SpaceX ORBCOMM-2 Full Launch Webcast

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For those of you that missed it, here is the complete webcast of SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch and landing. For those of you that are pressed for time, or to impatient to wait, he landing happens around the 30 minute mark.
 
Awesome.


I look forward to seeing the European solution that lands like a plane. But that's a long way off last I checked.

Re-using engines and whatever else can be reused is sure to drive down the cost of space access.
 
LOVED the folks going crazy. Clearly this made their year as a team. And what a baller accomplishment. But I've seen some weird coverage around the web, for example, from the coverage at TheVerge:
Not even the "USA!" chants could spoil the moment
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Uh... what? Can someone explain this to me? Is this just sour grapes from a European?
 
That is freakin' AWESOME. Keep in mind that (IIRC) they have no throttle control on that engine. It's either 100% on or it's off. Which means the rocket has to be *very* precise when turning on the engine for that final suicide burn (yes, that's a real term. Thanks KSP!) If I were on that team, I'd be just as stoked--they just saved something like $9 million by sticking that landing.
 
Mohonri said:
That is freakin' AWESOME. Keep in mind that (IIRC) they have no throttle control on that engine. It's either 100% on or it's off. Which means the rocket has to be *very* precise when turning on the engine for that final suicide burn (yes, that's a real term. Thanks KSP!) If I were on that team, I'd be just as stoked--they just saved something like $9 million by sticking that landing.
Click to expand...

Correction--the rocket costs $16 million, not $9 million.
 
Mohonri said:
That is freakin' AWESOME. Keep in mind that (IIRC) they have no throttle control on that engine. It's either 100% on or it's off. Which means the rocket has to be *very* precise when turning on the engine for that final suicide burn (yes, that's a real term. Thanks KSP!) If I were on that team, I'd be just as stoked--they just saved something like $9 million by sticking that landing.
Click to expand...

...Aaaand another correction--the engine they're using *is* throttleable, so it's not a pure suicide burn.
 
Modred189 said:
LOVED the folks going crazy. Clearly this made their year as a team. And what a baller accomplishment. But I've seen some weird coverage around the web, for example, from the coverage at TheVerge:

Uh... what? Can someone explain this to me? Is this just sour grapes from a European?
Click to expand...

I think this guy put it nicely:

To quote Carl Sagan, speaking of looking back when far into space: "From this vantage point, our obsession with nationalism is nowhere in evidence."

I used to work at NASA, but never did I think I was doing the duty of an America, I was doing the duty of a human. Sorry if it rubbed people the wrong way.
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Source: http://arstechnica.com/science/2015...ceflight/?comments=1&post=30332341&mode=quote
 
Wierdo said:
I think this guy put it nicely:

Source: http://arstechnica.com/science/2015...ceflight/?comments=1&post=30332341&mode=quote
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A: Ars Technica commenter, so, meh
B: Carl Sagan quote, so meh
C: I think it's BS (no offense). If standing on a different place makes you question your priorities, I'm not sure how tightly they were held originally. I mean, look at it this way. NO other country is doing space like we do space. NO ONE else is tackling the questions we are. The Russians are good at orbit because they are making money off it. For now. The Europeans have sent some probes to to other bodies, but not of the complexity or success with which NASA has. Asia is essentially a non starter, with its total successful missions countable on one hand. (Honorable mention to India's Mars Orbiter Mission!)

We've gone past DOING things in space, and are now perfecting the practice, innovating to lower costs and expand effective capabilities.

NO ONE ELSE can do what we are doing. No other country can afford it. No other country has the private industry or the successful private sector that we do. No one else comes close in almost any aspect of our space program. (again, Russia comes close, in a narrow field of Earth to ISS trips, which they are very good at).

If that's not the kind of arena that ought to spark some patriotic pride, I don't know what is, and I can't imagine a scenario where it is more appropriate.
 
I'm not sure how pride factors into this. Pride =/= patriotism.

pride
prīd
noun
1. a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very HAPPY that the USA has been and will continue to be an innovator in this arena, but I cannot be *proud* based on its actual definition. I'm very HAPPY to be an American, I'm HAPPY that I live in the USA. I am not proud to be an American. I'm an American because of my parents geographical location at my birth. How can that translate into pride?

Regardless of pride or patriotism, I view these accomplishments as a win, an advancement, for humanity. Limiting the accomplishment to a particular nation only isolates and separates the world. We need for humanity to strive to work together in all aspects... and I think that is what Sagan was referring to. Idealistic? Absolutely... but at one time, motorized vehicles, flight, and walking on the moon were considered to be idealistic.

If there should have been any chant, it should have been "SpaceX! SpaceX!"
 
I think their chant was appropriate considering the Falcon 9 was partially funded by the US government aka tax dollars
 
I think chanting "USA" undercuts the accomplishment that was actually performed by the SpaceX team. If you're going to chant "USA" because it was a partial funding stream, then you need to chant for "all" participants in the entire funding stream.
 
Delemon said:
I'm not sure how pride factors into this. Pride =/= patriotism.

pride
prīd
noun
1. a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very HAPPY that the USA has been and will continue to be an innovator in this arena, but I cannot be *proud* based on its actual definition. I'm very HAPPY to be an American, I'm HAPPY that I live in the USA. I am not proud to be an American. I'm an American because of my parents geographical location at my birth. How can that translate into pride?

Regardless of pride or patriotism, I view these accomplishments as a win, an advancement, for humanity. Limiting the accomplishment to a particular nation only isolates and separates the world. We need for humanity to strive to work together in all aspects... and I think that is what Sagan was referring to. Idealistic? Absolutely... but at one time, motorized vehicles, flight, and walking on the moon were considered to be idealistic.

If there should have been any chant, it should have been "SpaceX! SpaceX!"
Click to expand...
The phrase I used was "patriotic pride", so of course they don't mean the same thing, since that'd be redundant. Taking pride in the accomplishments of one's country is patriotic pride. Just as fatherly pride is pride in the accomplishments of your kid.

At the same time, I get the "cumbaya, humanity" approach, but space-faring humans don't lose their genetic predispositions to separate "self" from "other" in social interactions. And that only counts when we are a space-faring species. We aren't that yet, and it will be a long time until we are more than a collection of space-faring nations.

This was an American accomplishment, as much as the development of the airplane, the development of the polio vaccine or any other private endeavor by Americans.
vasta said:
I think their chant was appropriate considering the Falcon 9 was partially funded by the US government aka tax dollars
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And IIRC, ITAR means SpaceX is only Americans or permanent residents. So it's not like this is a multinational effort. American company. American workers. American tech. American success.
 
Mohonri said:
Correction--the rocket costs $16 million, not $9 million.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it's more:

"A jumbo jet costs about the same as one of our Falcon 9 rockets, but airlines don't junk a plane after a one-way trip from LA to New York," SpaceX explained on its blog. The company's rockets cost between $60 and $90 million.
Click to expand...
 
Just because we "aren't that yet" doesn't mean we can't start the groundwork an laying the foundation now. Its got to start somewhere, and some time... why not now?
 
Modred189 said:
The phrase I used was "patriotic pride", so of course they don't mean the same thing, since that'd be redundant. Taking pride in the accomplishments of one's country is patriotic pride. Just as fatherly pride is pride in the accomplishments of your kid.

At the same time, I get the "cumbaya, humanity" approach, but space-faring humans don't lose their genetic predispositions to separate "self" from "other" in social interactions. And that only counts when we are a space-faring species. We aren't that yet, and it will be a long time until we are more than a collection of space-faring nations.

This was an American accomplishment, as much as the development of the airplane, the development of the polio vaccine or any other private endeavor by Americans.

And IIRC, ITAR means SpaceX is only Americans or permanent residents. So it's not like this is a multinational effort. American company. American workers. American tech. American success.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Savov's attempt at stroking anti-American sentiment was pretty weak at best :p
You can see his bio here:
http://www.theverge.com/users/vladsavov

Is it really a surprise that a Bulgarian Englishman would say this? What a distraction to the bigger picture here.

Verge may want to consider evaluating his rhetoric if they don't want to be associated with this individual's insinuations and biases.
 
Because-
1- Chants of "USA USA USA" during a launch like this do not interfere with that at all because
2- We can't beginning that foundation until there is a multinational space organization. We can't have that yet because
3- The US (and to a lesser extent Russia and the EU, and behind them Japan and India and China) are so far ahead of every other country on this planet as to make any conversation of "we" entirely meaningless. "They" haven't done ANYTHING to contribute, and who are we to assign any responsibility to naive observers? What has North Korea done to deserve any piece of "we"? Indonesia? Brazil? Greenland?

So, to answer your question; laying the foundations require common ground to break and build upon. Without that, there's nothing to share.
 
(Sorry no edit:)
23282658734_571a193371_o.0.jpg
 
mi7chy said:
Sounds like it's more:($60-90 million)
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Yeah, I originally thought it was something like $150 million, but then I saw $9 million, then $16 million, and now you've seen $60-90MM. Any way you slice it, it's a big chunk of change.

Are they planning to bring S2 back to earth as well?
 
When that first stage landed I was hooping and hollering like a little kid. Then all 11 satelites off perfect. Absolutely fucking awesome!
 
Krab said:
I look forward to seeing the European solution that lands like a plane. But that's a long way off last I checked.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you're talking about Skylon? It's a very cool concept, and I hope it works well...but more than that, I hope they get to finish it. Seems like it's been "in development" for a long time. At this point I don't know how much of it really exists and how much of it only exists on paper.
 
wholy shit balls. Those engineers that designed this and the tradesmen that made the bits.... far out top shit! Not only did it land... but fuck me... bullseye anyone!!!
 
Modred189 said:
Uh... what? Can someone explain this to me? Is this just sour grapes from a European?
Click to expand...


I have seen the same sentiment expressed elsewhere. I can only assume it is indeed sour grapes and people projecting their general dislike and perception of Americans being less civilized.

Meanwhile there are a million examples of supposedly superior Europeans rioting and acting like destructive idiots over a ball being kicked around.
 
Delemon said:
I think chanting "USA" undercuts the accomplishment that was actually performed by the SpaceX team. If you're going to chant "USA" because it was a partial funding stream, then you need to chant for "all" participants in the entire funding stream.
Click to expand...

I was not bothered by the chanting of USA at all, but I was kind of surprised to hear it done. I was extremely happy and excited to see what those guys accomplished, but as a fellow American I did not feel the same sense of national accomplishment from the landing because I see private companies as their own self contained entities. Nasa landing on the moon was more of something the bulk of a nation could feel more invested in because the institution was public, Spacex is a totally private enterprise, and the victories there seem more about the actors directly involved and Elon Musk as the CEO.

The US can rightly take credit for creating a society and platform and talent pool where such amazing companies can rise and thrive and do great things, but can we take as much credit for this landing as the spacex guys themselves?

That is why I was a bit surprised they chanted USA, they seem to have MORE of a sense of national camaraderie about the accomplishment as insiders than I do as an outsider. And it was strange, but I appreciated it, even though I don't feel I had a damn thing to do with it.
 
tybert7 said:
I was not bothered by the chanting of USA at all, but I was kind of surprised to hear it done. I was extremely happy and excited to see what those guys accomplished, but as a fellow American I did not feel the same sense of national accomplishment from the landing because I see private companies as their own self contained entities. Nasa landing on the moon was more of something the bulk of a nation could feel more invested in because the institution was public, Spacex is a totally private enterprise, and the victories there seem more about the actors directly involved and Elon Musk as the CEO.

The US can rightly take credit for creating a society and platform and talent pool where such amazing companies can rise and thrive and do great things, but can we take as much credit for this landing as the spacex guys themselves?

That is why I was a bit surprised they chanted USA, they seem to have MORE of a sense of national camaraderie about the accomplishment as insiders than I do as an outsider. And it was strange, but I appreciated it, even though I don't feel I had a damn thing to do with it.
Click to expand...
Given the source of Musk's wealth (paypal), there's a good chance most of us *have* contributed monetarily, albeit indirectly :)
 
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