SpaceX Falcon 9 FT launch - JCSAT 16 - SLC-40

[Fiver]

I wonder what the safety range is around OCISLY? Probably a few miles?

/edit Nautical miles, of course.

 

[palmer_md]

... so they aren't missing anything, just us.

We'll I have do make a small addendum to this comment. During the LIVE feed, it is not just us, the entire SpaceX control center is missing the video as you can tell by the groans from the crowd on the hosted webcast. And they do share quite a bit of the video afterward, obviously not all of it, but far more than I have ever seen from NASA and relatively quickly after the ship has returned to port.

 

[HVM]

OCISLY visible at Jetty Park, (Surf Guru)

Jetty Park Surf Report and Cape Canaveral Surf Forecast - Florida SurfCams

 

[HVM]

 

[cronosx]

you don't really get how much it's big until you see people working on it...

 

[ecarfan]

Thanks for posting that video. Interesting to see the scorch marks just above where the grid fins attach.

I wonder if all the black soot/scorching on the stage will just Powerwash off.

 

[Grendal]

Thanks for posting that video. Interesting to see the scorch marks just above where the grid fins attach.

I wonder if all the black soot/scorching on the stage will just Powerwash off.

Gwynne Shotwell mentioned, during her most recent Q & A, that the soot is just soot and washes off very easily. So I expect that when we see the CRS-8 booster to be reused that it will be pretty clean looking.

Overall this booster looks very clean compared to the similar video of JCSAT-14. So the single engine burn landing seems to make a big difference over the 3 engine hoverslam burn.

On reflection, most of the damage should have come from the hotter entry of this hot reentry. Maybe SpaceX has done some adjustments to the reentry burn as well as the landing burn or figured out some way to minimize the reentry burn damage.

Edit: there is a whole thread on this at NASASpaceflightforum on the differences between JCSAT14 and JCSAT16 launch and landing. The consensus there is that SpaceX learned from 14 and applied it to 16 for a better boost, trajectory, and landing.