SpaceX sticks the landing!

[Ken g6]

I just watched a live-stream of their first launch since the explosion in June. They launched successfully and got their satellites into orbit.

Oh, and they landed the first stage back on Earth successfully too! :awe:

 

[PottedMeat]

Nice. solid ground @ cape canaveral >>> boat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B6oiLNyKKI

 

[dr150]

Pretty damn impressive!

 

[TheVrolok]

Awesome!

 

[local]

That was great!

 

[Franz316]

Nice work by them! The whole boat thing seemed like an unnecessary variable to throw in with something this complex.

 

[Ken g6]

The whole boat thing seemed like an unnecessary variable to throw in with something this complex.

I was just reading about that someplace. (Can't find where.) It takes more fuel to fly back to land; so if they can land on a boat they can launch heavier payloads.

 

[Phoenix86]

What a day to be alive!

Orbital payloads just got way cheaper, well the method at least. IIRC Musk say it'd reduce the cost to 1/100th. I have a feeling he's going to make bank resupplying the ISS, and save the tax payers a boat load.

 

[K1052]

The reaction over at ULA:

 

[Markbnj]

Amazing!

 

[ViRGE]

Hooray!

 

[FireJack]

They could possibly put a payload into space for less than 10 million. Who is going to be the first to bid for this? What are the other launchers going to do?

 

[maddogchen]

Awesome!!

 

[Ruptga]

It was only a matter of time until they made it work, but I'm glad they got it right this time. I was getting tired of waiting.

 

[AmdEmAll]

One of the coolest things ive ever seen.. Go Space X!

 

[NoTine42]

I was just reading about that someplace. (Can't find where.) It takes more fuel to fly back to land; so if they can land on a boat they can launch heavier payloads.

I can understand how geosynchronous satellites are cheaper to launch from the equator (closer to final destination)
But the ISS is not in a steady orbit, so I'm not sure.

 

[tynopik]

bullseye

video of people inspecting the used rocket

that's a real-sized rocked

 

[Captante]

Really cool!

 

[Jeff7]

What a day to be alive!

Orbital payloads just got way cheaper, well the method at least. IIRC Musk say it'd reduce the cost to 1/100th. I have a feeling he's going to make bank resupplying the ISS, and save the tax payers a boat load.

And it was just several decades ago that we first got rockets up to space.


"I know! Let's bring them back down with rocket engines too!"



...
If there's an increase in rocket launches though as the price comes down, I wonder what's going to happen to the space-junk situation? Isn't LEO a bit of a mess already?

 

[Ruptga]

And it was just several decades ago that we first got rockets up to space.


"I know! Let's bring them back down with rocket engines too!"



...
If there's an increase in rocket launches though as the price comes down, I wonder what's going to happen to the space-junk situation? Isn't LEO a bit of a mess already?

You don't need to worry about that until Bullock and Clooney book a spaceflight together.

 

[tynopik]

 

[Brovane]

Nice work by them! The whole boat thing seemed like an unnecessary variable to throw in with something this complex.

The boat was necessary for a couple of reasons.

#1- SpaceX had to demonstrate to the USAF that they could achieve accuracy with the 1st landing before they would be allowed to bring that 1st stage back in for a landing attempt.

#2 - Performance, the fly back to land requires a larger performance penalty than a Ocean landing. The upgraded version of the Falcon9 that just launched has a higher performance than the F9v1.1.

#3 - SpaceX will still need to do boat landings in the future depending on the performance required for the mission. For example the FH the center stage will be much further down-range and will probably require a boat landing.

 

[Phoenix86]

If there's an increase in rocket launches though as the price comes down, I wonder what's going to happen to the space-junk situation? Isn't LEO a bit of a mess already?

You send up a satellite to clean it up.

Now for much less than before. :biggrin:

 

[Zorba]

I can understand how geosynchronous satellites are cheaper to launch from the equator (closer to final destination)
But the ISS is not in a steady orbit, so I'm not sure.

From the Cape rockets launch to the East, so going back to the cape requires them to turn around and fly back. At separation the first stage is going over 4,000 mph (couldn't find a great reference for an exact reference), much of that in an eastward direction instead of a vertical direction.

 

[tynopik]

video of landing from helicopter