Falcon 9/Dragon: SUCCESS!!!!

[mmp121]

was it just me or...

Towards the end the 2nd stage camera seemed to show that it was rolling. I couldn't figure out if that was by design or some sort of control law problem.

Either way, it looked great! I am sure they will figure it out and have much more success in the future!

Go SpaceX, Go Falcon9, GO Dragon!

[Dr Mordrid]

The headline image on foxnews.com somehow seems appropriate....



SpaceX said they were going to test the roll control actuators, so that probably had a lot to do with it. If that started an abnormal roll they would have a lot of data to track down why. We'll know more after they do the post flight review, but it's certainly not a huge deal.

Senator Shelby et al (the naysayers) can now go to a corner, put on their beanies and shut the f*** up.

BTW: this F9 had an earlier build of the Merlin 1 engines with a total thrust of about 800,000 lbs. The current build takes that to over 1.1 million lbs. Nasty.

Fox News coverage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuwq4bNQ-gQ

[Dr Mordrid]

The orbit is nearly perfect.

GPS telemetry showed the rocket's second stage and Dragon capsule hit a bullseye.

SpaceX was shooting for a 250 km/155 mile circular orbit. They actually got an apogee (high point) <1% and a perigee (low point) 0.2% off the mark. The inclination of 34.5 degrees is spot on.

A bullseye indeed.

[Dr Mordrid]

NASA TV video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SOc_FHQP6I

And this from Bigelow Aerospace, makers of the inflatable space station modules.

http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/

Congratulations SpaceX!
On behalf of myself and all of us at Bigelow Aerospace we would like to congratulate our friends at SpaceX on the unprecedented success of the inaugural Falcon 9 launch. Achieving orbit on its first attempt is a testament to the robust capabilities of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 specifically and commercial crew transportation in general. We look forward to the continued development of the Falcon 9 launcher and Dragon capsule.

– Robert T. Bigelow

[mmp121]

As I suspected, the initial roll was NOT planned or expected. It doesn't seem to be a big deal, but something that they will need to fix before the next launch.

2126 GMT (5:26 p.m. EDT)
Musk says the roll oscillation observed during the second stage burn was not expected, but the rocket still reached a near-perfect orbit. Engineers will study the issue before the next flight, which is scheduled for later this summer.

Regardless, its exciting to hear that the next vehicle is already ready to go. This is the beauty of commercial space flight, they are in it for the $, and have to make sure all their ducks are in a row.

Also lets hope that the break up of the First stage is not an issue. It didn't come down in one piece as it was designed to.

2115 GMT (5:15 p.m. EDT)
The first stage of the Falcon 9 apparently broke apart as it fell back to Earth after separation. The Freedom Star recovery ship has located debris in the water offshore.

Musk says this wasn't a primary objective of today's launch, but SpaceX hopes to recover and re-use the Falcon 9 first stage in future flights.

All this and more can be found here.

Exciting times, exciting times in-deed.

[Dr Mordrid]

Well, getting the tankage back isn't such a big deal but it would be nice if they got back the engine cluster. Even then their launch cost is so much below an Atlas V it doesn't matter that much as the Merlin is one of the simplest, cheapest engines in the world and SpaceX can crank 'em out like crazy.

[Evildead666]

Sweet launch.

Great to see them hitting targets so early on

Looks like a very exciting future ...