It is now confirmed that the next Falcon 9 launch to ISS will have legs on its first stage and will attempt a controlled landing over water.
It is now confirmed that the next Falcon 9 launch to ISS will have legs on its first stage and will attempt a controlled landing over water.
Earlier reports were based on rumors and unofficial reports.
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It is now confirmed that the next Falcon 9 launch to ISS will have legs on its first stage and will attempt a controlled landing over water.
Earlier reports were based on rumors and unofficial reports.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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
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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.
This is great! Let’s hope that SpaceX gets some good (IR) video of the water landing!
Has anyone got a pic of these legs deployed, while attached to the real rocket?
That ram has got to turn almost 180° from stowed to deployed! Where does it all fit within such a small space?
Does anyone have pics of the legs on the ‘real’ rocket? Not on the grasshopper…
That big ram looks like it’ll need to turn over almost 180° to support the legs. I wonder where it will all go, given such a small space on the outside of the booster’s body.
What the heck? I couldn’t see the post I did yesterday, until I posted again…
The mechanism appears straightforward. It appears that the leg attaches to the body at the ends of the ‘v’, and the piston is attached to the rocket body at the upper end. As the piston extends, I would think that the lower end slides along the leg trough, forcing the leg down, until it reaches the landing pad end and locks in place.
My question is, who are those people behind the leg mock-up? They don’t look like techs or engineers. Does Space-X give factory tours? If so, I know where my next vacation will be.