Space X to attempt soft landing.

[_______]

http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/12/16/x-marks-spot-falcon-9-attempts-ocean-platform-landing

Launch is set for around 430am EDT Saturday. They will try to land the 1st stage on a drone platform 200 miles off the Florida coast. Live on NASA TV. You can stream it on line if your cable provider doesn't have this.

Hard to say if this will be more economical than disposable stages but it should be quite a spectacle regardless. Memories of 1950's B movies with the retro rockets firing come to life.

[FantasticDan]

Launch is set for around 430am EDT Saturday.That would be EST, not EDT, since it's standard time now. This article says 4:47am for launch. Should be cool! :ThmbUp:

http://www.space.com/28201-spacex-postpones-dragon-launch-rocket-test.html

[ArlJim78]

Fascinating, thanks for the heads up. Hope I can see it live although in the dark I wonder how much you'll actually be able to see.

[_______]

Made it to the drone ship but hard landing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/10/us-space-spacex-idUSKBN0KJ08120150110

[ArlJim78]

I got up early because I thought they would stream the landing attempt. DOH!

[_______]

Me too, but I still enjoyed the launch. The on board cameras showing the stage separations were great as well as watching the solar panels deploy. I grew up watching Gemini and Apollo launches on TV and still find this amazing.

Hopefully, the next attempt is daytime and we'll have video of the landing. The fact that they managed to land on a football field sized target on the first try bodes well.

[ArlJim78]

The guidance fins ran out of hydraulic fluid before landing.

http://www.space.com/28236-spacex-rocket-landing-hydraulic-fluid.html?cmpid=514648

I'd be curious to know how that happened.

[_______]

Launch of a satellite into solar orbit. Will again attempt soft landing of 1st stage. Live on NASA TV.

[_______]

Launch in about 1/2 hour from this post. Link if you would like to watch:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#.VNflIoY76rV

[ArlJim78]

I really hope they have live cameras on the landing platform this time.

[FantasticDan]

Launch in about 1/2 hour from this post. Link if you would like to watchThanks - I would! T minus 2 minutes! :jump:

[_______]

Launch scrubbed. Waiting to see when the next window is announced. Jim: My understanding is they do intend to show the landing attempt. You didn't see it last time due to weather and darkness.

[FantasticDan]

Gah, I jinxed it! Scrubbed as soon as I posted.. :bang:

[_______]

It's not you, Dan. Pretty much S.O.P. to see a launch scrubbed 2 or even 3 times before a successful launch.

If they go tomorrow it's 3 minutes earlier so we should still have twilight when they try to land the 1st stage.

[_______]

Launch scrubbed. Waiting to see when the next window is announced. Jim: My understanding is they do intend to show the landing attempt. You didn't see it last time due to weather and darkness.

Correction: NASA TV will not carry any footage of the landing attempt. You can watch the launch there and cross your fingers that video of the landing in made available here:

http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

[_______]

GIF of last landing attempt on barge:

http://io9.com/heres-how-close-spacex-came-to-landing-a-rocket-on-a-ba-1680045479

This was little wonky on my computer but eventually loaded and ran.

[baconswitchfarm]

They are going to try again tonight at 6:05 pm. The weather is pretty good.

[_______]

Scrubbed again. Upper level winds.

[_______]

High waves and a disabled stabilizing engine on the platform. They will launch assuming all else is green as the satellite is the primary mission.

[_______]

Looks like it will go in about 10 minutes from this post. Live on NASA TV.

[baconswitchfarm]

It is super windy and cool today here.

[_______]

Great views on TV. You could see the first stage drop away and the fairings around the satellite when they were blown off. Just heard they had a good 2nd burn on the 2nd stage engine. Waiting for spacecraft separation.

I know they are not expecting to recover the 1s stage due to heavy seas but will look forward to video of its soft landing in the ocean. Too bad conditions didn't warrent an attempt to land on the platform.

[_______]

Spacecraft separation was succesful. Great Job Space X and NASA.

[baconswitchfarm]

Watched it from the beach. People had on pants and hoodies. Looked great in the air.

[_______]

Watched it from the beach. People had on pants and hoodies. Looked great in the air.

Live launches are great. You don't get a lot at Vandenberg that you can watch off the pad but SLC-2 is visible from about 4.5 miles away at an off base viewing site. They have a public affairs officer out there with audio of the countdown. I watched a Delta 2 a couple of weeks ago but had low cloud cover that obscured it after about 15 seconds.

They have a Delta 4 flying in March with a NRO satelite but it's off a different pad that you can't see until a few seconds of flight and they never provide a launch window on those besides the date.

They flew an Atlas 5 in December that set off car alarms in Lompoc. I missed it but my girlfriend was up there and said it was spectacular.