10 ms·

SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again)

112 points by Signez 10y ago

vvanders 10y ago
If anyone was wondering about repeatability I think they're well on the way to putting that to rest.
- woodandsteel 10y ago
  They're landing so many, pretty soon they are going to have to open up a used booster sales lot. Speaking of which, when the first booster landed successfully, someone put up a gag Craigslist ad for a used booster ("only used once, excellent condition") but it got taken down quickly, unfortunately.
Klathmon 10y ago
Congrats again to SpaceX! They had some live footage of the first stage reentry which was pretty cool.
- shorodei 10y ago
  I hope the next SpaceX technological breakthrough is cameras that don't fog up on reentry.
  - vvanders 10y ago
    In all seriousness I hope they release the full feed from that camera. It's got to be a hell of a view to see it bearing down on the drone ship from above.
    - andor436 10y ago
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jEz03Z8azc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jEz03Z8azc
  - Klathmon 10y ago
    I think it's more than just fog and water condensation, IIRC the lens broke last time.
  - InclinedPlane 10y ago
    Such things exist already, it's a question of whether they want to invest in changing their hardware for a slight benefit.
kevan 10y ago
It's almost like this is becoming a regular occurrence. I'm looking forward to the next generation looking back on this and being incredulous that we used to completely throw away boosters on every launch.
- iamcreasy 10y ago
  "I think we will be successful - ironically - when it becomes boring." - Elon Musk At the NASA press conference after the first successful drone ship landing.
- agumonkey 10y ago
  Well, I had to scroll down to find that entry. I expected it to be in the top 3 already. Human jades very rapidly.
slizard 10y ago
Good launch pace, if they keep it up, they'll surely build up a positive reputation quickly.
onewaystreet 10y ago
When will SpaceX actually reuse one of these landed stages? That's the whole point, right?
- gozur88 10y ago
  At the CRS-8 post-launch presser Musk said "sometime in June", though lately I've seen them describe it as "later this year". That sort of implies after June.
  - ok_craig 10y ago
    How many do they have?
    - 51Cards 10y ago
      4 now, though the first one is going on display at their headquarters. I believe the second one is going to be examined and undergo ground testing only (might be wrong on that). So that leaves just the third and now this one as candidates for re-flight. I like being able to use the term "re-flight".
      - eganist 10y ago
        The high velocity drone ship landing (#3) landed too hard and was deemed unusable for launch duty (Edit 1: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648), so realistically, it's likely just two of the four so far. Edit 2: per mikeash, it's definitely flyable (i.e. I'm wrong), but it'll still be grounded to aid with testing efforts. Thanks for the correction, Mike! https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/734274360588926976 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/734274360588926976
        gozur88 10y ago
        The problem isn't that it landed hard, it's that it had to slow down very quickly. That's going to be the case for any GTO launch, including today's flight. From what I understand there was heat damage around the engines.
lvs 10y ago
Only a few frames of the actual landing, but here was the live stream. https://youtu.be/zBYC4f79iXc?t=2290 https://youtu.be/zBYC4f79iXc?t=2290
bronz 10y ago
when are they going to perform a launch with a recycled booster?
mattbeckman 10y ago
I've watched the SpaceX launches with my 4-year-old and 2-year-old. Exciting for me, but they really get into it as well. Indoctrination at it's finest. I was born in the 80s and missed the moon race, so it's nice to have this new space race.
greydius 10y ago
I'm reminded of my early 20s when I played Everquest hardcore. My guild was one of the top among all servers. As soon as a new expansion came out we would quickly get to the endgame content and then spend weeks wiping over and over until we finally beat it all. Then we'd beat it again. And again. After a few times no one cared anymore and we went back to "farm-mode" until the next expansion was released. I guess the "next expansion" for SpaceX would be Mars.

112 points by Signez 10y ago

vvanders 10y ago

If anyone was wondering about repeatability I think they're well on the way to putting that to rest.

woodandsteel 10y ago
They're landing so many, pretty soon they are going to have to open up a used booster sales lot. Speaking of which, when the first booster landed successfully, someone put up a gag Craigslist ad for a used booster ("only used once, excellent condition") but it got taken down quickly, unfortunately.

Klathmon 10y ago

Congrats again to SpaceX! They had some live footage of the first stage reentry which was pretty cool.

shorodei 10y ago
I hope the next SpaceX technological breakthrough is cameras that don't fog up on reentry.
- vvanders 10y ago
  In all seriousness I hope they release the full feed from that camera. It's got to be a hell of a view to see it bearing down on the drone ship from above.
  - andor436 10y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jEz03Z8azc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jEz03Z8azc
- Klathmon 10y ago
  I think it's more than just fog and water condensation, IIRC the lens broke last time.
- InclinedPlane 10y ago
  Such things exist already, it's a question of whether they want to invest in changing their hardware for a slight benefit.

kevan 10y ago

It's almost like this is becoming a regular occurrence. I'm looking forward to the next generation looking back on this and being incredulous that we used to completely throw away boosters on every launch.

iamcreasy 10y ago
"I think we will be successful - ironically - when it becomes boring." - Elon Musk At the NASA press conference after the first successful drone ship landing.
agumonkey 10y ago
Well, I had to scroll down to find that entry. I expected it to be in the top 3 already. Human jades very rapidly.

slizard 10y ago

Good launch pace, if they keep it up, they'll surely build up a positive reputation quickly.

onewaystreet 10y ago

When will SpaceX actually reuse one of these landed stages? That's the whole point, right?

gozur88 10y ago
At the CRS-8 post-launch presser Musk said "sometime in June", though lately I've seen them describe it as "later this year". That sort of implies after June.
- ok_craig 10y ago
  How many do they have?
  - 51Cards 10y ago
    4 now, though the first one is going on display at their headquarters. I believe the second one is going to be examined and undergo ground testing only (might be wrong on that). So that leaves just the third and now this one as candidates for re-flight. I like being able to use the term "re-flight".
    - eganist 10y ago
      The high velocity drone ship landing (#3) landed too hard and was deemed unusable for launch duty (Edit 1: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648), so realistically, it's likely just two of the four so far. Edit 2: per mikeash, it's definitely flyable (i.e. I'm wrong), but it'll still be grounded to aid with testing efforts. Thanks for the correction, Mike! https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/734274360588926976 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/734274360588926976
      - gozur88 10y ago
        The problem isn't that it landed hard, it's that it had to slow down very quickly. That's going to be the case for any GTO launch, including today's flight. From what I understand there was heat damage around the engines.

lvs 10y ago

Only a few frames of the actual landing, but here was the live stream. https://youtu.be/zBYC4f79iXc?t=2290 https://youtu.be/zBYC4f79iXc?t=2290

bronz 10y ago

when are they going to perform a launch with a recycled booster?

mattbeckman 10y ago

I've watched the SpaceX launches with my 4-year-old and 2-year-old. Exciting for me, but they really get into it as well. Indoctrination at it's finest. I was born in the 80s and missed the moon race, so it's nice to have this new space race.

greydius 10y ago

I'm reminded of my early 20s when I played Everquest hardcore. My guild was one of the top among all servers. As soon as a new expansion came out we would quickly get to the endgame content and then spend weeks wiping over and over until we finally beat it all. Then we'd beat it again. And again. After a few times no one cared anymore and we went back to "farm-mode" until the next expansion was released. I guess the "next expansion" for SpaceX would be Mars.