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SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch webcast (live 12:45 PST)

youtube.com

175 points by bmcooley ยท 74 comments

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lovehashbrowns

Watching those two boosters land together was freaking amazing!! Well worth the watch if anybody missed it. :)

dmix

Someone noticed there was a camera feed on the mission control wall that shows the Center Core's drone ship, after the smoke clears no ship can be seen:

https://twitter.com/Darkphibre/status/960990105581240321

9:00 into the feed, it's likely the core either missed or failed to land properly. Although the screen is partially out of view.

  • Corrado
  • huhtenberg

    So much for their constant deferrals to the "signal loss" due to "drone ship vibration" and other phony reasons. It sounded weird on all prior occasions, but at least now it's obvious that they have a steady feed at all times, just censoring it.

    What I don't understand why they think they need to lie in the first place. Just cut the damn feed and say "the control cut the feed". All these cutesy giggles, Oh's and Ah's, "we are hoping to get it back soon" when the commenters are clearly looking at the live feed themselves [1]... this is just wrong.

    [1] https://youtu.be/wbSwFU6tY1c?t=2326 - see the timing of them saying "Oh" and the smoke clearing off the drone ship.

typicalbender

Sounds like they lost the center core (might just mean the signal its not clear), hell of a showing though the team should be really proud of the accomplishment.

https://twitter.com/stevewdavens/status/960984330943258624

Original audio from the webcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B_tWbjFIGI&feature=youtu.be...

  • giarc

    That's a guy with 18 followers, tweeting to SpaceX. I'd wait for official word.

    • typicalbender

      Fair point, updated with a link to the original audio from the webcast. Was just trying to give credit to where I found the source.

  • FLUX-YOU

    He was certainly right about 2/3rds chance of success.

    2 out of 3 ain't half bad.

blhack

Over a MILLION live watchers on this youtube link. Is that a record for youtube?

gdubs

Wow, just witnessed history. The landing of the Falcons was seriously thrilling. David Bowie coming on as the payload headed towards its destination got me, have to say.

Congrats to everyone here from SpaceX โ€“ what an accomplishment.

qume

Those rockets landing at the same time beats any scene in any sci-fi movie ever made

giarc

In a hundred million years, someone or something is going to find that car and be really confused.

zhan_eg

The text on the dashboard of the Tesla - Don't panic.

jedberg

Iโ€™m willing to admit that even as a 40 year old man I still cried when she cleared the tower. That was beautiful.

kibwen

I'm curious how the realized design that's launching today compares to the Saturn V. This article from 2016 implies that the Saturn V has three times the payload capacity, but that the Falcon Heavy is twelve times cheaper to launch (adjusting for inflation), implying a fourfold advantage in cost efficiency: https://www.universetoday.com/129989/saturn-v-vs-falcon-heav...

  • tempay

    That's assuming you expect cost to scale linearly, which isn't obvious to me?

weej

Unbelievable. The simultaneous booster landings were incredibly impressive feat. Outstanding launch and spectacular landings!

Screen shots from live feed: https://imgur.com/a/gh410

rvo

Just, wow. That simultaneous landing was magical.

jeroen

Can anyone tell me what the object moving through the right of the screen is at T+9:58? https://youtu.be/wbSwFU6tY1c?t=2392

sosuke

I love the landing pad boat name "Of course I still love you"

iliis

Live view of Starman in orbit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBr2kKAHN6M

Corrado

I think it's interesting that all of the Space X control team seem so young. My memory of the Apollo missions were that all the controllers were old farts who had been with NASA for at least 20 years. Maybe its because I was very young at the time and now I'm older. Or maybe it's because you had to work for 20 years to be a controller at NASA and Space X is just not that old (yet).

  • Maybestring

    NASA was 11 years old at the first Apollo landing. Younger than SpaceX is now. Maybe there were some NACA old hands around though.

blhack

Does anybody have a link to the technical webcast?

  • njarboe

    The technical webcast is RIP for the general public. If you want to find lots of info about SpaceX events, the reddit sub spacex is quite good.

mwambua

What happened to the center 1st stage though?

flormmm

NASA needs better Marketing.

slimshady94

So why exactly would it orbit the sun for a billion years?

  • SAI_Peregrinus

    No significant forces are expected to interfere with it and disturb the orbit enough to make it hit another object.

    • FLUX-YOU

      Elon should issue challenges to go interfere with it to promote space development.

      $1mm if you can rendezvous. $2mm if you can put a drink in the driver's cupholder.

      • gremlinsinc

        Doubt the incentive would be worth the cost... $1mm for something that might take $100m in R/D and resources to accomplish.

  • mrep

    Proof that it could have gone to mars but also in a very stable orbit with little chance of hitting an object and infecting it with human biology that is on the tesla.

agumonkey

The marketing stunt is gonna be at the top for while.

artur_makly

So what's left to confirm?

lsh123

He/they did it!

spike021

Amazing.

  • icebraining

    Yeah, especially those two boosters landing simultaneously - I still have a smile on my face :)

nodesocket

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ USA!!! ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ USA!!! ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ USA!!!

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