LAUNCH! - - - Updated - - - And stage separation, second stage ignition, fairing sep -- looking good!
Yep, second stage engine cutoff, into a good orbit. Priority 1: release those ORBCOMM satellites in the proper spots Priority 2: fly that first stage back, 'land' on the ocean, and go pick it up! Much calmer seas this time.
Confirmed -- all 6 satellites deployed. Good stuff. Now onto those secondaries and tertiaries -- I'd like to see a returned first stage hanging from Hawthorne's rafters next to the first recovered Dragon capsule
August... not sure when in August though. If we're lucky, we'll get Asiasat 8 and 6 very closely followed by CRS-4 in Sept. http://spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Congratulations to SpaceX on a successful launch. I hope they got video again, preferably less damaged, and that they release it for us to see.
So it looks like all the satellites are functioning properly. It will be another couple weeks before Sierra Nevada hands them over to Orbcomm. 100% success for SpaceX. Sierra Nevada Corp Initiates Contact with Orbcomm’s OG2 Satellites - Via Satellite
Hmm...what does that mean? Any waves generated by the thrusters during landing should be pushed away from the rocket, I would think.
The only thing I can figure from that is when it lands it is pushing out waves from the bottom center, as it falls over then, the length of the rocket might catch up with the waves made by initial splash and thus cause it to be hit by them. Just a guess... I think the key takeaway is that if they land on land then this won't be an issue. I would love to get an update on the accuracy of their targeted landing. How close were they to hitting their target landing site?
No, it was on-site (as was NASA's plane) for the first-stage reentry and 'landing'. But nothing has been released. JMO: The first recovered video was enough to prove supersonic retro-propulsion, stage control, landing leg deployment, and soft touchdown. Very little PR benefit in releasing any more until it can end with "and here's the reclaimed stage!"
Heh, guess I counted my landing-legs before they deployed Video: Falcon 9 First Stage Return | ORBCOMM Mission
I love the video for this because it shows the reentry from way up in the atmosphere and then again just before landing. The question is, what caused the icing over of the camera this time vs the last time? Did it pass through a cloud or something? What would they do to prevent it? Put like a heating element around the lens to keep it defrosted? Either way, love the video!
I'm no expert, but is the product of LOX/RP1 not CO2 and H2O? Probably hard to avoid all that water flying back up into the camera as the re-entry burn is happening.