Falcon first stage finished

So far so good!

In article . com,
"Vince Cate" wrote:

So far so good!

Yep! Looked smooth as silk. Fairing separation also went smoothly.

The video feed cut out at about T+5 minutes though, at least on my
machine. Hopefully that doesn't indicate an unplanned rapid disassembly.

On Mar 20, 9:19 pm, Joe Strout wrote:
The video feed cut out at about T+5 minutes though, at least on my
machine. Hopefully that doesn't indicate an unplanned rapid disassembly.

I wondered if my post got too many people trying to watch the feed for
their server...

On Mar 20, 9:21 pm, "Vince Cate" wrote:
On Mar 20, 9:19 pm, Joe Strout wrote:

The video feed cut out at about T+5 minutes though, at least on my
machine. Hopefully that doesn't indicate an unplanned rapid disassembly.

I wondered if my post got too many people trying to watch the feed for
their server...

My feed is out too. Man that engine bell was lit up like a lantern.

Datacide wrote:
My feed is out too. Man that engine bell was lit up like a lantern.

It certainly was - is that "normal?" Didn't look that way to my
untrained peanut-gallery eyes.

rick jones
--
oxymoron n, commuter in a gas-guzzling luxury SUV with an American flag
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Rick Jones wrote in
:

Datacide wrote:
My feed is out too. Man that engine bell was lit up like a lantern.

It certainly was - is that "normal?" Didn't look that way to my
untrained peanut-gallery eyes.

That would be normal for a radiatively cooled engine like this
design. I've seen others heated to a yellow glow.

The video we did get was most dramatic!

--Damon

Joe Strout wrote in news:joe-
:


The video feed cut out at about T+5 minutes though, at least on my
machine. Hopefully that doesn't indicate an unplanned rapid disassembly.

This looks bad. There was some oscillation during second stage
operation before I lost video feed. Reports are that telemetry was
lost. I'd say it's a bust.

However, they got this far and no doubt learned some lessons, and
showed a surprising system robustness in being able to recycle for
launch on short order.

We'll have to wait for data analysis to determine what went wrong
with the second stage; guidance platform or hydraulic control of
the engine seem likely culprits.

--Damon

Seems it made it into space, but does not say orbit. Kind of sounds
like there might have been a problem. No matter what, this is much
better than the other launch, so there is real progress.

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/

http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon/f2/status.html

"Vince Cate" wrote in
oups.com:


Seems it made it into space, but does not say orbit. Kind of sounds
like there might have been a problem. No matter what, this is much
better than the other launch, so there is real progress.

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/

http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon/f2/status.html

I'd have liked a fully successful launch, but a lot of hardware
was validated. I agree, it's definite progress. We'll have to wait
and see if range tracking could confirm a successful trajectory or
not.

--Damon

At ongoing chat at:
http://costeffectivedev.com/

someone says it looks like there might have been a wobble starting at
the
separation and they posted an animated gif:

http://masten-space.com/images/separation.gif

And video at:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/_file...1-20032007.wmv