Ok folks, this afternoon SpaceX will launch a satellite using its Block5 version of the Falcon 9 rocket. This version is planned to be reused 10 times whereas the current version only is reused once. They learn a lot from measuring the crap out of each launch, flight, and landing or crash. Each rocket is pretty much unique as they improve small things, try new things out, etc. This is a risky approach, so there’s always the chance of a spectacular failure, but for this launch, I expect things to be pretty nailed-down. They are landing on the fun-named “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship in the Atlantic, and those landings can sometimes be…exciting!
Launch is supposed to be 4:14 Eastern, but may be delayed or postponed. I may not be around to edit this post once it’s live, so others are free to edit or update, as appropriate.
Enjoy the launch, folks!
efgoldman
A headline would be nice
The Dangerman
Crud, not from Vandyland (though the weather to watch it if it were so blows; those that went to Lompoc for the Martian thing got to “hear” the launch and the weather today is similar).
ETA: Launch video here: https://youtu.be/_0ysQadXxpA
Alain the site fixer
@efgoldman: efg, so needy, so sad!! Just joshing – when I made this post this morning, I was sleepy apparently. All fixed.
Major Major Major Major
inb4 complaints about private space travel and how rockets are dumb
VeniceRiley
“There’s no such thing as a free launch.”
– me, because video is blocked at work.
trollhattan
It would seem Herr Musk is rather further along with his rocket business than his car business. Always nice to have a few irons in the fire. Guess I should write “fire.”
Corner Stone
Rockets are dumb.
Awww, dammit.
Mary G
Corner Stone
@trollhattan: Ummm, one could…safely…assume that.
Tragic fatal crash in Tesla Model S goes national because – Tesla
Although, TBF, they both do catch fire pretty nicely.
The Dangerman
Better video link:
http://www.spacex.com/webcast
ETA: Oops, this was in orginal post. Friday oops.
Yutsano
@Mary G: In order for the hypocrisy to work, they have to feel shame. I see no sign Kelly is capable of that.
Mike J
Scott Manly, who plays Kerbal Space Program on youtube for a living, has a great video explanation of the suicide burn used to land. Basically, full thrust for minimum time is the most efficient way to do it, and the computer doesn’t get nervous because it looks scary.
JamesKPolkEsq
F the Rockets, go Warriors!
BruceFromOhio
I thought Friday afternoons were for document dumps.
Now we get rockets! Way, way cooler.
@Mike J: “...and the computer doesn’t get nervous because it looks scary.”
Feh, those computers. Such hotshots with the rockets. Everything is easier when you just plug in another quarter and hit “Play again.”
Major Major Major Major
@BruceFromOhio:
For rockets it’s F9.
Alain the site fixer
@Major Major Major Major: good one! :)
SgrAstar
Love this, Alain. Thanks. I hope all jackals watched the astounding reentry of the Falcon Heavy boosters. Magnifique!
Alain the site fixer
@SgrAstar: I’m not sure why it took me so long to think of sharing my love of space exploration, rockets, etc. So thanks, it’s nice to hear that other folks are appreciating. With all the horrible, evil, crazy shit happening these days, it’s important to remember that we’re in an age of wonders, and, as the late, great Jack Horkheimer used to say, “Keep looking up!”
Yarrow
@Mary G: Oh, good! I was hoping someone would do that kind of digging on John Kelly. So…under his and Sessions’ preferred rules, Kelly isn’t a citizen because great-grandma and great-grandpa weren’t citizens. Were they here legally? Let’s find out! If not, then that further disqualifies him. Lock him up!
Major Major Major Major
@Alain the site fixer: my dad is really into SpaceX launches too, it’s a fun thing to bond over.
He also sometimes asks me how I’m doing in Kerbal, lol
Brachiator
@Yutsano:
There are a couple of talk radio hosts whose parents were immigrants. They are huge Trump supporters and led a big rally for Trump, had cheerleading debate viewings for listeners, etc.
The father of one host never really spoke English well.
The roots of their Trump support is clearly racist. They insist that there are too many Latinos for the country to safely assimilate, and that immigrants are too poor and are a drain on the government and the economy.
So, things are different now. Somehow. Magically. Not like their parents’ day.
trollhattan
Want feisty Dem candidates? How about the Albuquerque congressional candidate who begins an ad with “Fuck the NRA*”?
*I approve this message.
Alain the site fixer
@Major Major Major Major: For me, it’s a family tradition. In 1969, my dad arranged months ahead of time to have leave from his job at the time in Alaska, and he spent the moon landing on the phone with my mother, who was in Tulsa at the time, both of them glued to tiny 13″ black and white televisions watching history. Since the web got going, I’ve been watching so much stuff from Nasa, and now SpaceX, and Blue Origin. And it’s only getting better – there are two or three other new companies also in this game and it’s exciting!
Patricia Kayden
@Mary G: A day laborer. Couldn’t speak English after being here for 18 years. So I guess Kelly wouldn’t have let his own Grandfather into this country because he couldn’t “assimilate” and lacked a higher education, right?
raven
@Alain the site fixer: I was in Sydney on R&R that day. Have you ever seen “The Dish” about the Australian tracking station?
Mary G
@raven: That is a charming movie.
Roger Moore
@Yarrow:
My favorite nonsense was when Ann Coulter used the “what if only people who had all four grandparents born in the US could vote” standard and predicted Trump would win under those rules, calmly ignoring that those rules would forbid any member of the Trump clan from voting. It’s one more sign that all the immigration hysteria is all about race and ethnicity and nothing about education and ability to assimilate.
Alain the site fixer
@raven: yes, thanks for reminding me of it!
Yarrow
@raven: I love that movie! Patrick Warburton is great in it. The whole cast is excellent.
different-church-lady
OK, not to be a killjoy here, but Space X really needs a lot more Gene Kranz and a lot less beard-bro metro.
different-church-lady
@Mary G: Right, so basically we give him a Peace Prize for avoiding a nuke war with North Korea and then take it away for blundering into one with Iran?
RobertDSC-iPhone 6
@Mary G:
Awesome.
eclare
@raven: The Dish is at different times a hysterical, sweet, and touching movie. Love it.
trollhattan
I’m not sure our home-grown Nazis understand that thing some call optics.
Please proceed, Sparky.
SFBayAreaGal
My mom was a space enthusiast. Anything and everything about Nasa. She collected the flight patches the crew wore, newspaper articles, etc. She was also a big science fiction fan. I and my brother inherited her love for space and science fiction.
She was disappointed when NASA stopped going to the moon. She understood why. She kept hoping that we would one day land a person on Mars.
Mary G
What we could have had – a snippet of HRC speaking in Australia:
Mike J
@trollhattan: Cool. Hope they show up outside the White House with their AR-15s. Looking forward to gun enthusiasts meeting the Secret Service.
Baud
@Mary G: I comfort myself with the recognition that we wouldn’t have had the maturity or discipline to appreciate a Hillary presidency.
Mary G
@Baud: True enough.
SgrAstar
@different-church-lady: respectfully disagree! The very young spacex engineers who narrate the launches are a part of the story. The yoof are doing the heavy lifting to upend convention here, and they deserve the spotlight. Once you get over the shock of seeing 10 yr olds (joke!) representing their company at these fascinating events, you’ll come to love it.
different-church-lady
@SgrAstar: a) Gene Kranz was only 36 when Armstrong stood on the moon.
b) There are youths who have voices and presence beyond the impact of a wet noodle.
mike in dc
Space propulsion and rocket tech needs to progress by a few orders of magnitude in order for humans to properly expand into space. The energy requirements will be staggering, even by global standards.
Alain the site fixer
@SFBayAreaGal: Mark my words, Elon Musk won’t be the first human on Mars, but he will die on Mars.
Like I said, age of wonders; just…wow.
Alain the site fixer
@mike in dc: Really, it’s asteroid mining, robot/drone assembly and resource gathering (mining asteroids, solar energy in space, in-orbit construction of vessels, etc.) This is not to ignore the governmental US, Chinese, European, etc. efforts to land on the Moon and explore Mars and beyond. We really are in an age of wonders!