SpaceX Tuesday...

[Beati Dogu]

You can see where the fuel and oxygen tanks are by the dirt.

[p1stonhead]

Really brings home the size of what the fking landed on a barge in the mdidle of the ocean, coming down from space. Insane really

[Beati Dogu]

And for a closer look from a passing tour bus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC3Szb5raXE

Just look at thayt thang!

[Motorsport_is_Expensive]

p1stonhead said:

Really brings home the size of what the fking landed on a barge in the mdidle of the ocean, coming down from space. Insane really

What the fk?

I thought it was like... 20 meters tall?

[Eric Mc]

The total height of the Falcon 9, including both stages, is 68.4 metres or 224 feet. For comparison purposes, the Saturn V moon rocket(with launch escape tower) was 363 feet tall and the Saturn 1B (also with the escape tower) was around 200 feet tall.

So 224 feet is pretty impressive.

Edited by Eric Mc on Thursday 21st April 14:49

[Flooble]

41.2 metres according to Spaceflight 101


Edited to clarify - the first stage (which is what is on the truck) is 41.2 metres.

Edited by Flooble on Thursday 21st April 18:37

[p1stonhead]

Motorsport_is_Expensive said:

p1stonhead said:

Really brings home the size of what the fking landed on a barge in the mdidle of the ocean, coming down from space. Insane really

What the fk?

I thought it was like... 20 meters tall?

Nope. Mental isnt it! Its like landing a 10 story building!

[Beati Dogu]

It's certainly big and bulky, but I don't think it's actually that heavy. Especially after it's pumped empty and they remove the legs like that. It probably doesn't weigh much more than 20 tonnes. You can see that the carrier vehicle has several of the wheels jacked up because they're not needed.

It will have lost around 95% of its launch weight because it's mostly liquid oxygen and fuel. Once launched, the majority of that will be gone in less than 3 minutes.

[p1stonhead]

Beati Dogu said:

It's certainly big and bulky, but I don't think it's actually that heavy. Especially after it's pumped empty and they remove the legs like that. It probably doesn't weigh much more than 20 tonnes. You can see that the carrier vehicle has several of the wheels jacked up because they're not needed.

It will have lost around 95% of its launch weight because it's mostly liquid oxygen and fuel. Once launched, the majority of that will be gone in less than 3 minutes.

20-26 tonnes I read depending on a few factors which I dont understand

[Beati Dogu]

Yeah, the landing gear weighs less than a Tesla Model S (about 2.1 tonnes) according to Elon Musk.

[Motorsport_is_Expensive]

I was impressed when I thought it was a wee little thing. Now I'm just floored by it! Ha.

[Beati Dogu]

Just wait until they try to land 3 of them in one go - The Falcon Heavy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ca6x4QbpoM

The maiden flight should be towards the end of this year or early next.

They're more likely to try to land the centre rocket on the barge, as it'll continue much further downrange. This is one of the main reasons they wanted to nail a barge landing on the last Falcon 9 launch.

[Flooble]

What are they going to do with the other two rockets on the Falcon heavy? Back to the launch site as they will not be as far downrange?

[CrutyRammers]

Eric Mc said:

You can see the stage has taken a bit of a beating. Apart from the evidence of charring and smuts from the engines, the engine bells themselves do seem to show a few dents and creases.

Watching the latest video linked above, it looks like that, but when you look closer I think that the creases are just in the fabric covers they've put over the engines.

[p1stonhead]

Flooble said:

What are they going to do with the other two rockets on the Falcon heavy? Back to the launch site as they will not be as far downrange?

They are going to land them all.

[callmedave]

p1stonhead said:

They are going to land them all.

now they have proven it with one, makes sense to repeat it as much as possible. will be amazing to watch.

[p1stonhead]

callmedave said:

p1stonhead said:

They are going to land them all.

now they have proven it with one, makes sense to repeat it as much as possible. will be amazing to watch.

Yeah I cant wait to see them try. Landing 3 would be another level.

[Flooble]

p1stonhead said:

Yeah I cant wait to see them try. Landing 3 would be another level.

Is that why they have more than one barge? Formation flying!

[neenaw]

I can remember when I was a kid and it was always really exciting watching the shuttle launches on the news when my Dad used to tell me they were on. Eventually my parents took us to Florida when I was about 9 or 10 and visiting Kennedy Space Center and thinking it was the best thing in the world.
As I grew up I became less and less interested in space travel and shuttle launches etc.

Over the past year or 18 months I've been feeling like a kid again, really looking forward to the Space X launches. The stuff these guys are doing feels almost as big a thing as the Shuttle was all those years ago.

I really can't wait to see the launch and landing of the Falcon Heavy now!

[Eric Mc]

I was a child of the Apollo era and the current developments, both in manned and unmanned spaceflight, are to me, renewing my interest in spaceflight.