Launch News SpaceX Falcon Heavy Demo Mission (1330-1630 EST 6th Feb. 2018)

[Shifty]

[ame="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/961083704230674438"]Elon Musk on Twitter: "Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt.… "[/ame]

 

[Unstung]

THEY DID IT!
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/961083704230674438 (removed embedding because ninjas)

Sneaky :ninja:


Although SpaceX got approval, I think this launch might violate planetary protection.

 

[boogabooga]

Wow, so they boosted it to the asteroid belt for good measure.

This is like a really warped true-to-life version of Russell's teapot:

"If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a [sports car] revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit..."

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Live Views from the Roadster. Just glorious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBr2kKAHN6M&feature=youtu.be

They apparently burned beyond Mars orbit and it will head out into the asteroid belt out close to the orbit of Ceres.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/961083704230674438/photo/1

 

[Messierhunter]

Here's my launch footage.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I wonder if anything is done to deconflict the two boosters on their return to LZ. I hope there is something more than prayer involved.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

I wonder if anything is done to deconflict the two boosters on their return to LZ. I hope there is something more than prayer involved.

That's... a scary thought.


Oh, and you may need to update your sig.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

That's... a scary thought.


Oh, and you may need to update your sig.

Done. But it's getting hard to keep track.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Done. But it's getting hard to keep track.

That's a good problem to have, though, right? :lol:

 

[Ripley]

...Although SpaceX got approval, I think this launch might violate planetary protection.

Planetary protection is a guiding principle in the design of an interplanetary mission, aiming to prevent biological contamination of both the target celestial body and the Earth in the case of sample-return mission.

(emphasis mine)

Is this such a mission? Apart from the first stages, that is.
Btw... This launch was no less than jawdropping!

 

[Artlav]

So...
How do we know it's not James Bond in the space suit there?
Cause that's exactly what a successful disposal of him by a bond villain would look like.

 

[statickid]

I actually pondered the possibility it was an elaborately concealed space burial and there's some wealthy patron in there who "donated" their estate to spacex :hmm:

 

[Xyon]

The center core was only able to relight one of the three engines necessary to land, and so it hit the water at 300 miles per hour about 300 feet from the drone ship. As a result, two engines on the drone ship were taken out when it crashed, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a press call after the rocket launch. “[It] was enough to take out two thrusters and shower the deck with shrapnel,” he said.

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

Well, almost perfect. That double booster landing footage will stay with me for some time, though, that was seriously amazing.

And I was worried they hadn't used enough struts...

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Hey, 2 outta 3 ain't bad, if you ask me. Certainly better than 0 outta 3. :lol:

 

[Keatah]

I actually pondered the possibility it was an elaborately concealed space burial and there's some wealthy patron in there who "donated" their estate to spacex :hmm:

To be revealed at a later date so as not to impose anything somber on a successful day.

 

[Xyon]

Not a bad way to get rid of someone you're fed up with... wait, where's my next door neighbour gone?!

 

[Notebook]

Could be William Shatner?

N.

 

[steph]

Or Bowie?

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Hey, 2 outta 3 ain't bad, if you ask me. Certainly better than 0 outta 3. :lol:

Truth to that. Particularly when people were saying just a few years ago that it either couldn't be done, or wasn't worth the trouble.

It's certainly cool though. Wonder what Bob Heinlein would have thought? Or Ray Bradbury?

 

[steph]

At 64 tonnes to LEO, I think they can afford some weight penalty to make it fully reusable.