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A frame-by-frame repair of the video taken during the April soft splashdown of the Falcon 9 first stage now shows the deployment of the landing legs.

A frame-by-frame repair of the video taken during the April soft splashdown of the Falcon 9 first stage now shows the deployment of the landing legs.

Video below the fold.

In a related note, SpaceX will unveil its manned version of the Dragon capsule tomorrow at 7 pm (Pacific) and will live stream the event here.

Update: The links are fixed. Thanks Edward!

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

4 comments

  • Edward

    Robert,

    All three links seem to go to the same video. I suspect that you meant for the last two to go to other pages.

  • Edward

    Oops, I forgot to thank you for posting the video. It is an amazing sight.

  • Pzatchok

    That doesn’t look real good.

    I am not talking about the quality but about the landing leg deployment.

    The one leg seems to have deployed rather uncontrolled. It almost looks like it bounced around a bit. Maybe its lock didn’t catch in the down position. Possibly a hydraulic fluid leak or a nitrogen strut failed.

    It seems to have finally locked into a down position though just before the engine burn though. Which is good.

    Since the other one looked fine I would guess this is repairable or fixable.

  • Pzatchok

    The Dragon 2 looks good.

    Never expect them to make it fully propulsive landing. I guessed they would use a chute for an initial deceleration after the burn in.

    The leather seats are nice touch.

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