5 ms·

Falcon Heavy launches, two boosters land, the central core crashes on camera

53 points by huhtenberg 7y ago

thoughtsimple 7y ago
Amazing. A successful Falcon heavy launch that can’t even hit the front page of HN.
- dev_dull 7y ago
  Was it successful?
  - IceyEC 7y ago
    Absolutely. The payload was apparently successfully delivered. The only issue they had was with the recovery of the heavy, which was, apparently, somewhat expected in this case.
- baud147258 7y ago
  Perhaps it's not noteworthy enough now that we know the tech works
- hadlock 7y ago
  Space Shuttle Columbia (which broke up during re-entry) was reported in the news as having safely landed, with fake quotes from the crew members and everything as to what a pleasant reentry etc. The article as originally published was later either retracted or significantly modified. Whats the takeaway here? Even space shuttle launches were so normal and routine that journalists would mail in predictable articles days in advance and they would be published online at a specified time with the expected outcome. Someday, somebody will comment that even fedex deliveries to Mars are no longer newsworthy.
exabrial 7y ago
> Hottest landing attempt to date
- silversconfused 7y ago
  Wasn't that a sims 2 expansion pack?
perseusprime11 7y ago
They'll iterate and figure it out.
Tepix 7y ago
I (somewhat) watched this on my bicycle, live streaming to my mobile phone. Straight out of science fiction.
- stcredzero 7y ago
  I wonder when we'll have someone vlog about viewing the launch on a smartwatch aboard a flying car? (Vlogs, as well as smartwatches and flying cars are all Sci-fi inventions.)
  - mikestew 7y ago
    It is entirely possible to do two of the three[0], and I don't want a flying car anyway. [0] I can view my home camera feed on my watch, just move the camera to the launch site.
    - stcredzero 7y ago
      Flying car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqHQIZnv-Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqHQIZnv-Ok
LUmBULtERA 7y ago
Also of note is that SpaceX was able to catch one of the Falcon Heavy's fairings on a boat[0]. [0] https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/25/spacex-records-another-first-for-re-usable-rocketry-by-catching-falcon-heavy-fairing-with-a-boat/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/25/spacex-records-another-fir...
- dougmwne 7y ago
  That's awesome! I think this is the first successful catch, so they must be quite happy over there right now.
hereiskkb 7y ago
The way the center core changed course makes me think that it was pre programmed to avoid destroying OCISLY in case landing became impossible. Is this correct or just naive thinking?
- walrus01 7y ago
  I have read that the trajectory is intentionally off dead center of the drone ship, until the very last moments, so that in the event of early fuel exhaustion it is highly unlikely to hit the ship.
- dougmwne 7y ago
  I haven't seen anything official about this failed landing, but I know in the past boosters have made last second course adjustments to water crash in order to save the drone ship/landing pad. I would provide a link, but Google is overwhelmed by this morning's crash and I can't pull up anything on previous incidents. Edit: Walrus01 reminded me about how it's actually done.
  - rtkwe 7y ago
    If you want older search results click on the Tools box on the right side of the News/Images/Shopping tab and you can restrict it to older links.
- rtkwe 7y ago
  Maybe, it'd be a fairly narrow window where they could consciously do that so most of the time we've just seen failed landings hit the pad but maybe this one was far enough out of bounds it could trigger behavior we haven't seen. They do intentionally come in off target which means an completely uncontrolled landing won't just crater into the ship. It's a pretty sturdy ship though and what we did see could have been it running out of the nitrogen for the cold gas thrusters that provide a lot of control close to landing.
rswail 7y ago
24 deployments, two boosters recovered, half a fairing, 4 relights on their Stage 2 engine... astounding and amazing as we get closer to 50 years since Apollo 11.
x2f10 7y ago
Video of central core crash: https://youtu.be/Vz9qMkxHaA8?t=2285 https://youtu.be/Vz9qMkxHaA8?t=2285
mrguyorama 7y ago
That's cool. One of the previous launches got me sour because it was obvious that the central core failed and crashed and the presenters hid that information from the viewers by claiming ignorance and simply not showing the camera feed. I think we should all remain stern that even in this new era of private space flight, information should not be hidden from the public
- zaroth 7y ago
  As I recall that was their very first Falcon Heavy launch where we got to see the side boosters landing side by side in synchrony. Still gives me shivers that I got to see that. I think you should cut SpaceX some slack. They pulled off the impossible and didn’t want to spend time on their record breaking live-stream speculating as to why the center booster landing failed. It’s not like they didn’t report it - later that day or the next, they explained exactly what happened.

53 points by huhtenberg 7y ago

thoughtsimple 7y ago

Amazing. A successful Falcon heavy launch that can’t even hit the front page of HN.

dev_dull 7y ago
Was it successful?
- IceyEC 7y ago
  Absolutely. The payload was apparently successfully delivered. The only issue they had was with the recovery of the heavy, which was, apparently, somewhat expected in this case.
baud147258 7y ago
Perhaps it's not noteworthy enough now that we know the tech works
hadlock 7y ago
Space Shuttle Columbia (which broke up during re-entry) was reported in the news as having safely landed, with fake quotes from the crew members and everything as to what a pleasant reentry etc. The article as originally published was later either retracted or significantly modified. Whats the takeaway here? Even space shuttle launches were so normal and routine that journalists would mail in predictable articles days in advance and they would be published online at a specified time with the expected outcome. Someday, somebody will comment that even fedex deliveries to Mars are no longer newsworthy.

exabrial 7y ago

> Hottest landing attempt to date

silversconfused 7y ago
Wasn't that a sims 2 expansion pack?

perseusprime11 7y ago

They'll iterate and figure it out.

Tepix 7y ago

I (somewhat) watched this on my bicycle, live streaming to my mobile phone. Straight out of science fiction.

stcredzero 7y ago
I wonder when we'll have someone vlog about viewing the launch on a smartwatch aboard a flying car? (Vlogs, as well as smartwatches and flying cars are all Sci-fi inventions.)
- mikestew 7y ago
  It is entirely possible to do two of the three[0], and I don't want a flying car anyway. [0] I can view my home camera feed on my watch, just move the camera to the launch site.
  - stcredzero 7y ago
    Flying car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqHQIZnv-Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqHQIZnv-Ok

LUmBULtERA 7y ago

Also of note is that SpaceX was able to catch one of the Falcon Heavy's fairings on a boat[0]. [0] https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/25/spacex-records-another-first-for-re-usable-rocketry-by-catching-falcon-heavy-fairing-with-a-boat/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/25/spacex-records-another-fir...

dougmwne 7y ago
That's awesome! I think this is the first successful catch, so they must be quite happy over there right now.

hereiskkb 7y ago

The way the center core changed course makes me think that it was pre programmed to avoid destroying OCISLY in case landing became impossible. Is this correct or just naive thinking?

walrus01 7y ago
I have read that the trajectory is intentionally off dead center of the drone ship, until the very last moments, so that in the event of early fuel exhaustion it is highly unlikely to hit the ship.
dougmwne 7y ago
I haven't seen anything official about this failed landing, but I know in the past boosters have made last second course adjustments to water crash in order to save the drone ship/landing pad. I would provide a link, but Google is overwhelmed by this morning's crash and I can't pull up anything on previous incidents. Edit: Walrus01 reminded me about how it's actually done.
- rtkwe 7y ago
  If you want older search results click on the Tools box on the right side of the News/Images/Shopping tab and you can restrict it to older links.
rtkwe 7y ago
Maybe, it'd be a fairly narrow window where they could consciously do that so most of the time we've just seen failed landings hit the pad but maybe this one was far enough out of bounds it could trigger behavior we haven't seen. They do intentionally come in off target which means an completely uncontrolled landing won't just crater into the ship. It's a pretty sturdy ship though and what we did see could have been it running out of the nitrogen for the cold gas thrusters that provide a lot of control close to landing.

rswail 7y ago

24 deployments, two boosters recovered, half a fairing, 4 relights on their Stage 2 engine... astounding and amazing as we get closer to 50 years since Apollo 11.

x2f10 7y ago

Video of central core crash: https://youtu.be/Vz9qMkxHaA8?t=2285 https://youtu.be/Vz9qMkxHaA8?t=2285

mrguyorama 7y ago

That's cool. One of the previous launches got me sour because it was obvious that the central core failed and crashed and the presenters hid that information from the viewers by claiming ignorance and simply not showing the camera feed. I think we should all remain stern that even in this new era of private space flight, information should not be hidden from the public

zaroth 7y ago
As I recall that was their very first Falcon Heavy launch where we got to see the side boosters landing side by side in synchrony. Still gives me shivers that I got to see that. I think you should cut SpaceX some slack. They pulled off the impossible and didn’t want to spend time on their record breaking live-stream speculating as to why the center booster landing failed. It’s not like they didn’t report it - later that day or the next, they explained exactly what happened.