SpaceX

[Tank]

59 minutes ago, Slegnaac said:

Looks like Sunday launch is a GO!

we can usually see the early part of the flight from our front yard, but it was too hazy tonight to see anything. we caught a little bit of the contrail, but that was it. 

i am constantly amazed at how fast these rockets are moving when they pass by us, and they haven't come close to max speed at that point. i only wish we could hear it. 

[Slegnaac]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

we can usually see the early part of the flight from our front yard, but it was too hazy tonight to see anything. we caught a little bit of the contrail, but that was it. 

i am constantly amazed at how fast these rockets are moving when they pass by us, and they haven't come close to max speed at that point. i only wish we could hear it. 

Yeah, we only saw a brief trail going up.  However,  once the sun was over the horizon we could see the high elevation trails.

[gotbeer]

On 8/3/2024 at 3:23 PM, TBM-850 said:

Take the most sophisticated rocket engine ever made (Raptor 1). Increase the thrust from 185 tons to 300+ tons. Then cut the weight more than in half. Crazy progression.

 

Times have been tough for IG88 

 

[gotbeer]

SpaceX fires the Raptor 3 engine for the first time and silences the critics

Go IG88 Go.

[TBM-850]

The two astronauts from Boeing Starliner will have to wait until february to come back on a Spacex dragon. They were only supposed to be up there for 8 days and now it will be at least 9 months.

[gotbeer]

NASA Decides to Bring Starliner Spacecraft Back to Earth Without Crew

Starliner should never have been launched when it had helium leaks before takeoff, and they determined that it was not going to affect anything, and they launched anyways.

[gotbeer]

NASA has to be trolling with the latest cost estimate of its SLS launch tower

Quote

According to a new report from NASA's inspector general, the estimated cost of the tower, which is a little bit taller than the length of a US football field with its end zones, is now $2.7 billion. Such a cost is nearly twice the funding it took to build the largest structure in the world, the Burj Khalifa, which is seven times taller.

This is a remarkable explosion in costs as, only five years ago, NASA awarded a contract to the Bechtel engineering firm to build and deliver a second mobile launcher (ML-2) for $383 million, with a due date of March 2023. That deadline came and went with Bechtel barely beginning to cut metal.

According to NASA's own estimate, the project cost for the tower is now $1.8 billion, with a delivery date of September 2027. However the new report, published Monday, concludes that NASA's estimate is probably too conservative. "Our analysis indicates costs could be even higher due in part to the significant amount of construction work that remains," states the report, signed by Deputy Inspector General George A. Scott.

Quote

To make a 2028 launch date for this mission, NASA said it needs to have the ML-2 tower completed by November 2026. Both NASA and the new report agree that there is a zero percent chance of this happening. Accordingly, if the Artemis IV mission uses the upgraded version of the SLS rocket, it almost certainly will not launch until mid-2029 at the earliest.

 

[Blarg]

They looked at the cost of building a rail line in California and felt they were offering a big discount at $2.7 billion. 

[TBM-850]

On the other end of the spectrum, Spacex just completed Starship Tower B in about 7 weeks. The pieces were pre-built offsite but that is still a blinding construction pace. It's about 100ft taller than the SLS launch tower and also has more complexity because it has to be able to catch a returning rocket.

NASA spent $3.5 billion for a total of 24 RS-25 rocket engines ($146 million each) for SLS. They also had some leftover RS-25s from the shuttle days. Raptor is less than $1M per engine (maybe as low as $250k per) and is smaller, much lighter and more powerful than RS-25. No surprise that NASA would find a way to waste a billion or two on a tower.

[gotbeer]

For the first time in more than three years, SpaceX misses a booster landing

22 of 23 for just this particular booster.  Not bad.

 

[gotbeer]

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket can return to flight, FAA says

[gotbeer]

And they didn't waste any time.

SpaceX set a launch turnaround record with back-to-back, coast-to-coast Falcon 9 launches

[Jay]

SpaceX announces new launch date for Polaris Dawn Mission

https://www.wmur.com/article/new-launch-date-for-spacex-polaris-dawn-mission-wednesday-sept-4-delayed/62025472

SpaceX filed a new launch schedule with the Federal Aviation Administration, with the first window opening at 3:38 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

[gotbeer]

That ship is just cursed.

The Starliner spacecraft has started to emit strange noises

[Jay]

27 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

That ship is just cursed.

The Starliner spacecraft has started to emit strange noises

[Tank]

9 hours ago, gotbeer said:

That ship is just cursed.

The Starliner spacecraft has started to emit strange noises

the boeing starliner is the rendon of space vehicles.

[JAHV76]

13 hours ago, Tank said:

the boeing starliner is the rendon of space vehicles.

or Izturis

[gotbeer]

Looks like we have a launch tonight at the prime dusk area.

Used SpaceX rocket launches 7,001st Starlink satellites (and 20 others), lands at sea (video)

Quote

Another Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch a batch of classified spy satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office at 11:20 p.m. EDT (8:20 p.m. PDT/0320 Sept. 6 GMT) from a pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. 

 

[gotbeer]

Some pretty colors just after launch and before the squid.  

[gotbeer]

Helicopter flew in the Pic.

Screen grab from video

[gotbeer]

Zoomed in.

[Jay]

Do you guys get a sonic boom?

 

[Jay]

 

[Tank]

12 hours ago, Jay said:

Do you guys get a sonic boom?

 

not with spacex. we used to hear a double sonic boom when the shuttle landed at edwards air force base. 

[gotbeer]

With no crew aboard, spacecraft Starliner lands without a hitch