We're Back In Orbit – On Our Own Ride
YEAH BABY – WE'RE BACK IN ORBIT – ON OUR OWN RIDE. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/Nduz9iTEak
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) May 30, 2020
YEAH BABY – WE'RE BACK IN ORBIT – ON OUR OWN RIDE. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/Nduz9iTEak
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) May 30, 2020
Well done!
It was smooth as silk and clean as a whistle – and any other cliche I can think of! Well done to the Teams at SpaceX and NASA.
I found Doug’s comments during the on-orbit press conference to be interesting. The Falcon’s upper stage was a much less smooth ride than provided by the main engines of Shuttle. I wonder why that is – difference in fuel type? engine design? total mass of the configuration?
? Congratulations to all involved. ?
Tremendous news! Now Space X has 6 launches scheduled for June (3 Starlinks plus launches for Argentina, South Korea, and the USAF) plus Spaceships SN5, SN6, and SN7 being built as we speak. Exciting times!
Congratulations to SpaceX and NASA for this initial step in America resuming leadership in space operations, leading to further exploration. There are, of course a number of “gates” for the spacecraft and its crew to go through before the system can be declared operational. But this is certainly an example of how private enterprise and government can move us forward expeditiously into the future! Best wishes for continued success! (And, BTW, they landed the booster on the OCISLY barge!)
Ad LEO! Ad LUNA! Ad Ares! AD ASTRA!
I’ll point out and correct some mildly related bad media spin. Before the launch, the Observer ran a story about the bonus Mr. Musk got for (finally) having Tesla meet certain profit and production goals. Their spin was that it was a huge amount of money, and as a comparison they noted that it was all of 30% of what NASA paid for today’s SpaceX launch. Actually, it was what NASA paid for the whole SpaceX Commercial Crew project. But the really bad spin was implying that was a huge amount of money. Mr. Musk’s bonus was large, but not vastly huge by corporate standards. The real news is that SpaceX has built a functional human spaceflight vehicle, and NASA _only_ had to spend three times as much as a high-end CEO’s bonus. That’s spare change compared to things like SLS and Orion.
Well said! And it is also spare change compared to what was paid to Boeing for an inferior product.
When I saw a story on that, after reading past the headline, it seemed that it wasn’t as huge a bonus as it might appear (still large though). I believe it was primarily (all?) in stock options, which he can’t exercise for 5 years, and which he does have to purchase, albeit at a price much less than their current value.
great result – but now being spoiled by Trump making it a lot (not all) about himself.
Well done! Was a bit worried at first because the takeoff is much slower than the shuttle… reminded me of the Saturn V, but looked odd given the much smaller size rocket. Flawless mission (so far).
When the STS lit the solids, the entire stack appeared to just jump off the pad. That would be 2200 tons at lift off appearing to float.
Certainly appeared magical.
After all the years watching shuttle launches, it sure seems like the Falcon 9 is far less tempermental from a “dispatch reliability” point of view.
Also President Trump made some history today even if the press won’t acknowledge it. He is the first President who felt it was important enough to rearrange their schedule to return to see a space launch after the first attempt was scrubbed. And for a second first it appears to be the first time both a President and Vice-President saw a launch in together. So its a day of firsts.
Congratulations from a Canadian space buff.
I look forward to the next CSA astronaut flying with his American/ISS colleagues on a Dragon flight.