Dragon is in Orbit!

Congratulations to the SpaceX team.

Was looking at their website and I watched the video showing
how they plan to make falcon/dragon 100% reusable.

To be honest I immediately thought that's crazy - it'll never work.
Especially the big first stage of the rocket tumbling back to earth
with an eventual soft vertical thruster landing.

Some of the craziest ideas work out great in the end so maybe this
plan of SpaceX's is going to be one of them.

--
T

In article , says...

Congratulations to the SpaceX team.

Was looking at their website and I watched the video showing
how they plan to make falcon/dragon 100% reusable.

To be honest I immediately thought that's crazy - it'll never work.
Especially the big first stage of the rocket tumbling back to earth
with an eventual soft vertical thruster landing.

Quite a few people said the same about DC-X, but it was quite successful
at doing pretty much exactly what SpaceX wants to do with its Falcon 9
first stage.

Some of the craziest ideas work out great in the end so maybe this
plan of SpaceX's is going to be one of them.

Actually, I see VTVL as being the sane approach. With minimal hardware
(added dry mass and added complexity), it can turn an expendable into a
reusable. To me VTVL is the KISS approach (Keep it simple, Stupid!).

HTHL is insane to me, and VTHL is "just" crazy. Both of those opinions
are based on added dry mass and added complexity. Added complexity
drives up costs and generally increases failure modes.

Jeff
--
" Ares 1 is a prime example of the fact that NASA just can't get it
up anymore... and when they can, it doesn't stay up long. "
- tinker

I think Ares which is an anagram or Arse of course was inteneded to be a
place marker and not a serious project. However no doubt some very
interesting test results were produced. I knew it was a bit of a joke when I
heard they were going to walk it off the pad as they did. You don't waste
good fuel that way if you are expecting a lot from your launch.
Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
...
In article , says...

Congratulations to the SpaceX team.

Was looking at their website and I watched the video showing
how they plan to make falcon/dragon 100% reusable.

To be honest I immediately thought that's crazy - it'll never work.
Especially the big first stage of the rocket tumbling back to earth
with an eventual soft vertical thruster landing.

Quite a few people said the same about DC-X, but it was quite successful
at doing pretty much exactly what SpaceX wants to do with its Falcon 9
first stage.

Some of the craziest ideas work out great in the end so maybe this
plan of SpaceX's is going to be one of them.

Actually, I see VTVL as being the sane approach. With minimal hardware
(added dry mass and added complexity), it can turn an expendable into a
reusable. To me VTVL is the KISS approach (Keep it simple, Stupid!).

HTHL is insane to me, and VTHL is "just" crazy. Both of those opinions
are based on added dry mass and added complexity. Added complexity
drives up costs and generally increases failure modes.

Jeff
--
" Ares 1 is a prime example of the fact that NASA just can't get it
up anymore... and when they can, it doesn't stay up long. "
- tinker