lol

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/1e/1e949...bb427d7803.jpg

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It was definitely aliens</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/944382221435019264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Some of these videos are crazy.

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I hope a pro got some shots of it.

That stage 1 falling back into the plume is very cool.

I saw this shooting across the sky tonight as I was leaving work. Very cool!

Total success. That was more fun than I'd expected (due to the ground videos).

It was a great view for us (Lancaster, CA)..

Fun night. Another success. Can't wait for falcon heavy!

Everyone in Encinitas was talking about an alien invasion. What a letdown.

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LMAO...

https://i.imgur.com/7kHfuno.jpg

LMAO

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

we had a great look at it in Escondido......my wife was on the 15 hwy when people were freaking out, slamming on the breaks and actually pulling over to the shoulder to check it out.

definitely caused some panic!

Silly people all over facebook thinking it was a UFO, haha.

This was visible in Phoenix. I didn't get to see it. :(

This is from on top of South Mountain. I live right by South Mountain.

https://www.facebook.com/willie.scha...9721742548755/

Also, from the airport

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Falcon Heavy is going vertical for the first time at pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. <a href="https://t.co/XCnbAGhlf6">pic.twitter.com/XCnbAGhlf6</a></p>— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/946389869378588672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Itshappening.gif

Morning wood

Time-lapse video...

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/12/2...goes-vertical/

Keep replaying over and over again. Can't believe we are finally this close!

Awesome! I read that they are planning on landing the two boosters back at the Cape (at the same time) and the primary booster on the barge. That's going to be epic!!

Yeah, I really hope they have increased their streaming quality. It's good, but the best stream they was for one of the first successful barge landings when NASA had a chase plan recording the video. Would really love to see that as well as good stream of the 2 returning to launch site.

That's hilariously phallic. ROFL

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Apologies if Max Q

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ROFL

Just a little bit!

Heavy was lowered and they removed the boosters this afternoon. Not sure why. It was very windy at the Cape today.

Really? First-hand?

Thanks for sending me down the rabbit hole with this! I ended up watching the full interview, and then several others by Elon.

The guy is so interesting to listen to, his vision for the stages of space exploration is fascinating. Putting 2 craft on mars in 2022 with 2 manned missions and 2 supply mission in 2024!

Sharing his mining and boring technology for underground settlements, eventual terraforming efforts...

The BFR rocket will be amazing

I'm kind of out of touch this weekend with friends in town, but I'd imagine it'll go up and down a few times as they test things out and make tweaks. I'm hoping for a launch by end of January.

Yep!

This flow was for the “Fit Checks” a new rocket usually undergoes to provide data on rollout and erection at the pad. This was the first time the modified TEL had taken the full stack to the pad. No propellant loading was conducted, although the vehicle may have been “powered on” to aid the checkouts. “Power On” is one of the first items on the checklist for a launch day.

24 hours later the rocket was lowered back to horizontal and will now head into the flow for its Static Fire test.

This test is currently expected to take place on January 6, although – as always – these dates can move around due to numerous factors such as readiness, range authority and weather.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdeEU2glMJT/

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Click the arrows to see a few more.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" data-context="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/38583831555/" title="Falcon Heavy Demo Mission"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4589/38583831555_25d4c6876b_c.jpg" width="800" height="534" alt="Falcon Heavy Demo Mission"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Zuma is up tomorrow evening. Probably not going to be much of a webcast due to the classified mission, but they should follow the first stage back down at least.

Can we change the test payload from the Tesla roadster to Bob Sutton?

Please aim the next launch at Arrowhead. **** that place.

Any updates on the timing of the static firing?

Nothing yet. Sounds like we're on more of a "end of January" timeline for FH at this point.

Is Zuma landing Stage 1?

Yep.

I know, but the static fire comes first. They said by January 6.

Where do I go on the web to watch this candle light up?

It's in the OP:

SpaceX hosts a live webcast for every launch at:
http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

T-minus 11 minutes

I think it got pushed back due to this launch slipping a few days. From reddit about the static fire:

"NET currently unknown beyond "next week"."

Startup

Hope they'll have some nice views of the landing. Night landings are always fun.

Liftoff!

Max Q

What a great shot of all 9 engines burning

Haha! Not showing it.

Ha. They let us see the inside of the second stage for like half a second. That's all we get.

Boost back complete

Spooks gonna spook.

Yep. Not exactly the most exciting webcast. Can't recall seeing a black screen for a full minute before. ROFL

Mission control about 10% occupied as normal. LOL!

Uh oh. The fairing thing sounds ominous...

OK, successful fairing deploy. That was kind of odd.

That was so ****ing cool...

Well, I'm giving this webcast a D. Not a lot of effort on the visuals for this one. Oh well. [/spoiled]

2nd'd

Some things can't be helped. Watching the altitude and speed of Stage 1 decreasing was something I either missed before, or is new. Fascinating to see

Yeah, true. They usually just show state 2 telemetry, but on these classified launches, apparently they want to have SOMETHING to show. :)

So...this seems a little crazy to say, but the next launch on the calendar is...

Falcon Heavy.

(Though it's certainly possible that another launch will leap frog it if it gets delayed.)

Sorry to hear the webcast sucked. I watched this one from my back balcony. One of the coolest launches I've seen in years.

It didn't seem to add up, honestly. After the re-entry burn ended, the speed was decreasing rapidly. Why? I get the atmosphere is getting thicker but it was sloughing off speed like crazy well beyond the landing burn.

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::D:D:D:D:clap::clap::clap:

Atmospheric drag most likely.

Wood... I simply cannot wait.

Yeah, I wrote that. But it just seemed wrong. Way too much. Gravity wins.

I'm really looking forward to that one. I can watch these launches from my front yard.

Yeah, that stuff is definitely beyond me. I know they try to use the atmosphere to slow it down in order to save fuel, but that's about as far as I can get.

Color me jealous. I'd fly down and try to catch it if it weren't for the high likelihood that it will get delayed multiple times.

They want to launch it this month. No day and time yet.

I'd love to see the numbers again and compare from the re-entry burn deceleration until the landing burn. I honestly thought that they were fake...

Not turning into TJ... It's okay! :)

Actually, now that I think about the velocity thing, it's both a vertical and horizontal velocity, so conceivably it's already basically falling at terminal velocity, but it's losing horizontal velocity?

:shrug:

The graphic showed "speed" and "altitude." But yes, maybe? Love it.