On Dec 8, 1:23*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 12/8/2010 9:55 AM, Pat Flannery wrote:

Whole ascent went just great, and they got some really good video of the
stage burns and Dragon separation.

Good communications with Dragon, and she is firing her thrusters.
No word yet if they got a successful parachute recovery on the first stage.

Pat

Since the first stage represents most of the hardware - recovery of it
is potentially very interesting in producing a low-cost operation. I
know they had cracks on their expansion nozzle after testing the upper
stage engines. First stage seemed to be in better shape after testing
- despite high pressure in the chamber during one of the tests.

What was the TRL-rating of the parachute recovery system before they
flew it here? I think theyre calling it an evaluation - before making
claims about it - which is sensible. Still, reusable systems are the
way to go where possible. The first stage is low hanging fruit as
Buzz Aldrin has been saying for 40 years, and vonBraun said for 40
years before that! I'm glad to see SpaceX is doing something about
it.