Falcon 9 Launch Success

Congratulations to SpaceX on the sucess of the Falcon 9. The best
video clip is with the CNN story:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/spa...ex.html?hpt=T2

It should be remembered that rocket science is all its cracked up to
be; failures can and do happen. But still, here's hoping SpaceX has
continued success.

On Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:45:57 -0400, Michael Gallagher
wrote:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/spa...ex.html?hpt=T2

It should be remembered that rocket science is all its cracked up to
be; failures can and do happen. But still, here's hoping SpaceX has
continued success.

Congratulations, SpaceX!

I'm not the company's No.1 fan, but I've said all along I'll applaud
them *after* they achieve success, not before. They achieved it today.
Woo hoo! (clap-clap-clap-clap-clap...)

Brian

On 6/4/2010 2:45 PM, Michael Gallagher wrote:

Congratulations to SpaceX on the sucess of the Falcon 9. The best
video clip is with the CNN story:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/spa...ex.html?hpt=T2

If you go right to the beginning of that video, you will see the giant
insect that BoeLockMart sent to destroy the rocket.
Luckily, it didn't succeed. :-)

Pat

On Jun 4, 4:23*pm, Brian Thorn wrote:
On Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:45:57 -0400, Michael Gallagher

wrote:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/spa...ex.html?hpt=T2

It should be remembered that rocket science is all its cracked up to
be; failures can and do happen. *But still, here's hoping SpaceX has
continued success.

Congratulations, SpaceX!

I'm not the company's No.1 fan, but I've said all along I'll applaud
them *after* they achieve success, not before. They achieved it today.
Woo hoo! (clap-clap-clap-clap-clap...)

At least two notable events occured out of spec, however; the roll
oscillation seen towards the end of the second stage burn has now been
confirmed as unexpected and the first stage did not survive to be
recovered as hoped for, and the floating debris is being recovered by
Freedom Star. I don't know how this constant failure to recover the
Falcon 1 and now 9 first stages are going to affect Space X's
operations plans, and their hoped for reduction of launch costs.

Oh well, at least this first flight went far, far better than Falcon
1's did, and that is a good thing!
-Mike
-Mike.

On 6/4/2010 8:42 PM, Mike DiCenso wrote:


At least two notable events occured out of spec, however; the roll
oscillation seen towards the end of the second stage burn has now been
confirmed as unexpected and the first stage did not survive to be
recovered as hoped for, and the floating debris is being recovered by
Freedom Star. I don't know how this constant failure to recover the
Falcon 1 and now 9 first stages are going to affect Space X's
operations plans, and their hoped for reduction of launch costs.

Although I can see recovering something the size of Falcon-1's first
stage via parachute, trying it on something the size of Falcon-9's
sounds like it's going to be tricky, especially if you want it back in
good enough shape to reuse. It's a lot less robust than the big steel
casings on the Shuttle SRB, and a lot of those segments got damaged
enough during flight and recovery early on that they were never reused.
Unless they can get this system working in the next flight or two, I
think there's going to be a great temptation to ditch the recovery
system in favor of more orbital payload capability.

Pat

On 6/4/2010 3:23 PM, Brian Thorn wrote:

I'm not the company's No.1 fan, but I've said all along I'll applaud
them *after* they achieve success, not before. They achieved it today.
Woo hoo! (clap-clap-clap-clap-clap...)

Here's some other reactions to it:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...foes-speak-out

Pat

On 5/06/2010 8:45 AM, Michael Gallagher wrote:

Congratulations to SpaceX on the sucess of the Falcon 9. The best
video clip is with the CNN story:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/spa...ex.html?hpt=T2

It should be remembered that rocket science is all its cracked up to
be; failures can and do happen. But still, here's hoping SpaceX has
continued success.


Apparently this launch caused some "UFO" sighting in Eastern Australia.

TV commentary suggests that it was tumbling and venting fuel. See also

http://player.video.news.com.au/hera...7l41C56_Iljtsw

Sylvia.

On Jun 4, 6:45*pm, Michael Gallagher wrote:
Congratulations to SpaceX on the sucess of the Falcon 9. *The best
video clip is with the CNN story:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/spa...ex.html?hpt=T2

It should be remembered that rocket science is all its cracked up to
be; failures can and do happen. *But still, here's hoping SpaceX has
continued success.

The launch version I saw at staging, showed the 2nd stage engine bell
heating up and turning yellow then the video stopped. Very cool in
any case..............Doc

Great job by SpaceX to make a rocket this complex succeed on the first
try. There were anomalies (having no anomalies would be downright
weird) but, when you put your payload precisely in the orbit you want
it, that's the definitition of a highly successful launch.
Boeing and LockMart deserved praise for making the newest versions of
Atlas and Delta work well on the first and (so far) every launch, but
they were coming off a heritage of decades of evolving these designs.
SpaceX did something remarkable, with only the lessons of a much
smaller vehicle to validate Falcon-9 design ideas.
It's my opinion that SpaceX may have relied too heavily on their
computer simulations with the Falcon-1, given that they lost two birds
to problems (stage bump and propellant slosh) discovered in the 1950s.
They were certainly aware of these problems (I spoke once with Elon
Musk about the history of new vehicles and found him extremely well
informed on the subject), but relied on solutions proven in their
simulations rather than building a bigger margin for error into their
birds. Fortunately, one of the critical things Musk and company did
right was create a program with realistic expectations and the
resources to survive early failures and incorporate the lessons
learned, something many other entreprenuers could not or did not do.
The success of Falcon-9 indicates they found the right balances in
design, construction, and testing this time out. There's a lot to work
yet to come, and there may well be failures before the design is
perfected, but this is a huge step forward.
Champagne in Ten Forward to the entire company!

Matt Bille
Space historian/writer
author, The First Space Race
www.mattwriter.com

On Jun 4, 6:45*pm, Michael Gallagher wrote:
Congratulations to SpaceX on the sucess of the Falcon 9. *The best
video clip is with the CNN story:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/spa...ex.html?hpt=T2

It should be remembered that rocket science is all its cracked up to
be; failures can and do happen. *But still, here's hoping SpaceX has
continued success.

Thanks for that video link.
Congrats to SpaceX.

Bob Clark