https://farm1.staticflickr.com/691/2...afb23e9c_k.jpgORBCOMM-2 by SpaceX Photos, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5773/...70b78341_k.jpgORBCOMM-2 by SpaceX Photos, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5806/...7717983c_k.jpgORBCOMM-2 by SpaceX Photos, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/611/2...f5f7dc34_k.jpgORBCOMM-2 by SpaceX Photos, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5684/...07c7a06f_k.jpgORBCOMM-2 by SpaceX Photos, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/597/2...9eefae9f_k.jpgORBCOMM-2 by SpaceX Photos, on Flickr

I'd like to learn more about how the first stage does a veritable about face. I presume that staging happens around 60 miles or so, and probably a few thousand MPH?

This graphic gives you the basic gist at least:

https://i.imgur.com/D9BdO86.png

As for the speeds, some geek on the SpaceX subreddit crunched all sorts of numbers from the launch...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=2057127134

According to the video, boostback started at 3:50 (230 seconds), so that would put it around 98km (58 miles) out and at about 1600m/s (3600 mph).

That's pretty ****ing amazing, really, thanks. And now I understand the logic behind the sea-based landings, which I hadn't before.

I just realized that I read the wrong column - the downrange distance would have been more like 111 km (69 miles) - I had read altitude instead. Fixed in my above post.

EDIT: And now the guy has revised his estimates and shows 94 km (58 miles). I give up updating after this though. :)

i rather worry about making a propulsion system to get to mars. I want the u.s.a to be first on mars!

Well, since the thread is bumped anyway, I'll just keep posting shit. :)

https://i.imgur.com/ATkpdAX.png

Agree, in 15 short minutes that puppy was stressed a bit..

Yeah, like I said, I see now why they tried the barge idea. Dragon could basically just drop straight down after the flip instead of going back to land. Not very efficient.

Ouch... LMAO

One good point that I read today is that this landing could be huge for reliability in addition to reusability. With the exception of the shuttle, we've never been able to open up a flown spacecraft and figure out what points were weakened before. They should be able to look for the weak points and make them stronger, both to boost reusability, but also to make them stronger in the first place.

Yep. If I'm understanding it correctly, the barge may still come out quite a bit for launches that require a little more oomph (and, thus, leave less fuel for landing). This one was only able to make it back because those satellites were pretty small in comparison to some other launches, and they were only going to LEO.

Hopefully they'll be able to stick the barge landings too next time.

I suspect that pic was in his Sig block when he replied to the Blue Origin with a simple, "Thanks" (in response to their "Welcome to the club" tweet).

Don't get me wrong, what BO accomplished was fantastic and should be commended. Hopefully they'll be able to actually launch to orbit and land someday as well. It's just silly to pretend like what they accomplished was even in the same ballpark in terms of difficulty.