Another successful Dragon/Falcon 9 launch
The competition heats up: SpaceX has successfully launched another Dragon freighter to ISS.
We await word on whether the first stage was able to successfully land vertically on a barge in the Atlantic.
Update: Musk reports that the first stage landed on the barge but “too hard for survival.” Expect some interesting video to follow. I have posted SpaceX’s video of the launch below the fold. Beginning at about 22:45, after first stage separation, you can see it maintain a vertical orientation as it begins its descent.
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The competition heats up: SpaceX has successfully launched another Dragon freighter to ISS.
We await word on whether the first stage was able to successfully land vertically on a barge in the Atlantic.
Update: Musk reports that the first stage landed on the barge but “too hard for survival.” Expect some interesting video to follow. I have posted SpaceX’s video of the launch below the fold. Beginning at about 22:45, after first stage separation, you can see it maintain a vertical orientation as it begins its descent.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I still don’t believe they’ll ever be able to get all four leg to make contact at exactly the same moment. One hits first, and it’ll pitch over…
It’s apparently more difficult to achieve this feat than Elon thought it would be. We’ll know more once the video becomes available. In any case, my bet is that he’ll tweak the system and try again. Perhaps he should avoid speculating about the odds of success and just let things play out, however. Congrats to SpaceX on a successful launch.
“It’s apparently more difficult to achieve this feat than Elon thought it would be.”
You are wrong. Musk understood from day one how difficult this would be, and stated so repeatedly. He also stated repeatedly that he would not be surprised if it takes a dozen attempts before they succeed. That they have come so close on the first two landing attempts is remarkable, but it is in line with Musk’s initial predictions.
Here’s some video: https://vine.co/v/euEpIVegiIx
looks to me like the barge is just too small of a target. If this had come down in the great salt flats it would have been tom swift perfect.
Maybe Musk needs some inverted thinking for the present – soften the barge target to make the landing softer. Maybe something pillow-like soft that will almost envelope the object and cushion landing, letting it lay down horizontally as it reaches target.
The right type of material, like those tough blow-up space habitats, with air pushing though it like a bouncy house and regulated for pressure etc. Sometimes a simple, lower-tech seemingly simple method on the other end of the problem pays big dividends.