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[Jezbollah]

Hi all. SpaceX's Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch today at 09:54:39 PST (17:54:39 UTC) today. This is the Return To Flight mission for Falcon 9 ever since it's AMOS-6 static fire anomaly back in September.

What is the mission?

Falcon 9 v1.2 will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base pad SLC-4E in the first of 7 launches for Iridium, each launch sending 10 860kg satellites into a sun-synchronous, polar orbit. The 70 satellites, which form a $492m contract between Iridium and SpaceX will see introduction of a next generation communications network.

What has changed this time?

Well, SpaceX, the US Air Force and the FAA have reported their findings in the AMOS-6 static fire incident, and have determined an alternative process in which they load helium into the second stage of Falcon 9, which should eliminate the possibility of a repeat incident until a future redesign fixes the cause on a permanent basis, so it should not happen again. Remember, Space is never easy..

Is there going to be an attempted first stage landing?

Yes! The drone ship based on the west coast is called Just Read The Instructions, and it will be located 371km downrange in an attempt to recover the first stage. Last time around it came so close to capturing JASON-3, unfortunately one of the landing legs failed to latch

Where can I watch the launch?

As usual, you can watch SpaceX's coverage on Youtube with the Hosted Webcast or the Technical Webcast.



EDIT: TOTAL MISSION SUCCESS! First stage landing on Just Read The Instructions and nominal satellite deployment.

Nice footage of the landing from onboard cameras HERE

 

[Jezbollah]

Current status: 60% Go on weather for today, T-45 minutes until launch, fuel loading is currently going on.

 

[obin_gam]

Just Read The Instructions

Amazing name

 

[Orbis]

Best of luck to them today, hoping to see a successful launch.

Good to see also that they are confident of the cause of the explosion and have made changes to avoid it in future, I hadn't seen that update.

 

[Abstruse Moose]

Amazing name

What happened to Of Course I Still Love You?

 

[DrEvil]

Excellent. Hope the weather holds.

 

[Jezbollah]

What happened to Of Course I Still Love You?

OCISLY is based on the east coast. It'll be trying to collect Echostar 23, which launches from Cape Canaveral in a couple of weeks

 

[Jezbollah]

Webcasts are now live.

 

[anx10us]

20 mins !!!

 

[Orbis]

Man one day we'll be watching a manned SpaceX launch and I'll be an excited yet nervous wreck.

 

[DrEvil]

Hey have a 1 second launch window. That's insane.

 

[Jezbollah]

There is a ship in the exclusion area :/

Surface winds continue to be a small concern. Right now all is go.

 

[DrEvil]

"the ten satellites are equivalent to the weight of four Shaquille O'Neals"


I have to bet that she was dared to somehow include Shaq in her speech.

 

[Tacitus_]

Amazing name

It's a reference to the Culture books. Maybe he'll name the next one "Funny, It Worked Last Time..."

 

[PdotMichael]

"the ten satellites are equivalent to the weight of four Shaquille O'Neals"


I have to bet that she was dared to somehow include Shaq in her speech.

That's the reason no one should watch the hosted webcast.

 

[DrEvil]

That's the reason no one should watch the hosted webcast.

Yeah I switched over after that lol.

 

[Trickster]

Fingers crossed that the launch is flawless

 

[Jezbollah]

Ship is gone out of the range. Weather still a go.

 

[Cerun]

and it is off

 

[DrEvil]

Liftoff!

 

[Jezbollah]

Goooo you beauty.

 

[DrEvil]

Stage 1 separation successful. Hard part is done.

 

[Orbis]

Phew. Looking good so far.

 

[blu]

First-stage cam is mesmerizing.

 

[Jezbollah]

Loving the onboard footage from the first stage.

EDIT: Gridfins deployed!

 

[DrEvil]

I am loving this live feed from the stage 1 booster. That's new ya?

 

[DrForester]

Barbecue grills deployed...

 

[Jezbollah]

They had footage of it recently in other launches, but not this much footage.

That first stage is dropping so damn quickly.

 

[DrEvil]

Landed!!

 

[Cerun]

Landed!

 

[Trickster]

Perfect landing, awesome

 

[maquiladora]

Amazing!

 

[Orbis]

Landed!!

Damn and what a nice landing too.

 

[Jezbollah]

HOLY SHIT LIVE ONBOARD LANDING FOOTAGE!

 

[Tacitus_]

I take it that that wasn't a "suicide burn"? They said slower landing on stream.

 

[Mindlog]

Routine :]

 

[Agent]

Stuck the landing....awesome. That camera view on board of the landing will never get old.

 

[Daggoth]

Touchdown!

 

[Bsigg12]

God damn that was impressive.

 

[Disxo]

They did it again!

 

[blu]

Holy shit that first-stage cam was something else!

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

It landed.
Nice.

 

[valkillmore]

STUCK IT!

 

[DrEvil]

So happy. Amazing recovery from the previous mission. Great return to form.

 

[Ether_Snake]

I'm still doubtful about the whole idea of re-using boosters. It seems unlikely that the things could be re-used nearly integrally more than once or twice at best.

 

[Jezbollah]

I take it that that wasn't a "suicide burn"? They said slower landing on stream.

Yeah they're using a much easier, manageable burns on landing as of recent. More control, less of a "hover slam"

 

[mcfrank]

10/10

 

[nomis]

dat fuckin view on both stages was A+ this flight

 

[Slackerish]

Love that new first-stage camera view.

 

[Faith]

Finally saw the landing live. How impressive!

Humans are amazing.