Good luck! After the "scrubtober" Florida trip debacle, I had the thought to make the pilgrimage to the West Coast for this launch but too busy with work to pull off such a spontaneous trip.
Am sad to say that we had to cancel this trip (because COVID and public guidance). Argh! And a return to a landing site! Ugh. Had this been later in the day I might have done the crazy same day back-and-forth... Enjoy the launch! Hope Karl stays away!
Seems to be a bit if a cluster at the viewing sites with police roadblocks and people getting kicked off of private properties. Hope @ecarfan got a good spot!
Man, so jealous of all the folks that experienced this in-person! Even Jessie was speechless (her first in-person launch). The on-board view totally showed the booster aiming for the ocean and then the translation maneuver to go for the landing pad at the last minute. Had not seen it that clearly before.
The pandemic gave us these outdoor setups where the presenters can actually experience the launch instead of being in a studio (or at Mission Control/HQ). Makes for some really neat moments of human emotion and reactions. I like it!
Spacecraft separation. "There goes Sentinel-6! That is a beautiful sight." https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1330213940341727233
What a different and cool launch. Picture perfect. With this recovery, SpaceX has 8 available first stage boosters for future launches.
It was an awesome experience seeing the launch today. I parked on Bailey Ave at (34.6577681, -120.4841346) as Ocean Ave was closed at Floradale. So my viewing location today was about 3 miles farther away than my preferred spot at Ocean Ave/Renwick Ave. But it worked out well. Bailey Ave was completely packed with vehicles; at 15 minute before T-0 I’m sure there was absolutely no space left whatsoever. From that location the vehicle’s trajectory appeared to be partially from right to left. I was just barely able to make out stage sep with the naked eye. My wife tracked it from launch to stage sep and all the way back using low power binoculars and said it was mesmerizing. I could easily see the entry burn and then the landing burn. The sonic booms were incredible! Looking forward to going to the next Vandy launches in January and February assuming the weather forecast shows clear skies. I just finished watching the webcast. Actually she said it was her second in-person launch but the first one was fogged in and she saw absolutely nothing. It was fun to see her so excited.
https://twitter.com/superclusterhq/status/1330242469557121029?s=21 Pauline Acalin's fine work, made into a composite of the launch and landing: It really drives home the short distance between both locations! And the flight-proven patina the booster acquired.
Great launch and landing. The video of the first stage falling away immediately after stage separation was fabulous.
I got a spot right at Floradale Ave at about 1AM and the whole road was empty, come 6AM and it was already getting packed with cops turning people around at that interesection...pretty crazy. Also my first launch in person and was absolutely nuts to feel and hear (seeing was cool too i guess). I work at SpaceX and can tell ya the reason for extra roadblocks was that there was a strong southwest wind which (combined with vehicle trajectory) drove a larger keep-out zone to ensure public safety in the event of flight termination/vehicle break up which could rain debris back over land.
Very interesting! Thanks for posting that. As far as I know the boats designed to catch fairings are currently in Florida. SpaceX may have tried to fish the fairings out of the water, haven’t heard anything about that yet.