
Watch the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch Today - carlosgg
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/science/falcon-heavy-spacex-launch.html
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Klathmon
I can't put into words how excited I am for this launch today.

I remember back in 2012 where spacex was still a laughingstock. The idea of
landing a rocket from a private company was a joke.

But SpaceX always did one thing right, they made many care about space again.
They broadcast their launches, made a bit of a show of it, and they weren't
ashamed of their failures.

Then they started breaking milestones. They increased their launch cadence in
what felt like overnight. They were actually trying (and failing) to land
rockets, but they were still broadcasting them! Then they landed the first one
on land, then the first one on a barge, then they re-launched rockets (and re-
landed them!). Now it's weird when a rocket is launched in "expendable mode"!

I wanted to start this comment saying this is the most excited I've been of
any launch in a long time, but when I really thought about it, it's not. There
have been half a dozen launches in the past few years from SpaceX that were
just as exciting, and that's amazing.

I hope today's launch goes well, and I hope this is the start of the "new
normal"!

~~~
verytrivial
I remember clearly thinking the whole idea of landing the booster as being
_completely_ unrealistic, verging on not possible. I'm really pleased to have
been utterly wrong. And 2/3rds of the boosters in today's test have already
been into space. Mind blowing. Congratulations to all the hard working
engineers at SpaceX!

~~~
pensivemood
>I remember clearly thinking the whole idea of landing the booster as being
completely unrealistic, verging on not possible

Please share why you thought it was not possible. Just curious.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Not parent, but I was surprised when I first heard of it. I thought it must be
infeasible - in retrospect, for no reason other than vertical-standing rockets
are associated with kitschy cover arts of old sci-fi stories. It didn't fit
the more modern sci-fi aesthetics I grew in.

Since realizing that I became more wary of unconscious biases picked up from
environment, and how they affect what I think is technologically possible.

~~~
michrassena
Perhaps I grew up in a different era, but it's precisely that same aesthetic
which makes me see these landings as futuristic because they align so well
with those images.

The ascent into space looks like a massive show of raw power, and in contrast
these vertical landings look so graceful and controlled.

~~~
cr0sh
> The ascent into space looks like a massive show of raw power, and in
> contrast these vertical landings look so graceful and controlled.

Personally, I think both are a "massive show of raw power" \- both literally
and figuratively.

Literally goes without explanation. But what I mean of the word "figuratively"
is that it shows our capability as a species to fully harness our intellect,
knowledge, and emotions to do this kind of engineering, despite knowing it can
all go horribly wrong (especially in the case of manned space flight).

Certainly there are many other drivers to why we do this (profit in the case
of SpaceX certainly is a great one), but part of it is also to show ourselves
we can push beyond what seemed or seems impossible at times, and make it
routine, and eventually both practical and relatively "safe" (always knowing
it might never be perfect).

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Robotbeat
Falcon Heavy is just a toe in the door of super heavy launch. BFR will have 31
engines at liftoff compared to Falcon Heavy's 27. BFR will be about twice the
thrust of Falcon Heavy, and most importantly BFR is not just a launch vehicle
(which gives SpaceX a big edge in deploying megaconstellations of low-latency
internet satellites), but the upper stage part will be a spacecraft capable of
reentering the Earth's atmosphere with a payload and crew like Shuttle but
also capable of being refueled and landing on (and taking off from) distant
worlds. Falcon Heavy really helps provide this necessary interim step, and
will help build a manifest of large payloads that BFR will be able to take
over.

SpaceX is increasingly serious about BFR, their next-gen rocket which is like
an enormous, fully reusable hybrid of Shuttle and Falcon 9 using soot-free and
higher performing methane (which can also be made on Mars in a fairly
straightforward process) instead of kerosene.

Musk mentioned BFR multiple times in the pre-launch press conference
yesterday: [https://soundcloud.com/geekwire/elon-musk-discusses-the-
laun...](https://soundcloud.com/geekwire/elon-musk-discusses-the-launch-and-
flight-of-the-falcon-heavy-rocket)

They're cancelling lunar Dragon+FH to focus on BFR which is making more
progress than they expected. They plan to start flight testing the upper
stage/spaceship portion of it by next year according to Elon in the prelaunch
press conference.

Falcon Heavy was originally supposed to fly about as often as Falcon 9, but
they upgraded Falcon 9 so much that now they barely need Falcon Heavy, as
amazing as Falcon Heavy is.

Super excited about all this.

~~~
chasd00
yeah i think BFR and the upgraded Falcon 9 pretty much obsoletes Falcon Heavy
almost immediately. The Heavy just took so long to put together, it was
suppose to fly 4 or 5 years ago right? I've heard it reported that the Falcon
Heavy engineering was much harder than anticipated. Does anyone know what some
of the major obstacles were? The concept seems straightforward but where did
they start getting into trouble?

~~~
emilecantin
I remember reading a quote from Elon where he says that at some point, they
realised it's less "strapping three cores together" than "flying three cores
in very close formation"

The stresses involved are truly enormous, and the whole thing must be very
well balanced to avoid putting even more stresses on the frame.

Something as stupid as fueling the rocket needs to be done with care, as
they're dealing with super-chilled liquid oxygen: The cold temperatures make
the rocket contract a little bit, you have to make sure all three boosters
contract exactly the same otherwise you can break the attachment points.

~~~
golergka
After countless hours of experimenting with additional struts in KSP to keep
my rockets from going through RUD I have a weird feeling as if I understand
this on some level. Rationally, I don't think that I have any real
understanding of rocket science from KSP - but that weird feeling just won't
go away.

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aerodog
Try

[http://www.spacex.com/webcast](http://www.spacex.com/webcast)

Or

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbSwFU6tY1c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbSwFU6tY1c)

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SteveGregory
Here's a to-scale graph of the launch:

[https://imgur.com/a/XvPXG](https://imgur.com/a/XvPXG)

~~~
IshKebab
Ah amazing! I've been vaguely looking for exactly this since they started
landing boosters and this is the first accurate one I've seen.

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Ftuuky
I'm not american or connected in any form or shape to the aerospace industry
and yet I feel so excited for watching this. It has been absolutely mind-
blowing watching all those rockets landing perfectly.

~~~
mwambua
Same here. I'm not American, or working in the Aerospace industry... but
watching Musk has had a spurring effect for me. He's a constant reminder that
the impossible is possible and that you should keep trying even if it turns
out it's impossible.

I'm stressed out because I need to get my thesis done soon, but he's worried
because he needs to perfectly launch a Tesla Roadster into Solar orbit, and
vertically land three first-stages so he can do it again.

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chasd00
was planning on buying tickets but they sold out before I could get
arrangements made with work and family. I grew up in Port Orange FL and could
see the shuttle launch from New Smyrna Beach, there's nothing like seeing a
launch in person. My colleagues are a little annoyed how excited I am but I
can't help it hah.

Weather looks good so here's hoping for no delays!

~~~
dogma1138
You can watch the launch without buying tickets to KSC there are plenty of
spots hobbiest go to watch them without tickets.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Sitting on the bleachers just inside Canaveral AFB watching now, no tickets
required!

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Symmetry
Remember that Elon is saying there's even odds the rocket explodes. 2 failures
in the first 10 launches is par for the course for new rockets. You can do
better by being paranoid like ULA but that slows down innovation which is not
the tradeoff SpaceX is going to take.

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JBiserkov
The linked chart is also very informative:
[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/science/spacex-
falc...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/science/spacex-falcon-
launch.html)

I only wished it showed successful landings as well.

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dantheman
I can't wait -- this is one of the most exciting and inspirational events of
the year.

Best of luck to the spacex team -- we'll be watching!

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pavel_lishin
Oh man, I didn't realize this was going to go into a solar orbit! I thought it
was just going to stay in LEO and then eventually burn up on re-entry.

~~~
TeMPOraL
If you missed that, then wait until you learn what's the test payload...

~~~
imron
For the curious, it's Musk's midnight-cherry red Tesla roadster, with a dummy
in a spacesuit in the drivers seat, David Bowie playing on the stereo, and a
towel in the glove box along with a copy of hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
and a sign that says Don't Panic.

~~~
digdugdirk
That's great. Where did you find this info on the payload?

~~~
imron
Initially from Musk's Twitter feed, but there's now also a Wikipedia entry
about the car:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk's_Tesla_Roadster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk's_Tesla_Roadster)

There's also an artists rendition of the launch and payload on spacex's
YouTube channel (titled: Falcon Heavy Animation)

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jacquesm
Hah, They Did It :) That makes me so happy. What an incredible space ballet.

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janlaureys
There was a media event yesterday at the launch site. Look how tiny those
people are in this picture:
[https://i.redd.it/pq77omcrwge01.jpg](https://i.redd.it/pq77omcrwge01.jpg)

~~~
icc97
About the height of the letters on the side of the rocket coincidentally
enough.

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jacquesm
4 hours to go... I'm on the wrong continent :( I would have definitely gone
there to view the launch, it's a real milestone and I so hope that it will
work.

~~~
alex_duf
I think the day we send people to Mars, never mind the fact I'm living in
Europe, I'll take a holiday and flight to see that rocket take off...

I already missed the Saturn V going to the moon (wasn't born), there aren't
that many positive, predictable historical moments like that in a life time

~~~
jacquesm
> I already missed the Saturn V going to the moon (wasn't born), there aren't
> that many positive, predictable historical moments like that in a life time

I was 4 years old when that happened and it is as far as I can tell my
earliest memory. We had this incredibly small black-and-white TV and watching
that really impressed me, the moon never looked the same afterwards.

Incidentally, that live broadcast was quite a thing to pull off:

[https://www.popsci.com/how-nasa-broadcast-neil-armstrong-
liv...](https://www.popsci.com/how-nasa-broadcast-neil-armstrong-live-from-
moon)

~~~
icc97
My daughter is 5yo for this launch, here's hoping this can have a similar
impact.

~~~
jacquesm
Did she like it?

~~~
icc97
She was more interested in the animation than the launch. Overall a bit
underwhelmed, slightly intruiged by the launch but not much more. She's not
quite sure why daddy is so excited that there's a car floating around in
space. I clearly need to work on her inner space geek.

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VikingCoder
A thought I've had about SpaceX, Crazy Horse Memorial, and 9/11...

They were all once the kind of things that only nation-states could
accomplish... Putting up massive payloads into space, building huge monuments,
and killing thousands of people.

We've made all kinds of things easier to do - some good, some bad.

I hope we continue to grow into our capabilities a bit more smoothly than we
seem to be, right now...

~~~
Faaak
I think there's a little difference between thousands of engineers building a
rocket and 4 idiots crashing a plane down…

~~~
ryanwaggoner
As horrific as 9/11 was, it’s not fair to characterize it as 4 idiots bringing
down a plane.

It was 19 people who led a coordinated attack that took hundreds of people,
millions of dollars, and years to plan and execute. In the process, they
brought down 4 airplanes, damaged the pentagon, and toppled TWO skyscrapers,
killing thousands of people in the process.

Looking back at the 17 years since, they indirectly started multiple wars,
toppled governments, inspired a generation of terrorists, and changed the
geopolitical situation in the Middle East for decades, at least.

Again, it was horrible and we should condemn it, but it was also a lot more
strategically impressive and impactful than you’re making it out to be.

~~~
jacquesm
Their biggest success was to enlist their foes in achieving their goals.
That's the part I will never understand.

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Shelnutt2
The webcast now says it is going live at "February 6, 14:50 EST". Any official
word on a delay? I know the window was from 13:30 EST to I believe 16:00 EST.

Edit: Looks like delayed due to upper level winds.

[https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/960920426485399552](https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/960920426485399552)

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speg
Anyone know where to watch that isn't Youtube? Blocked at work :(

~~~
swarnie_
[http://www.spacex.com/webcast](http://www.spacex.com/webcast)

~~~
speg
That's just a Youtube embed.

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robinp
Elon leaving... Stock markets crash...

~~~
MichaelMoser123
i was just thinking if a possible downturn would have any effects on his plans
of settling the solar system. (for me as a lowly grunt a downturn always means
switching to work with a different industry, but who cares except for me.)

If this launch of Falcon Heavy becomes its last one then it would be so
similar to the Buran shuttle.

~~~
Robotbeat
This is more like a Proton launch. Proton and R7/Soyuz survived the fall of
the Soviet Union because they were cheap.

BFR might be more like Buran/Energia.

