Falcon onboard:

Wee bit better view here... It is from the Port Canaveral Webcam, still a ways from docking.

The Port Canaveral webcam operator is a Steely-Eyed Missileman Rock Star!

https://www.portcanaveralwebcam.com/

And...... it's docked.

 

[mpitfield]

Meanwhile..... interesting video where someone zoomed in and "froze" the Falcon core to be stationary on screen, as it deployed the legs, landed, and sat on deck.

Here is a better version of that video, same poster but it is slowed down quite a bit.

[video=youtube;r4G-GY6Sto0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4G-GY6Sto0&nohtml5=False[/video]

 

[georgegassaway]

Falcon booster moved from OCISLY to the dock. Very Important Building in background

 

[rocketgeek101]

SpaceX just tweeted::

Updated landing photos from droneship remote cameras: https://www.flickr.com/spacex

 

[mpitfield]

SpaceX just tweeted::

Nice pictures. I find it amazing how many camera views and high res photos they have when it is a successful landing. That is a min of 4 different cameras, one on the rocket, one on the UAV drone and two on the drone ship.

 

[rocketgeek101]

Nice pictures. I find it amazing how many camera views and high res photos they have when it is a successful landing. That is a min of 4 different cameras, one on the rocket, one on the UAV drone and two on the drone ship.

They probably have as many pictures of the failed attempts, but I bet that one of the last things SpaceX wants to do is to circulate too many pictures of exploding rockets. They'll simply release single quick video of the landing attempt in order to appease the fans who have been watching and want to know what happened.

 

[mpitfield]

They probably have as many pictures of the failed attempts, but I bet that one of the last things SpaceX wants to do is to circulate too many pictures of exploding rockets. They'll simply release single quick video of the landing attempt in order to appease the fans who have been watching and want to know what happened.

I would agree that they very likely have much more video and stills on all of the landing attempts. I think you are bang on, SpaceX has a lot of fans and more seem to hop on the bandwagon each day. I also believe that as the CEO he has fiduciary responsibility to mitigate the negativity and naysayer noise to a minimum. I see Elon as an incredible entrepreneur and his endeavours make me dream of being a kid again and pursuing something in Engineering.

 

[georgegassaway]

A sped-up video from the Port Canaveral Webcam, showing the Falcon being moved and secured on the dock.

[video=youtube;fFE-HtozTUY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFE-HtozTUY[/video]

 

[mpitfield]

A sped-up video from the Port Canaveral Webcam, showing the Falcon being moved and secured on the dock.

[video=youtube;fFE-HtozTUY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFE-HtozTUY[/video]

Wow the perspective of that video is incredible, the booster looks relatively small until there are tiny little people standing beside it.

 

[Marc_G]

Sigh. The video referenced above now shows up as private.

 

[mpitfield]

Sigh. The video referenced above now shows up as private.

It was just a fast motion of the rocket being lifted off the drone ship onto the dock, then put onto the cradle. The video was from the port Canaveral webcam and there is activity on the dock right now. Below is screen shot of what is happening at this moment.

 

[mpitfield]

Seriously where do these people come from, it amazes me on how someone gets to this point.

[video=youtube;WoufE5YMfuM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoufE5YMfuM[/video]

 

[georgegassaway]

Go here for live webcam of the returned Falcon core operations at Port Canaveral. As I type it is bring raised up. soon to be rotated, laid onto trailer. You may need to disable or ""whitelist" ad blockers to see it.

https://portcanaveralwebcam.com/

And..... it's on the trailer / transporter.

 

[mpitfield]

And she is now horizontal swaying in the wind

 

[jnelson]

Seriously where do these people come from, it amazes me on how someone gets to this point.

Always gives me a good laugh. Search "spacex landing hoax" and you'll find some people claiming that the CRS-8 landing footage was just reversed launch footage. :eyeroll:

My guess is that a pretty good chunk of them are simply trolls looking for attention.

 

[mpitfield]

Always gives me a good laugh. Search "spacex landing hoax" and you'll find some people claiming that the CRS-8 landing footage was just reversed launch footage. :eyeroll:

My guess is that a pretty good chunk of them are simply trolls looking for attention.

Funny you say that because I was thinking of the possible reasons and all I could think of was trolling and generally people who discount any form of common sense and likely believe in many conspiracy theories. I am guessing that mental illness may also play a role in some cases, which I say with respect.

 

[georgegassaway]

Video by US Launch Report, showing the Falcon booster being raised, tilted to horizontal, and loaded onto transporter.

[video=youtube;S0cd_rLI_04]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0cd_rLI_04[/video]

 

[georgegassaway]

CRS-8 Falcon booster is on the road to the 39A facility. Twitter video:

https://twitter.com/kermitdafrag_g/status/722463244707827712

Article on NSF about the move and upcoming re-use testing:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/04/falcon-9-booster-reuse-testing-ksc/

Two photos by “Jim” on NSF:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40002.msg1520983#msg1520983

 

[Mushtang]

Anyone else wondering exactly how fast that truck could go if that bad boy was started as it rolled down the road?

 

[dhbarr]

Anyone else wondering exactly how fast that truck could go if that bad boy was started as it rolled down the road?

6,806kN at sea level , 162s burn time. Assuming they could keep it attached and they had enough runway, I think the bearings would burst into flames just before the rubber flew apart.

Introducing: rocketplow!

 

[georgegassaway]

Truck would jack-knife WAY before then. Trucks with trailers are meant to pull, not be pushed.

That why when pulling a trailer, you have to slow carefully. And keep it straight as much as possible while braking.

Ideally the trailer has brakes, and those brakes decelerates the trailer more than the truck brakes decelerate the truck.

Wait, I took this as a serious possibility.... without even getting into how the Falcon booster would collapse under its own weight if fully fueled and only supported near the ends as it is when horizontal.....

 

[Marc_G]

Silly people, don't you know this is all done with scale models and video editing?

 

[Charles_McG]

Silly people, don't you know this is all done with scale models and video editing?

I'd like some of those scale workers, then. They'd come in right handy for spots I can't reach a hand into.

 

[mpitfield]

Talk about a total disregard for law, that transport truck driver totally blew right through that red light!

 

[BLKKROW]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/722598287396605953?s=09

I will put this here.

 

[mpitfield]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/722598287396605953?s=09

I will put this here.

Pretty cool to see them side by side like that.