Support NeoGAF

[CyclopsRock]

all it has to do is direct the parachuting rocket/engine to a specific GPS location, intercept it while falling back to earth by a helicopter dangling a heavy cable/hook, and then somehow the helicopter has to hook onto it without getting its rotors fucked up in the parachute? Sounds like the helicopter would need to intercept at altitude and then descend rapidly after the parachute passes in order to catch it up? Nice idea but sounds messy - also less refactorable for future space exploration - being able to land on other planets/surfaces could be a nice secondary revenue source for SpaceX

Well, quite - you're not going to land on Mars with a helicopter. But then again, I suppose they're thinking relatively mid-term with this; If they can get it right they'll be able to reduce the cost of launch pretty hugely (the article there states $200m per launch - I suspect they're being ambitious here but it's a lot of money either way). And I agree that it sounds messy but I assume these guys have some idea of how they'll do it... Or, you'd like to think they do.

 

[E-Cat]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/614756523244437504

Next attempt coming up!

 

[Jezbollah]

CRS7 launch is at 10:21am EST today (15:21 BST).

Lucky 7 for the first stage (I hope!)

 

[CrunchyFrog]

Hey I might actually catch this one live

 

[jotun?]

They posted another video from the CRS-6 landing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVb5cTPxD2w

It starts about 50 seconds before the other video while it's in freefall, and makes it look even more impressive that it manages to get anywhere close to success

 

[Crispy75]

They posted another video from the CRS-6 landing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVb5cTPxD2w

It starts about 50 seconds before the other video while it's in freefall, and makes it look even more impressive that it manages to get anywhere close to success

The angle of attack is incredible. At ~7s into that video, it's got to be at least 15°

It's a 45m blunt-ended tube, but they're actively flying it with great accuracy. Amazing.

 

[Tugatrix]

They posted another video from the CRS-6 landing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVb5cTPxD2w

It starts about 50 seconds before the other video while it's in freefall, and makes it look even more impressive that it manages to get anywhere close to success

Amazing pinpoint accuracy, shame they paid Michael Bay for the after show

 

[Winterblink]

Some links for everyone:

Reddit's thread with launch updates: https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/3b27hk/rspacex_crs7_official_launch_discussion_updates/

And the webcast page that will go live with a stream in approx 30 mins. http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

 

[gwarm01]

How far away can you see this launch?

 

[Trickster]

Man I hope they do it today. Would be so fantastic to see

 

[Tapiozona]

Why are they doing it over water, I.e. waves, currents, swells, etc vs. a desert landing?

 

[Winterblink]

Why are they doing it over water, is waves, currents, swells, etc vs. a desert landing?

There is a land... uh, landing, happening soon. I think one of the main reasons is safety, but also they are waiting on facilities to be built.

Live stream is active now, by the way. Not showing much at the moment

Edit: broadcast has started. They have a cool timeline at the bottom of the stream now showing all the major points leading up to and after launch.

 

[Par Score]

Why are they doing it over water, I.e. waves, currents, swells, etc vs. a desert landing?

Safety reasons.

Getting places to agree to letting you try to land a rocket on them is a little tricky until you've proven you can do it.

It's not just the landing site, but any other land you're going to be flying over. There's a reason launch facilities tend to be on coasts, because nobody wants what is effectively a massive fuel-air bomb flying over them.

 

[JambiBum]

They're going to be sending Microsoft's HoloLens up to the astronauts in the ISS on this trip. Never thought about it being useful for astronauts.

 

[Par Score]

We are a go for terminal count! Fancy new launch graphics on http://www.spacex.com/webcast/ too.

Here's today's floating dart board:

 

[jotun?]

It also requires less extra fuel to land at sea, because they've already launched in that direction. All they have to do is slow down. To land back at the launch site, they'd have to turn all the way around, then slow back down again. They do plan on doing it that way, but it will be after they do some upgrades to the rocket and get permission.

 

[DrForester]

That bird gonna die...

 

[Par Score]

Strongback away, we are on internals only.

 

[Par Score]

And away she goes!

Everything nominal so far, and these lovely clear skies means we should get to see the separation and burn-back of the first stage.

Edit: Oh dear.

 

[DrForester]

Oh Shit @_@

 

[RyanardoDaVinci]

Did it just explode...

 

[hobblygobbly]

Goddamn. The silence.

 

[s_mirage]

Oh dear.

 

[EarsOfASnake]

oh.

 

[Disorientator]

Noooooo

 

[Par Score]

Yep, space is still hard

 

[JambiBum]

RIP HoloLens

 

[Fried Food]

did i blow up?

 

[santi_yo]

Oh f***. My first live watch. The Force is not with me.

 

[cameron]

Damn.

 

[Epsilon-delta]

The rocket blew up.

 

[Yamauchi]

Ouch

 

[Luigiv]

Damnit.

 

[E-Cat]

Fuck me.

 

[luxarific]

Ugh. Very glad people weren't on this. Condolences to the team. Boy, do we need a space elevator, like yesterday.

 

[Winterblink]

You can rewind the stream. Holy crap.

 

[ZeezbruhTV]

Nooo, bummer

 

[InfernoNR]

Well shit.

 

[AmyS]

Holy Fuck it exploded!

 

[Yamauchi]

I still want to go up in a Soyuz.

 

[Trickster]

goddamnit man

Of course it's on the launch were they start off by saying how everything's been going smoothly and they've been doing things faster than ever :|

 

[Chezzymann]

I was gonna tune in to watch it but I guess it exploded 0.0

 

[failgubbe]

That sucks

 

[FreddieQuell]

Oh f***. My first live watch. The Force is not with me.

Last time I watched a live launch was Antares. I don't think I'll flip on the live stream next time.

 

[A-Dark-Injection]

Damn, hope they find the cause.

 

[Blablurn]

gifs anyone?

 

[Megalosaro]

No one is hurt right.

 

[legacyzero]

It seemed to be going so well, too. Dammit.

Just seemingly out of nowhere. Toothpicks.

 

[Fried Food]

Well that was something. Glad I saw it live.

 

[hobblygobbly]