Another successful Dragon/Falcon 9 launchThe 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.
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.
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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.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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
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.