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Falcon 9 landing leg falls during retraction

Capitalism in space: During the processing to bring a used Falcon 9 first stage back to its hanger after its June 30th launch, one of the landing legs unexpectedly fell back to the ground during retraction.

I have embedded the video of the incident, cued to the event, below the fold. No one was hurt, and it appeared that nothing was damaged. It appears it happened because a cable holding the leg vertical snapped just before the leg got latched in place on the side of the rocket.

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.


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"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

5 comments

  • sippin_bourbon

    Oops.

  • mpthompson

    I think the local OSHA officials will be having a chat with SpaceX or their contractors about this. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but its something that should not happen on a work site. However, when it does, it’s how work sites become safer.

  • commodude

    OSHA would only get involved if there’s an injury or a complaint.

  • NA$A: shut down for two years, spend billions in studies.
    SpaceX: issue procedural update, launch again next week.

  • Edward

    A year or so ago, someone here was looking for a YouTube video that talked about the limitations of Falcon’s upper stage and how it compared to other upper stages. I had also seen this video, but could not find it again, either. Although that discussion is long over and forgotten, I believe this is what he was looking for:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoUtgWQk-Y0 (14 minutes, Scott Manley, SpaceX limitations)

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