Blue Origin

[Eric Mc]

They have had no deliberate manned splashdown.

But they have had a few unmanned ocean recoveries -

[Eric Mc]

Einion Yrth said:

Eric Mc said:

They fire so close to the ground that you don't get to see them. All you do see is a large puff of dust.

If you watch a Soyuz touching down, you will see something very similar.

Weird really, they have so little time to decelerate the vehicle that it can't be much more gentle than not bothering.

It works - as does the Russian system. As has been said, it reduces the descent velocity from 20 mph - 15 mph to 3 mph. Makes all the difference.

It kind of acts like an airbag - without the bag.

[Eric Mc]

That rocket motor is a thing of beauty. I hope it works as well as it looks.

[Eric Mc]

I think by "lost" they mean, self destructed in a rather spectacular fashion

That's rocket engineering for you. All these projects have moments like this. SpaceX, NASA, Virgin Galactic and now Blue Origin have all had their "Oh st" moments.

[Eric Mc]

Not to mention Gerry Anderson.

[Eric Mc]

The music is annoying. I hope there's an "unpackaged" version of the flight somewhere on youtube soon.

I like the drone shot though.

[Eric Mc]

The going up bit was a bit boring actually (although feeling the Gs build up might make it interesting).

Coming back down was REALLY scary.

[Eric Mc]

The three astronauts on the left are the crew for the first NASA SLS/Orion launch - now scheduled for 2040.

[Eric Mc]

2 minutes to go - currently in a Hold.

[Eric Mc]

The parachute deployment seemed very late.

[Eric Mc]

If the winds had been high enough to cause a problem, they would have scrubbed. Most drogue chutes deploy above 20,000 feet with mains out by 10,000 feet.

[Eric Mc]

Live coverage coming up -

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/abpic-media-pro...

[Eric Mc]

Looks interesting. But so far Blue Origin has yet to show an earth orbit capability, let alone sending stuff to the moon.

[Eric Mc]

Can't say he lacks ambition.

[Eric Mc]

RizzoTheRat said:

Eric Mc said:

Looks interesting. But so far Blue Origin has yet to show an earth orbit capability, let alone sending stuff to the moon.

It only took NASA 11 years go get from first orbit to the moon, so 5 years giving the improved technology available now...I reckon it's doable but I agree it's a a pretty ambitious target.

Are SpaceX still claiming they can do a manned flyby by 2023?

Some of the elements that allowed NASA's first moon landing in 1969 were already in the design phase as early as 1955 - so the technology required for a manned trip to the moon had already begun to be designed over 14 years ahead of the actual date the first landing occured. Obviously, other elements, such as the Lunar Module and the cryogenic upper stages of the Saturn V were started later. But even the cryogenic upper stage engines had their roots in 1950s programmes.

I still think that getting humans back on the moon by 2024 is nigh on impossible without a major national commitment and the release of much larger funds than Congress is prepared to release at this moment. Note that Bezos is only talking about supplying the descent stage for a lunar lander. Somebody else will have to design and build a pressurised ascent stage. And I simply don't see that being ready to put humans on the moon in less than five years.

[Eric Mc]

I presume this is the large lander that Bezos introduced us to a few months ago?

[Eric Mc]

[Eric Mc]

They'd better start doing something more than just sending rockets straight up and down.

[Eric Mc]

Less than two meters distance perhaps?

[Eric Mc]

Not much different to what Alan Shepard managed in 1961.