That applause gave me goosebumps.

Come on baby. Stick the landing.

And now we wait.

THEY ****ING DID IT!!!!!

THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

High five DaFace

Successful landing!

Thank you to everyone who contributes to this thread. Please do not stop bumping it when things are happening! I would not have just seen history otherwise.

And orbit achieved.

Fan freaking tastic

1st satellite deployed.

Satellite 1 deployed.

:toast:

All yours DaFace. :)

LOL Just crapping out satellites.

Almost brings a tear to my eye...

http://i.imgur.com/BBhrTP8.png

I thought it blew up there at first.

Well, that was everything I'd hoped for. Now we get to see what it takes to re-launch a rocket. I'm sure we're gonna get a ton of beautiful shots of the landing in the next couple days.

Just awesome!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1B6oiLNyKKI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's amazing how calm it looked. I know it's not at all easy, but it was just BIG BALL OF FIRE and then...oh...there's a rocket just sitting there on the ground.

The falcon has landed. Loved it.

LOL

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congrats <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX">@SpaceX</a> on landing Falcon&#39;s suborbital booster stage. Welcome to the club!</p>&mdash; Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/679116636310360067">December 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Yep. Looked incredibly simple. Hopefully this kind of thing becomes common place. No offense to Bezos' penis ship, but SpaceX is a true commercial company. Remember watching their first commercial launch to the ISS. Was amazing. This, doubly so.

heh, figured he'd be quick with a retort

For those who missed it, can check out the replay starting at 9:20 or so of the streaming Youtube webcast. Will probably have a shorter one up by tomorrow. But worth watching I thought.

Here's one now. Landing starts at 41:30.

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O5bTbVbe4e4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Long exposure of launch, re-entry, and landing burns

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CWy59kAUkAEvBLa.jpg

OMG that was SOOOOOOOOOOO cool!

Thanks all....

That's the one! Actually watching again. :)

dammit. we ****ed up. space flight is a dream. there is so much shit this planet has put into orbit that reaching space is not possible.

Heh...I'll give him credit for the jab (though I still maintain that BO still hasn't really accomplished anything notable until they put something into orbit).

Nice! Not quite as elegant looking as the launch-only shots, but definitely interesting to see the relationship of the paths.

GIF'D UP!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">11 satellites deployed to target orbit and Falcon has landed back at Cape Canaveral. Headed to LZ-1. Welcome back, baby!</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/679127406813188097">December 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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In case you missed the liftoff (gif):

http://i.imgur.com/fQORDAb.gifv

Thanks for giving me a reason to figure out if I could post a gifv using the new {video} tag. It technically works, but you have to manually change the extension to .mp4 (and that'll only work on imgur I think).

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There and back again <a href="https://t.co/Ll7wg2hL1G">pic.twitter.com/Ll7wg2hL1G</a></p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/679137936416329728">December 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Awesome. I couldn't figure it out.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Falcon 9 standing on LZ-1 at Cape Canaveral <a href="https://t.co/RZdfcH0exW">pic.twitter.com/RZdfcH0exW</a></p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/679142215981993984">December 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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What's really mind-blowing to me is that when I was watching the clock a mere 20 minutes after launch the mission was all but done (except for bringing the 2nd stage back in its terminal phase). I remember a day when it took for seemingly ever to get to the deployment part.

One other observation was the difference in "Mission Control." 25 years ago it was air-cooled consoles with built-in CRTs; today it's a bunch of three-monitor (prolly bought on Amazon Prime) setup on what looks pretty-much like four-legged office table nudged together.

That's AWESOME!!!

Isn't Bezo's rocket like the same height as one of those stabilizers?

A little more than that, but you're not far off the mark.

https://i.imgur.com/KPLHqiD.jpg

It's gotta be trippy just standing there and looking up at it.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Live video from LZ-1 <a href="https://t.co/Ve6gEXfOdh">pic.twitter.com/Ve6gEXfOdh</a></p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/679145544673923072">December 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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(And if I start getting obnoxious with the volume of this crap I'm posting, let me know. I'm a little excited.)

Great perspective. Bezo's needs to learn his place.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Another view of Falcon 9 first stage approaching Landing Zone 1 <a href="https://t.co/i5oNfSYmrc">pic.twitter.com/i5oNfSYmrc</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/679150903371304960">December 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Musk's SpaceX is so far more advanced than Bezo'z attempt.

High res landing

https://youtu.be/ZCBE8ocOkAQ

Video version of the pic from above. Blow it up to full screen and crank the resolution for best effect - you can even see the legs coming down right in time.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZCBE8ocOkAQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This was the same view I had from the beach last night.

When will they know if the first stage is actually reusable (and didn't sustain too much damage in the process)? If it just needs some parts, gas and paint and is ready to have a second stage, payload and fairing attached, that'd be awesome...

Wow. Just saw the thread bumped. Missed the landing; but man, that was bad ass!

I don't think anyone really knows. Musk did indicate on a call last night, though, that he doesn't think this one will ever fly again. I don't know what kind of museum can hold a 14-story rocket, but he seemed to think that's where it ultimately belongs.

That said, I bet that they at least fill it back up at some point and static fire it just to see what happens.

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.

Would love to see Udvar Hazy expand and hang it from the ceiling.

That would be badass. I love that place.

-----

Shamelessly stolen from reddit, this is a nice summary of all the stuff that's in the works for 2016. It's missing a few things (like a space suit reveal), but it covers most of the big stuff.

--

In any long-term program, the real value of an achievement along the way is the forward momentum it carries toward the next one, and the next, and the next. When I see SpaceX take another step forward, I'm not awed as much (though of course quite a lot) by the accomplishment itself so much as what further accomplishments it unlocks - to crest the local hill and see a larger context laid out beyond.

To the best of my knowledge and research, we (the interested public) have the following to look forward to in the near future (though they may occur in different orders):

1. Ground test-fires of the recovered Falcon 9 first stage. Elon Musk said that it probably will not be launched again due to its historic significance, but we can fairly assume that it will be fired again on the ground to discover how its flight has impacted further operability. Hopefully the impressions gleaned from that data will be publicized.
2. The next stage landing, of either sort (land or barge). With the Full Thrust version of the Merlin 1D engines, all flights - including high-energy ones to geosynchronous orbits - are capable of returning stages, so likely we will not have to wait long. The second will cement the first as the beginning of a long-term practical program rather than a purely experimental achievement. It will depend on what the tests of the first landed stage find whether the second one goes back up, which is probably a very optimistic scenario, but we can say it's at least a plausible outcome.
3. The first barge-landed stage (may or may not be same achievement as #2). Elon has said that the center core of the Falcon Heavy will be going too fast at separation to return to launch site, so barge landing will be required once FH flights begin. No comment has been made on whether he intends to stick a barge landing before doing the FH maiden flight or is fine with using that flight as just another test, but neither case would be surprising.
4. Falcon Heavy maiden flight, planned for 2016 (may be coincident with #3). FH will be the most powerful rocket in the world, and less powerful only than retired historical rockets. While not as powerful as Saturn V had been, FH is indeed a Moon rocket and (we can hope) will be used as such by someone, though that's beyond the "near future" time horizon.
   Each FH flight also has the benefit of simultaneously providing three stages for landing and potential reusability, so attempting to land three stages at roughly the same time (separated only by minutes) will be another highlight of the maiden flight. As far as I've seen, it hasn't been made clear if any of the stages from an FH might be reused in single-core launches, but that's a question worth watching out for.
5. Launch of BEAM to ISS. One area of the space industry that SpaceX has chosen not to enter (yet) is destinations and habitats, which is an area that Bigelow Aerospace has been specializing in since its inception. As a developer of inflatable habitats, which can be used either in orbit or on planetary surfaces, Bigelow is more or less unchallenged in this arena, so its success is arguably in the same ballpark of importance as SpaceX's - albeit less urgent. However, because Bigelow's business is so speculative, institutional investors have not shown the same degree of faith in its prospects that they have with SpaceX, and its founder - Robert Bigelow - does not have a large enough personal fortune to push the company forward alone. Enter NASA, with a contract to deploy an experimental inflatable module to the International Space Station called "BEAM" - Bigelow Expandable Activity Module. Once BEAM is deployed and, hopefully, successful, that will provide a measure of confidence in Bigelow's technology that may yield greater investment and accelerated timelines for the company, which will in turn drive more business to SpaceX in order to exploit Bigelow's technology. Bigelow has a contract to launch BEAM on a cargo Dragon flight.
6. Uncrewed orbital test flight of Dragon 2. Although it seems counter-intuitive, SpaceX intends to launch an uncrewed Dragon 2 (or V2, or Crew Dragon, ugh) into orbit before doing an in-flight abort test that should technically be much simpler and cheaper. But I'm not complaining - it means we will get to see the spacecraft and rocket launch in its full glory all the sooner, and watch its in-space maneuvers. However, it will land under parachutes in the ocean: Propulsive landing via the SuperDraco thrusters is farther out in the future.
7. Dragon 2 in-flight abort test. The final uncrewed test flight of Dragon 2 will give us a glimpse of the futuristic spacecraft in flight atop a smaller, modified rocket, at which point it will eject itself at or around the most inconvenient possible moment (Max Q, or maximum dynamic pressure) to demonstrate the robustness of its abort capability.
8. Publication of preliminary Mars Colonial Transporter and BFR concepts. This is the item that will no doubt set /r/spacex on fire when it happens, despite being mostly a public relations gimme rather than an achievement in itself. SpaceX has the information whether the public knows about it or not, but being clued in on what they've got in mind will be a huge shot of inspirational adrenaline.
9. Reused stage. (Unplanned, but maybe could happen.) If the tests of the first few returned stages show minimal damage, it is perhaps conceivable - if a high enough flight rate is achieved - that a stage approved for reuse could end up flying again in 2016. If serious enough discounts are offered, maybe it could even jump the line and be moved up to a quick relaunch, since rapidity of reuse is a major part of the program's goals.

-----

Now with horizontal accuracy and more detail:

https://i.imgur.com/Z81NgAk.png

Yeah, Udvar is a regular stop every time I'm back in DC. Love the aviation hangar, but the space hangar could really use some more stuff. Although I love the views from the elevated walkways.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H...ace-Hangar.jpg

Lot of cool stuff. Was hoping for a thruster landing of the Dragon 2 though. Of those items on the list, most looking forward to 5 (Bigelow has big ideas on space hotels) and 9 (shear economic impact on cost of space access).

Oh, and thanks for adding all the updates to this thread!

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="6" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr +JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhL w7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nY FnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/_-d28bQEc9/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Falcon 9 back in the hangar at Cape Canaveral. No damage found, ready to fire again.</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2016-01-01T00:18:40+00:00">Dec 31, 2015 at 4:18pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote>
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Well let's put some gas in it and light the fuse...

Woot....

THIS! ^^^

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SpaceX will try to land the Falcon 9 first stage on a drone ship during the Jason-3 launch from Vandenberg AFB on January 17.</p>&mdash; Charles A. Lurio (@TheLurioReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheLurioReport/status/685221140441231360">January 7, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Elon is an elite QB. Always throwing down the field.

That gif is awesome. Here's the full "recap" video. Nothing new, but it's a cool compilation regardless.

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ANv5UfZsvZQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Next launch is Sunday morning. Can't wait to see if they can get the barge landing down this time.

I hadn't seen this perspective before. Hopefully tomorrow goes better:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GeIHJ-i7yVk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

T-minus 1.5 hours, and everything is still a go. Hopefully the launch fares better than the Chiefs did yesterday.

I'm hoping they have a decent live stream of the landing this time. The last time they had a barge landing attempt, it took a few days for this video to come out so that we could see what happened.

Two webcast choices today:

Hosted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivdKRJzl6y0

Just the rocket and countdown:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkz_lclGXNg

Do we know who's carrying it? The NASA channel has the Jason-3 launch.