That's from the first attempt a few months ago.

Well poop....

Very cool pic...

http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/f...?itok=SInDeNzG

The Human Factors engineering that went into that capsule...damn.

I was there. Very damn cool.

<iframe src="https://vine.co/v/euEpIVegiIx/embed/simple" width="480" height="480" frameborder="0"></iframe><script src="https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js"></script>

It was swinging quite a bit coming into the barge. Gotta get that stabilized.

Thats a major jump forward.:thumb:

Better quality + explosion.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BhMSzC1crr0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

If you turn on high res, you can see the thrusters at the top trying to keep it upright. Just not quite.

One more for posterity:

<iframe src="https://vid.me/e/i6o5?loop=1&amp;muted=1" width="532" height="480" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen scrolling="no"></iframe>

I took an advanced College Physics course. We had to plot a trajectory and landing on the moon. This was pre-internet so there was no cheating. Those landings are so damn hard to do because of weight/mass/height and trying to keep the center.

Shiny new barge, now with four-leaf clover:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/550/19...cd60b47a_h.jpg

Next landing attempt is this Sunday at 9:21 a.m. Central. Video will be on the usual sources.

The "Of Course I Still Love You" is classic...

Apparently they're naming their drone ships after Iain M. Banks' Culture series. I kind of hope they name the next one (if there is a next one) "So Much For Subtlety".

Or, "I wouldn't like to be a character in one of my books" - that might work...

T- 20 minutes. Webcast should go live any minute.

Blew up. ****.

Not a good year for ISS resupply missions. Hope this doesn't set SpaceX back too much. :(

P00p, missed it... Ugh!

That is disappointing to say the least. I know these things will happen and all but, as DaFace noted, it has not been a good year in the industry.

Makes one wonder if perhaps the accidents aren't all accidental.

....what?

We're talking about a competitive public industry with billions in future revenue on the line. So it would not surprise me if some of the events this year were the result of industrial sabotage. Emphasis of course on 'some'. There are always going to be accidents.

Boeing pissed Elon is eating from its honey pot?

It is possible I suppose. Especially when you consider that up until this point, "cheaper" hasn't really been much of a target.

I'd hate losing free money too.

I think people underestimate the difficulty factor here.

It doesn't take much to go from 'controlled explosion' to 'explosion'.
Hope they get back up soon.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3MbsWoeS8uk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is really tough to do. They will get it done.

The difficulty is exactly why I mentioned that accidents will happen.

I was just throwing out the possibility that maybe there is or will be some industrial espionage going on, and that the security now that we're in the realm of public industry might not be the same as what it was and is with NASA and the Air Force. And I was thinking more along the lines of possible sabotage by Russian interests, than say domestic competition between SpaceX and Orbital ATK, since the Russians stand to lose a good chunk of money to launches by domestic enterprises.

Just a theory...

Russia lost an ISS launch recently as well.

Seems that all scores are settled, then. If I'm sitting up there in the ISS I'm hoping they're done ****ing with each other now.

Friday is a key launch. Same vehicle as the Russian one that went haywire a month or so ago (Pegasus) for another ISS resupply mission. They have plenty of supplies up there normally, but they've lost two in a row and (I think) 3 of the last 4 at this point. If the one on Friday has issues, things may start getting dicey up there.

Preliminary conclusions are that a strut from a third-party supplier (unnamed) snapped well below certified load, causing a helium tank to roll around all over the place and eventually rupture the second stage LOX tank. Wouldn't want to be that supplier right now.

One kind of cool outcome - they determined that the Dragon capsule itself survived and could have been saved entirely if the software program had been written to deploy the parachutes upon rocket failure. They're building that in so that, in the future, it should be able to save itself if this were to happen again.

They're not committing to any particular time frame, but launches could resume as early as September.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/20/90...ause-explained

This....

50cent O-ring.

These are just drawings, but it's fun to see the game plan visually.

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr +JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhL w7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nY FnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/7oHujXQEag/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Illustration of Dragon in Mars orbit</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-09-14T21:56:25+00:00">Sep 14, 2015 at 2:56pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr +JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhL w7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nY FnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/7oH2H2wEav/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Entering the atmosphere</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-09-14T21:57:27+00:00">Sep 14, 2015 at 2:57pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr +JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhL w7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nY FnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/7oH8AFwEa_/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Supersonic retro thrusters firing</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-09-14T21:58:15+00:00">Sep 14, 2015 at 2:58pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:48.9351851852% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr +JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhL w7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nY FnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/7oIBzNQEbK/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Touching down</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-09-14T21:59:03+00:00">Sep 14, 2015 at 2:59pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr +JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhL w7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nY FnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/7oIOmKwEbl/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Red Dragon on Mars</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-09-14T22:00:48+00:00">Sep 14, 2015 at 3:00pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote>
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9pillaOxGCo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Pretty amazing, but that looked a little hairy at the end. Engines looked like they were gimballing like crazy.

That's simply awesome....

I agree. I definitely had some yaw in my seat watching the video. LMAO

They also have a long way to go before getting too excited about this. It takes a lot more effort to slow a rocket down from an orbital launch.

Elon is not impressed.

With good reason. BO only got to about 1/10th the speed SpaceX has been trying to slow from.

these two grew up together. i am concerned.

I am just worried about the sand critters that obviously got fried in that landing. Oh PETA?

Do you by chance know the cost of a BO launch ready rocket?

I know Space X is in the 60-65 million range.

Blue Origin has never launched anything into orbit, so there isn't really anything to compare SpaceX's costs to. I'm sure that BO's recent flight was considerably cheaper than that though given the significantly lower fuel requirements (ignoring all the R&D time anyway).

Looks like SpaceX is aiming for December 15th to finally fly again. They will again be aiming to land the first stage, and this time it will be at their new facility on land (no barges).

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SpaceX RTF mission with Falcon 9 and ORBCOMM-2 has a long window of 2154-0054 local, Dec. 15. Static Fire next week. <a href="https://t.co/X4tnc8qnd8">https://t.co/X4tnc8qnd8</a></p>&mdash; Chris B - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/672588272519012352">December 4, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Did they say why land instead of a barge?

That's always been what they were aiming for. I'd imagine it's just a matter of the facility now being ready along with the confidence that they will hit the target at least even if it still falls over. I'm sure it's easier to land on land than on a barge also.

It sounds like a totally cool place to work..

On the surface, sure, but it's pretty well-known that Musk is an insane workaholic and pretty much expects everyone else to be as well. I'm sure it's a very REWARDING place to work, but the hours are a bit much for most people.

Hard to disagree, but in my humble opinion/observation few huge leaps have come from people who don't burn the midnight oil.

But I'm not lost on the fact that some people take it too far and drive away the very support they might want and need.

Yeah, I work a pissload of hours, and I don't think I'm down for working there. Those mother****ers be crazy. And all for a wage.

It was my understanding that they were landing at Cape Canaveral, and the reason was to avoid the "moving target" that was the barge. I'd imagine they'd have less turbulent winds also.

This isn't to say they've given up on barge landings, but with the B.O. landing, and the willy nilly nature of public perception, no matter how wrong, the pressure is on.

They'll probably perfect landings on land, then move to the slightly more difficult barges.

Probably for more than just a wage.

You could be right. I'm pretty sure that the long-term hope is that they can basically take off and land from the same place so that they can just roll it off of the landing pad and into a hangar to re-check and re-fuel, but no clue what the constraints are that they're working through between now and then.

I do have to think that landing in a place with lower winds and more room for error has to be easier at least.

Not that I think a ton of you are anxiously looking for the webcast tonight, but it was bumped back to the 19th in the evening. I'll bump this an hour or so before because I'm a nerd.

did you see see the same launch?

If I may, can you bump it like way before? I would have missed this tonight as this is my goto spot for launch talk and I was busy with the dorks in DC.

Sure, I'll try to remember to give you a heads-up. Launch window is open for 3 hours (8:25-11:25 p.m. EST) on the 19th (Saturday).

Huh?

^ Gentleman and a scholar.

I don't really want to bump the thread every time there's some insignificant news to report, so I added a box to the OP that I'll update from time to time with the latest news. If you ever want to know what's up, search for the thread.

But for now, I'm bumping it because eDave wanted to know about the launch scheduled for tomorrow, and now it's NET (no earlier than) Sunday night.

Now that is what I'm talking about! All you other CP ****s should follow DaFace's lead.

Thanks compadre.

Reddit /r/spacex thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...update_thread/

Thanks DaFace...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Currently looking good for a Sunday night (~8pm local) attempted orbital launch and rocket landing at Cape Canaveral</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/678152249369952258">December 19, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Kind of cool summary of the sequence of events:

https://i.imgur.com/D9BdO86.png

bumping anyway at the 2 hour countdown!

:D

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New photo of <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX">@SpaceX</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash">#Falcon9</a> in advance of tonight&#39;s ORBCOMM <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OG2?src=hash">#OG2</a> launch. She&#39;s a beauty. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash">#SpaceX</a> <a href="https://t.co/cUhCgGieiP">pic.twitter.com/cUhCgGieiP</a></p>&mdash; ORBCOMM (@ORBCOMM_Inc) <a href="https://twitter.com/ORBCOMM_Inc/status/678649734505058304">December 20, 2015</a></blockquote>
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New Reddit /r/spacex launch thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...ficial_launch/

Current weather loop:

https://i.imgur.com/qIDcuT2.webm

https://i.imgur.com/k98RbOf.webm

Summary: sporadic showers with the possibility to be an issue are still around, and probably will remain that way through the attempt. That being said, these clouds remain pretty small / short and it seems like metar continues to report that the cloud deck isn't full overcast, so we definitely have a shot here. A instantaneous window I'd feel better about, but let's see what happens.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O5bTbVbe4e4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

T -15min

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O5bTbVbe4e4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Webcast is live. We're a "go" at T-minus 15 minutes.

Go/No go to auto countdown poll complete. All are go. Engines cooling. Propellant loading. T- 6min

They've really bumped up the production values for this launch. Hope we get a nice live shot of the landing.

(Well, assuming it doesn't blow up in the air again. :sulk:)

There goes the strongback. I'm getting excited.

Shot from landing zone camera

https://i.imgur.com/uE1nUcq.jpg

Please don't blow up, please don't blow up, please don't blow up...

Damn that's beautiful

MECO. Stage 1 is on its way back.