Space X - Dragon Launch Today

[dickymint]

[MartG]

Cool bit of video there - Dragon's strobe flashing in the darkness with the lights of Los Angeles below

[TheHeretic]

MartG said:

Cool bit of video there - Dragon's strobe flashing in the darkness with the lights of Los Angeles below

And then dragon got illuminated.

[TheHeretic]

I thought they were using metric? WTF is a "meedle"?

[MartG]

TheHeretic said:

I thought they were using metric? WTF is a "meedle"?

3/4 of a smidgen ?

[TheHeretic]

The feed seems to be going a bit funny whenever the gadgy starts speaking. Just me or anyone else having it?

[TheHeretic]

Very flaky feed now. Works for a few minutes, then off.

[MartG]

A couple of informative links

http://www.spacex.com/downloads/COTS-2-Press-Kit-5...

http://www.spacex.com/downloads/dragonlab-datashee...

[TheHeretic]

They got hold if it, anyway.

[MartG]

Is it just me, or does the Dutch astronaut sound more fluent in English than the American one, who is always going um...err... and repeating parts of his sentences

Edited by MartG on Friday 25th May 16:59

[TheHeretic]

[Einion Yrth]

TheHeretic said:

I'd just like to say Woo - fking hoo and huge congrats to Mr. Musk and SpaceX, in a small but significant way, the world just changed.

[TheHeretic]

Einion Yrth said:

I'd just like to say Woo - fking hoo and huge congrats to Mr. Musk and SpaceX, in a small but significant way, the world just changed.

A lot of doors just opened.

[MartG]

Details of the unberthing and re-entry coverage on Thursday http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/may/HQ_M12-00...

( IIRC CDT = BST-6 )

[Caruso]

The aborted launch aside, it's certainly been a very successful test flight so far. Even the aborted launch could be viewed as a success compared to a post launch explosion/termination of the flight which traditionally would be expected at this early stage in a new rocket's development.

[Eric Mc]

They actually said at one of the post launch press conferences that they think the aborted launch, if it had proceeded, would not have resulted in an expl;osion. The cut off criteria was pretty tight which is why the engine shut down.

[Eric Mc]

They are certainly aiming high - and hopefully now beginning to reap the commercial benefits of their (so far) success -

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1205/29falconheavy...

The Falcon Heavy is certainly a heavy lifter - about 60 tons into earth orbit. It will be the biggest lifter since teh Saturn V and Energia.

[Caruso]

Eric Mc said:

They are certainly aiming high - and hopefully now beginning to reap the commercial benefits of their (so far) success -

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1205/29falconheavy...

The Falcon Heavy is certainly a heavy lifter - about 60 tons into earth orbit. It will be the biggest lifter since teh Saturn V and Energia.

27 engines in the 1st stage though - reminiscent of the N1.

[Eric Mc]

The fairly reliable Russian R7 has 32.

[Caruso]

Eric Mc said:

The fairly reliable Russian R7 has 32.

I'm sure Spacex can make it work reliably and economically. But surely 5 F1-X engines would be cheaper in the long run?