SpaceX Landing Two Falcon Heavy Boosters Side by Side -- Gorgeous
Y'all know I have a certain distaste for Elon Musk's rent-seeking, but as I have written before there is nothing much cooler than several billionaires competing at space travel. The video below is of today's apparently succesful Falcon Heavy launch, but while the launch is as cool as always, what was really new and beautiful was the near simultaneous side by side landing of the two booster rockets. Booster landing starts around the 36:30 minute mark.
I will say that Musk's promotional abilities do remind me sometimes of DD Harriman.
NeoWayland:
Okay, you get three extra gold stars for that last sentence.
February 6, 2018, 3:28 pmC078342:
Don't know who DD Harriman is but... I'm not an Elon Musk fan, but Falcon Heavy test flight was phenomenal. I'm a retired aero engineer that grew up in the Apollo era. I haven't been so proud of American engineering as I was today.
February 6, 2018, 5:58 pmSamWah:
ABSO-DAMN-LUTELY. And I'll raise you 5 stars.
February 6, 2018, 6:04 pmSamWah:
Read Robert A. Heinlein's book, "The Man Who Sold The Moon". You'll find out..
February 6, 2018, 6:21 pmJohn Moore:
That launch and recovery was awesome. It rekindled in me the feelings I had watching Apollo launches - except this time the TV resolution was 4K.
February 6, 2018, 6:39 pmirandom419:
So Elon Mu$k uses rockets to launch electric vehicles and Rocket Lab uses electrically assisted rockets to launch payloads.
"The Rutherford engine uses pumps that are uniquely powered by battery-powered electric motors rather than a gas generator..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab
February 6, 2018, 8:30 pmslocum:
Yep, the double-booster landing was much more impressive to watch than the launch itself. It was too bad that the main booster landing wasn't also a success.
February 7, 2018, 5:08 amJ. C. Salomon:
♫ And rockets proudly land upon their tailfins,
♫ As God and Robert Heinlein meant them to.
(http://steve.savitzky.net/Songs/stuff/ )
February 7, 2018, 5:17 amMike Emerson:
Make me want to go climb a street sign and dance on the awning down on the Ritz Carlton
February 7, 2018, 5:39 amDan Wendlick:
There is now a mannequin in a space suit behind the steering wheel of a red convertible cruising through outer space with David Bowie playing on the stereo.
February 7, 2018, 6:45 amThis of course means that that mannequin is cooler than I or any of my friends will ever be.
Mercury:
Awesome indeed.
Apparently private enterprise can operate a major-league space program just fine.
How about we finally open up the healthcare system to private enterprise solutions since the industry obviously has a chronic SUPPLY shortage and all government "solutions" do is re-arrange the DEMAND coconut shells in a closed system of static supply?
Hopefully the new BRK/JPM/AMZN consortium is figuring this out and won't instead simply use their tech and muscle to squeeze out whatever inefficiencies or scale advantages remain unexploited in our F-ed up system.
February 7, 2018, 8:09 amC078342:
Spare me the reading assignment, just tell me who DD Harriman was. Thanks in advance.
February 7, 2018, 4:46 pmMatthew Slyfield:
Vertically landing rocket boosters under power. That's and impressive feat.
February 8, 2018, 12:50 amJeff Bishop:
From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Sold_the_Moon): "Delos David "D. D." Harriman, "the last of the Robber Barons", is obsessed with being the first to travel to—and possess—the moon.". The novella was written in 1949.
You'll regret not following SamWah's advice earlier if you do get around to reading the book.
February 8, 2018, 11:05 am