SpaceX Falcon 9 FT - NROL 76 (classified) - LC-39A

[Grendal]

Elon Musk on Twitter:

"Launch and landing of the NRO spy satellite was good. Tough call, as high altitude wind shear was at 98.6% of the theoretical load limit."

 

[Electroman]

This was the best 1st stage video coverage IMO. The video angle from the ground from MECO all the way till touch down was superb.

To watch how quickly the booster tilts 180 degrees as soon as the 2nd stage separates is awesome.

To watch the flames engulf the whole booster on the rentry burn was super awesome.

To watch from the ground, nitrogen rockets fire for course corrections and fine adjustments was icing on the cake.

 

[swaltner]

Toatally agree on them having fantastic footage of the landing on the 1st stage. One awesome side effect of this being a classified mission.

I really wish they would add a lateral speed to the telemetry window so you could see how long it takes to reverse direction. It would make it a lot easier to understand the flight profile of the 1st stage.

One thing I noticed was that the grid fins didn't seem to catch fire like they did on the SES-10 mission. Did they change the fins design or is the flight profile on a boostback landing different enough that it isn't an issue.

 

[Bobfitz1]

Decent braking performance

If my Roadster could brake like that, I'd be going thru the windshield 0 - 60mph, faster than the car can get there!

 

[Bobfitz1]

This was, by far, the best video of the first stage. Some of those shots were just incredible. Watching the nitrogen jets firing off to adjust course was amazing. There wasn't a single moment where we didn't see what was happening with the booster. The landing video was great but I'll bet we'll see some really epic landing videos showing up for this one.

Yes, I was amazed at how far and wide the nitrogen spurts were visible. Each quick firing can only be releasing a modest quantity of nitrogen, so I have no idea how it is visible across such a large area/volume. Hopefully one of the follow up landing views will better show the legs moving to position.

 

[jkn]

If my Roadster could brake like that, I'd be going thru the windshield 0 - 60mph, faster than the car can get there!

From 291 m/s to 0 in 29 s. That's 1.02 g. Your Roadster can brake like that! Although not while going straight down.

edit:
I noticed that it slows down from 800 m/s to 400 m/s in 19 s by air resistance alone! That's slightly over 2 g. When speed drops below speed of sound (and engines start) air resistance does not help much.

 

[ecarfan]

This was, by far, the best video of the first stage. Some of those shots were just incredible. Watching the nitrogen jets firing off to adjust course was amazing. There wasn't a single moment where we didn't see what was happening with the booster. The landing video was great but I'll bet we'll see some really epic landing videos showing up for this one.

Yep, I was blown away by the quality of the imagery during the stage landing! Loved seeing all the cold gas thruster action.

 

[ecarfan]

To watch how quickly the booster tilts 180 degrees as soon as the 2nd stage separates is awesome.

That was the most amazing new thing I saw today. It seemed that about a second after stage separation the first stage started to rotate, and the rate of rotation was much faster than I expected!

 

[Electroman]

One thing though is the ground camera orientation is a bit skewed that it gives a false sense of how the booster is oriented. It gives an illusion of the booster tilted at 45 degree angle w.r.t vertical, but in reality it is not. That was so damn confusing.

I also wish there was a camera that gave a zoomed out video of the first stage after separation to actually see it losing horizontal speed, reverse course, reach apogee, change to vertical orientation and reaching zero vertical and horizontal speed and falling down.

None of that can be visually seen from a close up shot. It has to be zoomed out.

 

[YellyYeti]

I drove over at the crack of dawn on both days (thank goodness for Autopilot!) with our new X, and while the pictures weren't quite as epic as I imagined them to be, it is still pretty cool catching the Falcon 9 behind the Falcon Wing Doors. I was at Jetty Park.

 

[Grendal]

And we already have an awesome video posted by Elon on Instagram:

Instagram post by Elon Musk • May 1, 2017 at 1:53pm UTC

Nice ring of fire....

 

[Nikxice]

A little bit ironic that the first SpaceX NRO mission (as in that really top secret stuff!) has undoubtedly produced the best Falcon 9 launch and return video to date. Can't wait to get home later and watch a video compilation on a wide screen, in 4K HD!

 

[Bobfitz1]

From 291 m/s to 0 in 29 s. That's 1.02 g. Your Roadster can brake like that! Although not while going straight down.

Too funny! Thanks for schooling me on the deceleration g forces @jkn. I'll remember your last sentence when I drive my Roadster out the back of a C-130 for the next Fast and Furious movie!

 

[Electroman]

I noticed that it slows down from 800 m/s to 400 m/s in 19

which makes me wonder if it experiences maximum aero dynamic pressure during ascending or descending ?

 

[Grendal]

Here's another excellent video of the launch, separation, reentry, and landing from US Launch Report. US Launch Report are retired veterans that document space launch activity at the Cape.

 

[Todd Burch]

Your move, North Korea.

 

[Ulmo]

Check the YouTube at T+2:11 (14:09 in the YouTube video) for some of the most awesome video anywhere!!! Heck ... start at T+2:00! (13:58 in the YouTube video)

 

[Ulmo]

Your move, North Korea.

You mean their top-notch private industry?

 

[e-FTW]

Those nitrogen thrusters look like they'd be loud. Very, very loud.
The speed at which the gas covers a large area, no matter the direction, it must sound like an explosion up there.

 

[macpacheco]

Those nitrogen thrusters look like they'd be loud. Very, very loud.
The speed at which the gas covers a large area, no matter the direction, it must sound like an explosion up there.

Remember, there's no noise in vacuum, and there's very little noise in partial vacuum.
Noise needs molecules to propagate through. The thinner then air, the less noise can get places.
Anyhow, I truly doubt cold gas thrusters (N2) are anywhere that noisy (at sea level).
Its probably less than the noise of a tire air nozzle when it discharges directly to the air.