Falcon Heavy Test Flight in 15 mins!

#prayforcentercore is now trending

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" Once upon a livestream clearly, while I pondered, weak & weary, Over a curious tidbit of forgotten lore— While I nodded, many hands were gently clapping, clapping on my office floor. “Wherever did it go,” I muttered, “the landing of the center core— Only sides and nothing more.”

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/960992715579125760
 
JOhnH said:
This was the best I could get with my iPhone
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ooo! It's Amelia Earhart's plane! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

I didn't bother because of the range myself.
 
Pretty sure they lost the center core, based on this (go to 38:28, because I can't figure out how to do that for you in the link):
 
mjburian said:
Pretty sure they lost the center core...
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MeatloafSM.jpg
 
Wow, the first repackaged Lotus Elise into space! Maybe a Hennessey Venom GT next?

A pretty cool accomplishment, nonetheless. :):)
 
Bill Jennings said:
I think the video was cut for a reason, I’d bet the center core did not successfully land.
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They were saying before the attempt that that specific camera goes out due to vibrations or something on the pad.
 
Bonchie said:
They were saying before the attempt that that specific camera goes out due to vibrations or something on the pad.
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Yea, its happened in past streams too and they landed just fine
 
So friggin' awesome! The "synchronized" boosters landings were so cool. NK ya watching?
 
Couple of screen captures from the Starman feed.
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Seems that the Center Core hit the ship going a little over 300 mph. Only relighted one of the required three engines for the final landing burn. According to the article it heavily damaged the drone ship.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16980954/spacex-falcon-heavy-rocket-middle-core-failed-landing

Update: Live News Feed. Musk said that the Center Core didn't have enough fuel to relight all three engines and only the center was able to relight. It hit the ocean just off the ship going roughly 300 mph and took out the drone ships engines pods on that side. He said they'll post the footage if the cameras didn't get blown up.
 
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ARFlyer said:
Seems that the Center Core hit the ship going a little over 300 mph. Only relighted one of the required three engines for the final landing burn. According to the article it heavily damaged the drone ship.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16980954/spacex-falcon-heavy-rocket-middle-core-failed-landing

Update: Live News Feed. Musk said that the Center Core didn't have enough fuel to relight all three engines and only the center was able to relight. It hit the ocean just off the ship going roughly 300 mph and took out the drone ships engines pods on that side. He said they'll post the footage if the cameras didn't get blown up.
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Really?!!! Running out of gas is probably the oldest and most common stupid pilot tricks. One would think they could check the gas gauge, or fill it all the way up before launch. Probably thought the gas was cheaper at the barge, so just a few gallons should get there...

;)
 
At the end of the news conference Musk commented that it was more important that the boosters were recovered as they had more expensive material in the stabilizers. That, and there was no plan on re-using the center rocket. So, if they had to lose one, that was the one to lose.

Regardless, that was just plain awesome to watch. I was a rocket scientist back when the shuttle first launched, and I remember watching all the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo launches while growing up and going to college. Remember the old SciFi programs where the ship landed on its tail? Spacex is doing that today. Wow, just wow!
 
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Ghery said:
At the end of the news conference Musk commented that it was more important that the boosters were recovered as they had more expensive material in the stabilizers. That, and there was no plan on re-using the center rocket. So, if they had to lose one, that was the one to lose.

Regardless, that was just plane awesome to watch. I was a rocket scientist back when the shuttle first launched, and I remember watching all the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo launches while growing up and going to college. Remember the old SciFi programs where the ship landed on its tail? Spacex is doing that today. Wow, just wow!
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Probably equally important that the drone ship wasn't center punched.
 
What really gets me is in 1000 Years no one will know who I am, or who any of you are. They probably won’t know who Elon Musk was, or what the United States were. But that car will still be orbiting the sun at about the same distance as Mars. Today the solar system got an addition, and it’s a Burgandy red roadster. And that my friends is cool.
 
And it was all done by a private company, not big government.


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Dav8or said:
Really?!!! Running out of gas is probably the oldest and most common stupid pilot tricks. One would think they could check the gas gauge, or fill it all the way up before launch. Probably thought the gas was cheaper at the barge, so just a few gallons should get there...

;)
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The retrofire burns don't use a lot of fuel, so they must have been very low on fuel. I wonder if they used up the margin giving giving a skosh more push than planned from the center stage to get the load into orbit or if they miscalculated the boil off rate from their ground holds?

In any case, it was impressive as hell.
 
Merlin engines -- I love that name!

Spitfire and Hurricane had the Hurricane engine. Made by Rolls Royce, the aviation offshoot of a luxury car maker.

And now the name lives on, made once again by an aerospace offshot of a luxury car maker.
 
Tomorrow's flight is to Northrop/Hawthorne for lunch....home of SpaceX! I will tip my hat in their general direction! :D
 
FormerHangie said:
Thank goodness. I'd be pretty ****ed if tax money was spent to send a car in orbit.
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As noted in one article, typically the first flight of a new rocket launches cement or steel plates. This was more interesting. And that car is in solar orbit, not earth orbit. A very impressive flight so far.
 
Wow, you guys are all gushing over this as if they had done something really impressive such as... I dunno... rocket science or something.
 
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