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Title: Falcon Heavy launch: Space X has an almost perfect day
Source:
HotAir
URL Source: https://hotair.com/archives/2018/02 ... -space-x-just-showing-off-now/
Published: Feb 6, 2018
Author: John Sexton
Post Date: 2018-02-06 20:09:05 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 2669
Comments: 27
SpaceX has now successfully landed Falcon-family rockets 24 times — three on this mission alone. (The rocket family is named after another famously reusable spaceship, the fictional Millennium Falcon from “Star Wars,” Musk has said.) But perhaps the biggest draw of today’s launch was the Falcon Heavy’s unique payload: a Tesla Roadster riding atop the rocket’s second stage. Musk announced in December that the “midnight cherry red” convertible, which he owns, would be the first Falcon Heavy payload. Then, on Monday, he revealed another surprise: a spacesuit-clad mannequin called “Starman”(a reference to David Bowie’s song “Starman”) in the driver’s seat, with its right hand on the wheel and left arm resting on the door. So to sum up, Musk sent his car to mars with a “driver” named for a David Bowie song on a launch vehicle named after a Star Wars spaceship. Not a bad day if you’re a nerd who enjoys science and science fiction. The full Space X video is below, but if you only have a moment now, watch this because it’s incredible: — WESH 2 News (@WESH) February 6, 2018 Here’s what one of those boosters looked like up close after landing: A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Feb 6, 2018 at 3:23pm PST As mentioned above, it seems the day didn’t quite go perfectly. The Verge is reporting that the center core, which was supposed to land out at sea, did not make it. Still, Elon Musk is clearly having a very good day today and and who can blame him: — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2018 — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2018 Here’s the full Space X launch video: Poster Comment: The center core was lost trying to land on the barge. At least two of its 9 Merlin engines failed to ignite and it hit the water going 300mph. You’ve probably seen some clips of the Space X launch that took place today already but if not you really did miss something pretty spectacular. The launch was successful though it appears one of the three boosters did not land itself properly. Still, the image of the two boosters landing themselves simultaneously on adjacent landing pads seemed unreal. And then on top of that, there was the cargo for this test launch: Elon Musk’s own Tesla Roadster with “Spaceman” at the wheel (actually Space X’s own space suit design). From Space.com: Standing 23 stories tall, the Falcon Heavy rocket is SpaceX’s largest rocket yet and the most powerful booster since NASA’s mighty Saturn V moon rocket. Its first stage is powered by three core boosters based on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, with 27 engines (nine per booster) firing in unison to produce about 5 million lbs. of thrust (22,819 kilonewtons) at liftoff… And of course @SpaceX stuck the landing. #FalconHeavy https://t.co/Q9kGlU8BJL pic.twitter.com/3u0CP8wYhI Though the Falcon Heavy’s outer cores successfully landed after launch this afternoon, the middle core of SpaceX’s huge rocket missed the drone ship where it was supposed to land, a source tells The Verge. SpaceX hasn’t yet confirmed this publicly. View from SpaceX Launch Control. Apparently, there is a car in orbit around Earth. pic.twitter.com/QljN2VnL1O
. . . Currently over Australia 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/HAya3E6OEJ 
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#1. To: Tooconservative (#0)
Neener-Neener, Russians and Chicoms. Only Americans would put a convertible into orbit.
#2. To: Hank Rearden (#1)
Probably the greatest co-promotional stunt in history. As great as the flight was, it is unlikely to fly many times. Originally, Falcon 9 was going to launch small satellites, up to 9 tons or so. Then they doubled it. Then they increased it again until the current Falcon 9's can launch payloads almost three times heavier than planned. The Falcon Heavy was supposed to carry a lot of those heavier payloads. So the Falcon 9 is so good that it has cannibalized the potential launches of the Falcon Heavy. Now the Falcon Heavy seems mostly useful for the really big launches like the military spy satellites. But the Pentagon wants to keep their own rockets flying so Falcon can't pick up business with the Falcon Heavy that way. So Falcon Heavy is a milestone but the future belongs to the next-gen rocket they're developing now. In the meantime, Falcon 9 will supply the steady income to finance Musk's program. We last saw launches like the one today back in the Sixties and early Seventies, before that godawful "space truck" (the cursed Shuttle) came along and ruined our space program.
BTW, you probably know that Falcon Heavy is bigger than Russia's 50yo Proton design. Their pre-orders for upcoming flights have been virtually sucked dry. The West is effectively boycotting the Russian launch vehicles. Russia essentially has only a handful of orders for launches remaining. Russia still had its Soyuz for the ISS flights that they made good money off us with. But their rocket designs are very old. They can't land their boosters like SpaceX. They cost more than France's Ariane rockets. And China passed Russia in total launches in 2016. India and Japan have credible programs as well. This seems to be part of the price Russia is paying via sanctions and boycotts for taking Crimea and stirring a civil war in eastern Ukraine, much as it did to dismantle South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia. And America will surpass Russia's oil production this year to rival even the Saudis. Sucks to be Vlad about now.
The "Falcon" reference is noteable. I don't know if anyone else picked up on this, but the spaceman in the convertible reminded me of another movie: Maybe an uncredited reference with the name "Heavy"? Apparently the follow up video makes it clear I wasn't the only one to make that connection.
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Replies to Comment # 1. Only Americans would put a convertible into orbit.
#3. To: Hank Rearden (#1)
Neener-Neener, Russians and Chicoms.
#15. To: Hank Rearden, TooConservative (#1)
End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
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