Surprised that none of the usual official streams are going.

NASA TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21X5lGlDOfg


SpaceX:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhrkdHshb3E


Everyday Astronaut and NASA Spaceflight are streaming and answering questions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmTVn_pKeTQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrPq8vC7C4E

T-23m


EDIT:
Starting on SpaceX YouTube stream. Music is live!

Why are they blowing it up?

Part of a contractual agreement to perform a live test of the in-flight abort safety systems.

T-16 and both NASA and SPaceX streams live!


EDIT:
If watching on YT, both streams seem to be the same, but SpaceX stream is a few seconds ahead and in 1080p vs NASA's 720p.

Thanks

Was interesting to hear Bob brag about how cool it is that SpaceX is spending the money to do this test. Felt a bit like a dig against Boeing who is doing paper based testing/evaluation of in-flight abort. I'd feel more comfortable with a live test too!

Boom!

Well, that was spectacular.

Looks like Americans will be going back into space on an American spacecraft soon!!!

Surprised how nervous I was for a fully successful test today. That was awesome. Excited to see the slow-mo high res videos of the RSD that will be getting uploaded soon!


More importantly, apparently Bridenstine said that DM-2 could be launching as early as March. Be awesome to finally have human space flight capabilities back home!

One of the few times I don't mind seeing a rocket blow up mid-flight. *grin*

Well done, SpaceX. :clap:

Same here. My heart was pumping waiting for the fireball!

The entire test seems to have gone great too. Was cheering for every event like it was a first down pass to Kelce. :)

Tim and crew doing replay from their telescope while we wait for NASA/SpaceX conference. Beautiful video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrPq8vC7C4E

Press conference live with both Musk and Bridenstine (plus astronauts).

Just watched the YT video, that was very impressive!

On a phone, so can't embed.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/12...150858241?s=19

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Crew Dragon separating from Falcon 9 during today’s test, which verified the spacecraft’s ability to carry astronauts to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency on ascent <a href="https://t.co/rxUDPFD0v5">pic.twitter.com/rxUDPFD0v5</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1218976479150858241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"> <a href="https://t.co/gM1HS5tDEJ">pic.twitter.com/gM1HS5tDEJ</a></p>&mdash; Jasper (@CasselmanJasper) <a href="https://twitter.com/CasselmanJasper/status/1218977097647120384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Bless this Nation.

Another Starlink launch is up in ~30 minutes, though weather is very iffy.

So much for that. Scrubbed for weather.

Launch in 3 minutes.

Landing videos have been so much better the last couple times. Wonder if they've started using Starlink? :)

Nice catch!!!!


Wish we could have gotten video of that!

Space s a waste of money. Spend it on helping people on earth. So stupid.

The catching of the fairings, unless they can do something like add fins, drag (other than what it does naturally), chutes, or some kind of controlling thrust, seems like it's always going to be, at best, a game of chance

My understanding, and I haven't looked recently, is that the fairings have both thrusters and a steerable parafoil.

Ah, didn't realize that.

I don't want to be too thin skinned, but I banned this guy from the thread. All he ever does in here is post snide comments about the stupidity of it all.

Definitely steerable. Not sure on thrusters. Still, they've definitely got a ways to go before calling it reliable.

Do we know if the fairing they caught was the instrumented half or not?

Doesn't answer the question, but interesting nonetheless..

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0Ln-lApSqYM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm guessing RCS thrusters for reentry maneuvering, and parafoil for "landing" control.

I'm not sure how much instrumentation is in them. Never thought about it.

I do remember that Starlink 1 (or 0.1?) flew with reused fairings from one of the FH flights. One was caught by Ms. Tree and the other hit the water but was still recovered and refurbished. The webcast said the missed fairing hit the water softly so I'm guessing both halves will be reused.

A manned mission is officially on the calendar!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Working date for SpaceX&#39;s Demo-2 launch is May 7. Dragon is in good shape.<br><br>Launch date is fluid and mission may move into late April, or push later into May depending on a number of variables not hardware related. No final decision yet on duration.</p>&mdash; Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) <a href="https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1226912345571635200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

On a related note, Boeing isn't going to be flying humans any time soon.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020...an-we-thought/

Yeah, Boeing is ****ed. If they're lucky they'll get to refly their OFT and perform an IFA this year. The only reason they got to skip doing an IFA was because of they're "certified processes" and simulations. Add the last OFT failure and the parachute anomoly during launch pad abort (also a failure to adhere to processes) and I'm betting the upcoming NASA culture/process audit at Boeing recommends no human flight for a while.

NASA's budget is 22 billion or thereabouts.

HHS budget is over 60 billion and Social Security spending is over 1 Trillion. I'd say we are 'helping' people...far more than what they're doing in space.

Of course, lets not forget that SpaceX is not federally funded to begin with.

Your banning is completely fine, just because that poster is that stupid.

Starlink 5 set to launch Saturday. Two weeks since 4th mission.
Tentative date for Crew Dragon2 (actual people) is May 7
And Chiefs are world champions

It's a good time to be alive.

Another Starlink launch coming up in ~40 minutes.

Saw some sort of debris on the left side of screen a bit before entry burn started on the booster. Interesting, wonder what it was.

That doesn't look good

LOL, and a miss. Interesting

Looks like they missed the landing...

Will have to try to prop up that 50th booster landing next time.

Looked back at the debris, it looked like a cable of some sort that was on the booster that detached and then cartwheeled off. I am guessing it is something that is supposed to detach, but never saw it before on other booster re-entries.

Soft water landing confirmed.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mad Mike Hughes just launched himself in a self-made steam-powered rocket and crash landed. Very likely did not survive. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MadMike?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MadMike</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MadMikeHughes?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MadMikeHughes</a> <a href="https://t.co/svtviTEi8f">pic.twitter.com/svtviTEi8f</a></p>&mdash; Justin Chapman (@justindchapman) <a href="https://twitter.com/justindchapman/status/1231336002175717376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Here we go............

Pretty sure that doesn't count as "space exploration".

Technically the ground takes up space...

Katherine Johnson, famed NASA mathematician and inspiration for the film 'Hidden Figures,' is dead at 101

<iframe width="1920" height="1080" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ilifg26TZrI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Ugh. That sucks. What a wonderful woman she was. Inspirational.

That is a great video and works well as a companion to the book I am reading right now, The Moon by Oliver Morton.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020...cks-satellite/

Northrop Grumman makes history, Mission Extension Vehicle docks to target satellite me

They launched a a vehicle and parked it in the orbit where satellites that are decommissioned go. Waited for an opportunity, Docked with a sat put there in December when it ran out of fuel (even though it was not designed for docking) and put it back in service. Didn't even know they were working on this.

Welp:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sYeVnGL7fgw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I wonder how many times things blew up when developing F1 and F9. Sucks it happens, but it won't be the last time.

Progress.

CRS mission tonight at 11:50 EST.

And two months away from Crew Demo-2!!

Bump. Also, from Elon:

Rocket will land in highest winds ever at Cape Canaveral tonight. This is intentional envelope expansion.

Pretty cool visuals tonight. And hooray 50th landing!

50th recovery, impressive...

Keep messing with space and watch what happens. They will come.

...the Jetsons?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said the company is “gunning for May” to launch NASA astronauts on Demo-2, its first spaceflight with crew. <a href="https://t.co/TMtm0SbpFK">https://t.co/TMtm0SbpFK</a></p>&mdash; Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) <a href="https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1237467470677622784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Man...the pucker factor is going to be through the roof on that launch.

At the same time, the greatest thrill they are likely to have in their life.

YES!!!! I can't wait. And sure, pucker factor high, but how many successful Falcon 9 launches have there been, and when was the last failure? And, they've got a (once) proven escape system, too!

Rockets from the Falcon 9 family have been launched 85 times over 10 years, resulting in 83 full mission successes (97.6%), one partial success (CRS-1 delivered its cargo to the ISS, but a secondary payload was stranded in a lower-than-planned orbit), and one failure (the CRS-7 spacecraft was lost in flight).

So, only one real failure.

Two if you count AMOS-6, which blew up on the pad. But yeah, they've launched a ton since then with no issues. Hopefully that's a good sign that all of the kinks are now worked out.

EDIT: I count 57 successful launches in a row, but I could be off by a couple.

Ugh:

If U.S. airlines had the same failure rate as the now-retired space shuttles, there’d be 272 fatal crashes a day.

It's not a launch if it doesn't leave the pad.

:p

https://www.space.com/spacex-starlin...h-webcast.html

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The private spaceflight company SpaceX will launch 60 new Starlink satellites to join its ever-growing broadband internet megaconstellation Sunday (March 15) and you can watch it live online.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Starlink mission from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for no earlier than 9:22 a.m. EST (1322 GMT).

This is SpaceX's sixth launch of the year and the sixth Starlink launch to date. The mission will star a veteran Falcon 9 rocket that will do what no other Falcon has done before: launch and land five times. The booster, dubbed B1048.5, previously launched a bevy of satellites including part of the Iridium NEXT constellations, an Israeli lunar lander a communications satellites for Argentina and Indonesia, and a previous Starlink mission.

This is a major milestone for SpaceX. The upgraded version of their workhorse was introduced in 2018, launching the first communications satellite for Bangladesh. Company founder and CEO, Elon Musk said that the souped up booster would be able to fly ten times with little refurbishment in between. Sunday's flight marks the first time a Falcon has reached the halfway point.

They need to step this shit up. We need a new planet soon. This one is infected.

I reeeally wanna live long enough to see our first Mars mission

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The fairing previously flew on the Starlink launch in May 2019 <a href="https://t.co/AtYq6Omuku">pic.twitter.com/AtYq6Omuku</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1238610287256723456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

You should see the food for when the time comes. All that will be left to eat are these dehydrated vegetable chips. Oh and it will be 1 billion dollars for a space ticket.