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SpaceX Falcon Launch & Landing Attempt 5/27 5:40 PM

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Speed up video of landing taken from 1 stage. You can see the hypersonic grid fins/ air brakes maneuvering. Trying to locate a normal speed copy.

Full version https://youtu.be/4jEz03Z8azc

Short version.
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That video is completely mind blowing. The mere concept is amazing, but to actually see a video of the rocket sticking its landing from so high up.. Wow.
 
Eli said:
That video is completely mind blowing. The mere concept is amazing, but to actually see a video of the rocket sticking its landing from so high up.. Wow.
Click to expand...

holy Christ that's a small platform.

and if the rocket was in orbit, why couldn't they land it back on the launch site instead of a platform at sea?
just wait a few hrs for earth rotation b4 re-entry?

save delivery costs.
 
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JEDI said:
why the hell didn't they have a net incase of tippage?
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Because the center of gravity is incredibly low on the rocket it has so little chance of tipping over. Almost all of the hardware is centered around where the landing legs are. Everything above it is mostly open space now that there is no fuel left.

Imagine a paper towel cardboard tube with a ball of lead at the bottom.

The reason it fell over in the video you are looking at is because one of the landing legs actually broke and couldn't stay locked in place to hold it upright.
 
Eli said:
That video is completely mind blowing. The mere concept is amazing, but to actually see a video of the rocket sticking its landing from so high up.. Wow.
Click to expand...
I'm imagining VR headset and GoProDoIt bolted to one's weenier as it sticks it to her. 😎
 
JEDI said:
holy Christ that's a small platform.

and if the rocket was in orbit, why couldn't they land it back on the launch site instead of a platform at sea?
just wait a few hrs for earth rotation b4 re-entry?

save delivery costs.
Click to expand...

The 1st stage doesn't obtain orbital velocity. At staging the booster stage is moving at around 8000 km/h and orbital velocity is about 28000 km/h. So waiting in orbit for the Earth Rotation is not a option.

This mission was going to a higher orbit (GTO) which requires staging to occur at around 8000 km/h and the 1st stage is moving to fast downrange to attempt a RTLS (Return to Landing Site). For Low Earth Orbit missions staging occurs at around 6000 km/h and their is enough fuel to negate the downrange velocity and attempt a landing back on land.
 
JEDI said:
holy Christ that's a small platform.

and if the rocket was in orbit, why couldn't they land it back on the launch site instead of a platform at sea?
just wait a few hrs for earth rotation b4 re-entry?

save delivery costs.
Click to expand...

I don't think the first stage reaches a stable orbit, it would cost more fuel to do that, so it's going to fall back down anyway, so easier to just mostly follow that path.

BarkingGhostar said:
I'm imagining VR headset and GoProDoIt bolted to one's weenier as it sticks it to her. 😎
Click to expand...

With Interstellar music and camera angles to make it look like the docking scene. 😀
 
It looks like because of the tilt and the legs not being completely level the booster walked across the desk after landing and was only stopped by the rail around the edge. The booster landing was just about dead center of the X. Wouldn't have wanted to be the first guys going on-board the ship before the booster was secured.
 
http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/06/0...ck-home-as-company-mulls-pricing-proof-tests/

Speaking at Code Conference 2016, a tech industry meeting held this week near Los Angeles, SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk the company plans to re-fly the used rocket again in two or three months.

“Something like that,” Musk said. “It will be an important milestone. So far, the stages are looking quite good, even though they are coming through a really difficult re-entry situation, but they’re looking in good shape. We now have four of them, so we want to start re-flying them towards the end of the summer.”

. . .

In the meantime, SpaceX engineers in Texas will put the rocket stage recovered after the May 6 launch of JCSAT 14, which went through the Falcon 9’s most stressing descent yet, through a stringent series of tests to confirm other vehicles can reliably fly again.

Called delta qualification tests, the checks on the ground will help SpaceX prove to itself, customers and the insurance community that a rocket flying for the second time is as reliable as a vehicle just out of the factory.

“That’s probably more the long pole in getting to flight than doing anything to the vehicle itself,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, in an April interview with Spaceflight Now.

. . .

In parallel with the engineering tests, SpaceX’s management and sales team is working behind the scenes to assuage insurance underwriters on the risks of reusing Falcon 9 boosters.

Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s vice president of commercial sales, said earlier this week that the launch company is meeting with insurance firms in the next couple of weeks, according to a report in Space News.

Hofeller made his remarks at the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum in Singapore. The meetings with insurance providers will help “make sure they understand our process for certifying these (previously-flown boosters) and getting them ready for flight,” Hofeller said in the Space News report.

Shotwell told Spaceflight Now in April that it will take some time to satisfy concerns in the insurance community. In the Space News report, an unnamed insurer said the risk management community is more than willing to underwrite Falcon 9 launches, presumably with used components, but wants more information.

“But we would like to know exactly what we are insuring,” the official said, according to Space News. “They have move rather quickly through design modifications for the rocket and it’s not always clear what new elements have been introduced.”

Shotwell outlined SpaceX’s relationship with the insurance industry in April.

“They’ve already gotten the qualification of the Merlin engine (for multiple missions), which tends to drive the insurance community,” Shotwell told Spaceflight Now. “Structures is a little more definitive analytically. You can kind of get through that. I think it’s the engines, and they already know that they’ve been qualified for more than one flight. I don’t think it’s going to be a big lift with the insurance community, but it’s certainly going to take work.”
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it can hold 5, but one is scheduled to be shipped out to spacex hq as a museum piece, so they still have some time before they have to start leaving rockets on the curb
 
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