The Falcon has Landed

[Phillbo 11]

This is fantastic:

http://www.space.com/31444-spacex-falcon-rocket-landing-epic-photos.html

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

Phillbo

This is fantastic:

http://www.space.com/31444-spacex-falcon-rocket-landing-epic-photos.html

Clicky fixie
Yes, it's really, really cool.

We tend to forget how hard space is.

We forget the early 60s when "our rockets always blew up." The Soviet ones did too, but they never publicized anything but the
successes.

$200k in consumables to orbit is dirt cheap. No word on how much the refit will cost (I can't find it in a quick search, but the refit labor and costs were what ultimately doomed the NASA Shuttle).

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[billvon 3,092]

>$200k in consumables to orbit is dirt cheap.

Keep in mind that they didn't land the second stage, and they don't have any near-term plans to try. Still, landing the first stage means they recover 90% of the engines and 70% of the tankage and structure, which will have a huge impact on costs. (And since the second stage can accommodate multiple restarts, they have the option to do other things with the upper stages, like parking them somewhere for later reuse or repurposing.)

They tried three new things on this launch - uprated engines (operating at 100% thrust instead of 85%) supercooled propellants (to allow more fuel, since the Merlins use more fuel at the higher thrust) and ground-based landing. I'm glad it all worked out for them; that was a lot of "new" for the first flight back after the explosion earlier this year.

They now have the interesting problem that they are manufacturing about 5 engines a week, and if they start reusing the first stages, they will have to cut way back on that number. (Although they'll still need a fair number to build out the "no return" first stages; some payloads won't allow the extra weight for the fuel/landing legs needed for the return flight.)

[BillyVance 35]

I saw the video, and the celebration in mission control was epic.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[billvon 3,092]

Well, they tried landing the Falcon first stage on the barge again, floating a few hundred miles off San Diego. It landed almost perfectly but . . . one of the landing legs didn't lock, and it fell over (again.) At least the problems are getting more solveable.

[normiss 880]

I admire the acceptance of the risk on those attempts while still delivering the contracted service.
That's pretty cool.

Heated leg locking collars next?