
SpaceX Launch Livestream: CRS-8 Dragon Hosted Webcast - cryptoz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pUAydjne5M#t=27m15s
======
joshrotenberg
That was so cool. If you feel like launching one yourself, they have a user's
guide:
[http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/falcon_9_users_guid...](http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/falcon_9_users_guide_rev_2.0.pdf)

And pricing information:
[http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities](http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities)

(edit: added pricing info which might be helpful)

~~~
partisan
Where's the call to action? Who designed the page?

> SpaceX offers open and fixed pricing for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy
> launch services. Modest discounts are available, for contractually
> committed, multi-launch purchases. SpaceX can also offer crew transportation
> services to commercial customers seeking to transport astronauts to
> alternate LEO destinations.

With such big ticket items, I wouldn't have imagined there is a price list
available. I would think these things are negotiated over expensive dinners.
You almost expect to see a "Buy Now" button on the page.

~~~
simoncion
> Where's the call to action? Who designed the page?

Assuming that that wasn't tongue in cheek...

Their target audience is "people who want to launch something into orbit".
They don't need a call to action, they already have a _rather_ well-defined
need.

> I would think these things are negotiated over expensive dinners.

That sort of shit is _exactly_ what Musk has been complaining about every time
he talks about how fucked-up the existing space delivery industry is.

Think of it this way: You don't negotiate the price of delivery for something
you're gonna ship via FedEx over a dinner.

One of the goals of SpaceX is to make the space delivery industry as much like
every other delivery industry as is humanly possible.

~~~
partisan
It was tongue in cheek.

And I am completely on board with the open pricing model. It's incredible and
probably makes their competitors very nervous.

~~~
Animats
That's the point. Space-X's pricing has terrified the industry. Now the
question is whether you get a discount on used boosters.

What Space-X doesn't give you is a firm launch date. Spaceflight Now listed
today's launch as "Delayed from Aug. 13, Sept. 2, Jan. 3, Feb. 7, March 20 and
March 29. [March 16]" This is Space-X's biggest problem. They're about a year
behind on their launch manifest. They don't even put dates on future launches
any more. Customers don't like this; some have switched to Arianespace or ULA
or Russia for their satellite launches.

Space-X is trying to catch up. Next launch date is April 28th, and there are
two launches a month scheduled for the next few months. First Falcon Heavy
launch is scheduled for November, but that may slip.

~~~
jacobwcarlson
"We are backed up in how much stuff we have to deliver to space" certainly
seems like one of the better problems have.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Sounds similar to Tesla's Model 3 "problem" (>375K preorders).

------
manaskarekar
Reminds me of one of the most inspirational interviews by him after three
failed Falcon 1 launches: [http://www.wired.com/2008/08/musk-
qa/](http://www.wired.com/2008/08/musk-qa/)

> Musk: Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we're going to make it happen. As God
> is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work.

~~~
vvanders
Wasn't that at a point where Tesla was under a huge capital crunch as well?
Can't imagine what pressure he was under.

~~~
jacobsheehy
Yes, I think 2008 was a very hard year for Elon. The issue with Tesla was that
something like 200 Roadsters were manufactured incorrectly and all had to be
fixed at immense cost and time delay. He was also going through a divorce at
the time. And all SpaceX launches had exploded off the Pacific island that
they were forced to use since their competitors successfully lobbied for it to
be illegal for SpaceX to launch from the USA. Rough year.

~~~
james-watson
His wife also decided it was a convenient time to divorce him in 2008.

His current wife also recently decided to announce a divorce. At least he is
on a big winning streak with his businesses this time.

~~~
static_noise
Maybe they'll make it the third time he marries _the same woman_. He obviously
_is_ hellbent on making it work.

------
cryptoz
The SpaceX subreddit has an excellent megathread with lots of information
about this launch.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/4dtoly/rspacex_spac...](https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/4dtoly/rspacex_spacex_crs8_official_launch_discussion/)

Here is a link to the technical webcast:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh8V0COrrzE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh8V0COrrzE)

This is SpaceX's first ISS cargo mission since their last attempt last summer,
which ended in an explosion and loss of all cargo. They will also be
attempting a barge landing of the first stage, which they have not yet
successfully completed. They will likely stream the landing attempt, but live
video is no guarantee as there is usually too much interference.

------
dzdt
Count degrees of freedom that have to be zeroed out in that landing: three
coordinates of position, three coordinates of motion, two axes of tilt, rates
of yaw, pitch, and roll.

That adds to 11 dimensions of control. And their flight computer nailed it,
without even zeroing one at a time! Only roll rate around the axis of the
rocket was zeroed well before touchdown. Impressive!

~~~
imaginenore
If you're zeroing in the position, you don't have to worry about the motion.

The number of degrees you have to take car of is 6: X, Y, Z, yaw, pitch, and
roll.

~~~
sehugg
Heck, I'll just be pedantic and say you have 7 DOF since you really should use
a quaternion to avoid the gimbal-lock singularity when using Euler angles :P

~~~
visarga
To a layman the two are nearly identical, however the Von Hiesen is an older
model of Neutrino Compressors and thus shares many aesthetic components as the
contemporary hypercarbolators (I tend to use the American spelling for that
word) due to the placement of the backfeed tube.

~~~
chronolitus
gimbal and quaternions are two different ways of describing an object's
rotation in 3d.

gimbal is very intuitive, you just write down three angles: pitch, roll, and
yaw. to imagine the objects rotation when I give you the three angles, you
just apply them one after the other.

however, there is an issue. When the object's rotation is large enough that
say, roll becomes 90, suddenly pitch and yaw correspond to the same 'thing '.
which means one axis of rotation can no longer be realized.

in practice this can be seen with physical gimbals (three concentric rings,
one per axis) or in numerical gimbal representation, where values might end up
being unworkable.

quaternions eliminate this problem by using four values instead of three
(quater, quattro, quad bike - the prefix stands for 4) 3 values are the
components of a 3d vector, and the 4th is how much rotation to apply around
it.

The above post argue that this 4th value seems like an extra degree of
freedom, it isnt. it simply is a matter of representation if coded correctly.

------
dsp1234
First successful landing on the drone ship

Also, primary Dragon deployment appears successful as well.

~~~
codeulike
Footage of the landing starts at 35:47, taken from nearby flying drone.

[https://youtu.be/7pUAydjne5M?t=35m47s](https://youtu.be/7pUAydjne5M?t=35m47s)

Absolutely surreal footage, a 25 storey rocket just drifts into shot at a
crazy angle and plants itself.

~~~
state
Not sure what to make of the chanting of 'U-S-A U-S-A' after that. That sound
just reminds me of a Trump rally these days.

But otherwise: that was really fantastic.

Edit:

It's actually quite a sweet display of patriotism. I sound more negative than
I mean to be. Perhaps it was just funny to realize that the context I'm most
familiar with the sound of that chant is from reporting on the current
campaign.

~~~
nodesocket
Since when did being patriotic become offensive behavior? I for one am proud
of the accomplishment and realize that it took many people from lots of
different countries, but the reality is SpaceX, Tesla, Google, Microsoft,
Facebook, Twitter the list goes on are all American companies. American and
proud.

~~~
Strom
It's not that offensive, but it did have a bit of a jarring effect. I was all
happy with the success and saw it as a human achievement. [1] The cheering was
wonderful. But then the USA chants made me feel left out, because I'm not a US
citizen. I guess I just wished these people would share my view of it being a
human achievement and not limited to USA with its 4% of humans. It's likely
plenty of them do think that, but the USA chanting sure sends a different
emotional signal and diminishes the moment a bit.

\--

[1] I probably wouldn't think much of a USA chant during a Facebook or Google
product launch. While these companies do plenty of wonderful things, I view
space travel as several tiers of importance higher.

~~~
Klathmon
That's kind of funny that you would find a USA chant at a Google product
launch less "jarring".

In this context it didn't phase me at all (I am a US citizen though...), but
at a Google press event, it would be really unsettling.

~~~
sjwright
It's probably a cultural thing. From my vantage point outside of America,
chanting support for your country like a sports team feels awkward and myopic.
It's not something most other civilised countries do — I associate it more
readily with failed/fascist/dictatorial regimes.

~~~
Klathmon
I think it is a cultural thing, but thinking about it now it would sound
really similar to how you describe if they were chanting "America" instead of
"USA".

I don't know, but the point is that I can see where you are coming from. I
think that the "USA" thing has become "normalized" to me because of other
things in the media (sports, wartime, etc...) that it doesn't phase me, but
changing the wording makes it pretty clear.

------
ChuckMcM
That was pretty impressive, and while I love that New Shepard has flown three
times, putting something into orbit and having the booster land on a drone
ship is pretty freakin' awesome.

For me, the _really_ amazing thing is that if SpaceX has been pricing their
launches to cover their costs (and I realize that is a big if), they have been
developing the re-usable tech on the back of those flights. And now they have
5 (or 6) test flights where two were successful that is moving that tech
forward. Developing it on top of an already profitable space flight business,
that is pretty amazing.

Really impressed.

~~~
soperj
I'm pretty sure the launches are actually profitable, so more than cover their
costs.

~~~
JshWright
Various SpaceX execs have said they need to launch somewhere around 12
rockets/yr to be profitable in the long term (they likely have plenty of cash
on hand right now, as most of their contracts pay quite a bit up front, and
they have gotten a lot of funding from a couple NASA sponsored development
programs).

So yes, the launches themselves are profitable.

------
partisan
I've watched several times now and seeing things like this make me optimistic
about the future of humanity. The commercial space industry is literally being
born before our eyes (not the utility space industry of lift/transport, but
the one where private companies begin to capitalize on the resources of
space).

My only problem with this whole thing: Weyland-Yutani Corporation sounds so
much cooler than SpaceX.

------
jjm
A rocket lands like it's done it 1000 times from space, and my company can't
even code a simple microservice or use containers.

~~~
deegles
To be fair, I doubt the rocket is running microservices either :)

~~~
noselasd
Embedded systems like this is normally coded (on top of an RTOS) as individual
services each running on one thread exchanging messages with other services.
Pretty much like microservices (just not over http)

(Take a look at e.g.
[http://flightsoftware.jhuapl.edu/files/2012/FSW12_McComas.pd...](http://flightsoftware.jhuapl.edu/files/2012/FSW12_McComas.pdf)
which is NASAs approach to reusing the typical architecture for flight
software)

~~~
yetihehe
So like a small version of erlang? Once you've started programming in erlang
you start to look at concurrency and reliability in a certain way. Especially
after you've done some server which took too many hours to stop hanging and
crashing on interthread issues.

------
mholt
To put this in perspective, they just landed a supersonic toothpick upright on
a turbulent matchbox.

~~~
hyperbovine
It was a unnervingly close to the edge of said matchbox. Can't they build a
bigger drone ship? Seems a lot cheaper than losing one over the side.

~~~
lifeformed
Couldn't they make the landing pad a bit more forgiving? Like have two big
ring-halves pop-up around it when it lands and "catch" it if it tips. I know
they'd want to eventually master landing without it, but not having the whole
thing explode seems like a good way to quickly run new flights.

~~~
usrusr
No point in spending big on small optimizations like that while they are still
working on the part of the process that contains 99% of the difficulty. So far
the recovered rocket parts probably have little more value to SpaceX than a
very interesting log file. Even if they already send this one up again, it
will be more to show off (which is perfectly fine) than for direct monetary
reasons.

Once they have an economically meaningful recovery rate, advanced landing pad
features might still become a tool to get some margin of error or to reduce
the rocket mass overhead necessary for landing. But right now, just tipping
over instead of dropping like a meteor (or stopping in mid-air like a cartoon
animal, then dropping) is still the goal, not the most pressing danger.

~~~
ChuckMcM
I did a bit of research on that after a comment by Josh here on HN, basically
when the first stage isn't pressurized by all of the propellant it is more
like an empty beer can. (ok a really really tall beer can :-). Once it is on
the barge it has the gas thrusters on top (you can see them in the video)
which are well positioned to provide maximum torque to the rest of the
structure, but they have limited amounts of reaction mass.

The next step would be some way to secure the booster, post landing, in a
structurally supportive way, on the barge. I can't wait to see how they pull
that off.

~~~
TrevorJ
They have clamps that they were planning on welding to the deck to keep the
rocket attached.

~~~
ChuckMcM
That would be interesting. I was thinking perhaps a set of explosive bolts on
the landing legs which punched into the deck once it was stable.

I was also quite pleased that they had solid video of it coming into land with
a drone that was hovering off barge. That was a brilliant move on SpaceX's
part.

~~~
usrusr
In the new field of vtoL rocketry, you want to have as much of the landing
gear as possible on the pad and as little as possible on the rocket. An
expensive array of mass produced "autograpples" embedded in the platform would
be preferable over any solution that adds mass to the rocket.

------
Anchor
Successful landing on the autonomous drone ship. Awesome to be witnessing the
amazing progress.

~~~
interdrift
Holy cow, congratulations to everyone involved. This almost made me cry.

~~~
rybosome
Watched this in public with my coworkers, so I controlled myself. Had I been
alone I would have wept with joy. This is so incredible.

~~~
randyrand
I wept like a little baby in front of all my coworkers when the first iPhone
came out. Such a beautiful accomplishment.

~~~
JBReefer
Bbeing emotional is key to being human

------
manaskarekar
History in the making. Successful landing on 'Of Course I Still Love You'.

Very, very inspirational.

~~~
pacaro
I'm hoping that the drone ship name is an Iain Banks tribute - if so, it's
hard to think of anything more fitting

~~~
noir_lord
It is, Elon Musk has mentioned the Culture novels in a bunch of interviews, he
was a massive sci-fi fan growing up.

[http://www.space.com/28445-spacex-elon-musk-drone-ships-
name...](http://www.space.com/28445-spacex-elon-musk-drone-ships-names.html)

------
grondilu
I'm very conflicted about SpaceX.

On one hand, I can appreciate the technical performance like everyone, and I
do believe this may have a great impact for sending things to space, including
humans.

On the other hand, SpaceX's main goal of having men living on mars to me
sounds completely insane. No matter how cheap is the trip to mars, I would not
live there as I could not afford to, and I doubt anyone on Earth currently
can. Maybe a scientific base with public funding would make some sense but it
would still be so insanely expensive that it'd be tough to sell to the tax
payer. And it's clearly not what SpaceX has in mind, anyway. Also I don't
share the fear of an upcoming cataclysm that would make Earth worse a place
where to live than mars. I just don't get it.

For reference: [https://youtu.be/3YDnGHaXdxw](https://youtu.be/3YDnGHaXdxw)

~~~
sktrdie
As Dr. Zubrin once said "I think societies are like individuals, we grow when
we challenge ourselves, we stagnate when we do not." \-
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Mu8qfVb5I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Mu8qfVb5I)

I truly believe the whole point of going to Mars is to challenge ourselves.
New skills will be required; new passions will be planted in future
generations. The benefits will dwarf the cost of the program.

But above everything, humans are wired to explore. Obviously we're exploring
things in many other fields, but "exploring other planets" is a different kind
of exploration.

~~~
erikpukinskis
I agree with this, but I don't understand people who look at Earth and see no
interesting challenges of this class.

Climate change? Widespread torture of thousands and thousands of marginalized
classes of humans all over the world? Healthcare? Those are vastly more
challenging than Mars.

I think the appeal of Mars is that it's somewhat challenging, but it's not
messy at all. It appeals to people who can't stomach chaotic systems. They
need a clear goal and they need "dumb" opponents, i.e. the laws of physics,
materials science, etc. In the face of an intelligent opponent, the challenge
becomes too high and they lose interest.

The idea of putting together a solution to a problem with known constraints,
and then finding out those constraints changed, or worse yet there was active
interference from another human is soul crushing to these people, so they
retreat to difficult engineering problems where they will be challenged but
not surprised.

------
sixQuarks
I'm embarrassed to say I was screaming and cheering like a little school girl
upon landing.

~~~
bjelkeman-again
Nothing to be embarrassed by. I was too, and I was high-fiving my wife, who I
made watch it. :)

~~~
nojvek
Wifey not into space tech, but when I explained what this meant, she was like
"Wow! I didn't think that it would be even possible to have a stick rocket go
up, turn around and land on a little pad in the ocean". That's crazy.

------
helicon
Not wanting to be overly dramatic, but as someone who wasn't around in the
sixties this feels like our moon landing!

~~~
alaxsxaq
Not even close. Impressive nonetheless.

~~~
mikeash
In a way it's even more important. Apollo was an amazing achievement, but it
wasn't set up to be sustainable. Spending billions just to beat the Russians
doesn't last.

If you want to see more interesting space activity than a bunch of comsats,
some probes, and the ISS, you need to make space a lot cheaper. That's been
stagnant for a very long time, and what we saw today is the second step
towards something that promises to cut the cost of space by an order or
magnitude or more. We're finally seeing something that might make space
something more like aviation, not just a bunch of national prestige projects
with a handful of commercial uses.

If people are living on Mars in 50 years (which looks more and more likely
now) then it'll be because of this, far more so than the legacy of Apollo.

~~~
drjesusphd
Ok, I'll bite. What was the first?

~~~
xixixao
Landing first stage on land.

~~~
mikeash
Yes, that's what I meant. The first landing was a huge step, proving the whole
crazy concept can work. This was another huge step, proving that the whole
crazy concept can work out at sea, where it needs to happen most of the time.

------
ronnier
Here's a video of the landing:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pUAydjne5M&feature=youtu.be...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pUAydjne5M&feature=youtu.be&t=2144)

~~~
giarc
Seems like something has changed. Landing is at about 27:15

------
themgt
That really felt like watching history being made. And damn, that ship is
getting some waves.

------
avivo
Gorgeous success! Fascinating to hear chants of USA USA USA in the background.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pUAydjne5M&t=37m13s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pUAydjne5M&t=37m13s)

------
cryptoz
Gifv of landing:
[http://i.imgur.com/lH4qRaK.gifv](http://i.imgur.com/lH4qRaK.gifv)

Fascinating how it seems to bounce or slide at the end. Also: WOW!

~~~
llomlup
Quite unreal.

------
llomlup
Watching the webcast feels like being at some blockbuster movie premiere.
There's a largish crowd following the launch and applauding on every launch
stage completion. Not that it's a bad thing per se, it's rather the opposite,
it however, feels quite weird and staged as opposed to launches done by ESA,
Roscosmos or even NASA.

~~~
mulmen
The NASA people seemed pretty happy when Curiosity landed on Mars:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svUJdzMHwmM&t=3m10s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svUJdzMHwmM&t=3m10s)

~~~
netcraft
I cried like a baby that night. I wish my son had been a bit older to be able
to stay up and have watched it with me.

~~~
partisan
That was a memorable night. I remember feeling like I was going to pay for it
in the morning, but it was worth every bit.

------
intrasight
Honestly that's the most amazing thing, besides watching my daughter be born,
that I've ever witnessed.

~~~
JshWright
My three year old daughter watching the launch, in the hospital room where we
await the birth of our twins:

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/2fyff902tpfn7mu/2016-04-08%2016.43...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/2fyff902tpfn7mu/2016-04-08%2016.43.49.jpg?dl=0)

~~~
oaktowner
We had twins when our first was three.

Best of luck to you, my friend. The first year or two will be unlike anything
you've endured in your life, but you will make it through.

------
product50
Maybe this is a stupid question but why do they land that thing on floating
vessel vs. fixed target on land? Seems like it will be more difficult to
manage this in the ocean given that the vessel itself is moving around with
the ebbs and flows of the waves..

~~~
wsinks
I don't think this is a stupid question, and the Verge came up with a very
similar response to what I would think. Having a barge that can be
compensating for current wind conditions could enable SpaceX to launch at more
times than previous - expanding their launch windows AND launch points. Let's
see what the Verge says:

[http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/8/11392138/spacex-landing-
suc...](http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/8/11392138/spacex-landing-success-
falcon-9-rocket-barge-at-sea)

The main part that they point out that I wasn't thinking of is fuel. They're
saving on putting fuel into the rocket because they are now putting that fuel
in the place that weight doesn't matter - in the sea. Literally. Weight
doesn't matter there - they can create a larger platform (preferable) to put
even more fuel into! ..pretty brilliant if you ask me.

:)

------
Falcon9
Hello, Of Course I Still Love You, nice to land on you.

[I love that SpaceX has the Falcon and the Dragon, and that the autonomous
landing drones are named for starships in Ian M. Banks' Culture series. Cool
technology _should_ get cool names.]

------
not_that_noob
That's so freakin' cool!

Does anyone know how the rocket meets the drone surface at landing so
precisely especially when the drone is pitching and rolling? Is it processing
on the rocket or some other mechanism?

~~~
jccooper
F9 is not believed to have any information from ground sources during descent,
based on FCC filings. The altitude of the barge only changes by a meter or so
in decent seas, and the legs can withstand a drop of several meters, so
probably they target sea level +N, where N is the maximum expected height of
the deck.

~~~
tlrobinson
Wait, really? They just punch in the coordinates and that's it? Cameras or
radar or anything?

~~~
mikeash
The ship can hold position to within less than a meter. It's easier to just
plan the position beforehand than try to have the rocket receive the ship's
position in realtime somehow.

It's interesting to consider how much more difficult this stuff would be
without the GPS satellites already in space.

~~~
tlrobinson
You'd think they'd want some redundancy though. Do they really do it only
based on GPS, or do they have other optical/radar/radio systems?

Also does the US government give SpaceX access to the military GPS signals?

~~~
jccooper
It has very good inertial guidance as well. The GPS is probably the best
available; considering they launch GPS satellites, I'd expect they aren't
restricted. However, civilian GPS use isn't really much different anymore;
intentional degradation was turned off in 2000, though certain dynamic limits
still apply on the receiver side.

------
mmsimanga
Amazing, well done Space X. Watching the live feed gave me goosebumps and was
more exciting than the any blockbuster I have ever watched.

------
verytrivial
Does anyone know how do they "secure" it to the drone?

~~~
JshWright
They weld "shoes" onto the deck that hold the tips of the legs.

~~~
mbreese
Is it an instantaneous weld that happens on landing?

~~~
extrapickles
No, they probably fly several people out on a helicopter.

~~~
InclinedPlane
And land it where? It's easier to just use a boat.

------
joeblau
It's crazy how they can do this in real life and I still can't land this in
the game[1].

[1] -
[https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/76866912/](https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/76866912/)

------
photonwins
Sensors, control systems, software, hardware and of course the weather. So
many things can wrong despite your best efforts. Just think about it, the
entire rocket goes through multiple cycles of extreme temperature/pressure
variations in a very short span, the different materials used in the vehicle
expand and contract at different magnitudes. You have got to get your
calculations absolutely right. It is mind boggling to even think about it.
Kudos to all the Engineers, Scientists and the support staff for pulling off
such a feat. I feel lucky to be able to witness history in the making.

~~~
thangalin
Like launching a pencil over the Empire State Building only to have it land
upright inside a shoebox during a windstorm, or some such analogy. ;-)

------
tom-_-
Onboarding view of the landing:
[https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/718605741288894464](https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/718605741288894464)

------
ashbrahma
Live Press Conference: [http://nasatv-
lh.akamaihd.net/i/NASA_101@319270/master.m3u8](http://nasatv-
lh.akamaihd.net/i/NASA_101@319270/master.m3u8)

------
brainpool
That landing was amazing to see. The landing they did on land was more
spectacular, but having seen their failed landings on the barge earlier it
feels so good they succeed at last. Godspeed SpaceX!

------
pkinsky
Video:
[https://twitter.com/mirikramer/status/718545053732446209](https://twitter.com/mirikramer/status/718545053732446209)

------
iamcreasy
After main engine cut-off(MECO-1), 1st stage turns around and fire it's engine
to zero out all it's lateral velocity.

Wish there was a video of that!

~~~
mdavidn
Here's ground video from last year with the boostback burn.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EXPH4iI6FM&t=2m50s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EXPH4iI6FM&t=2m50s)

~~~
iamcreasy
Did the 1st stage fire in the video? I don't see any visible re-ignition.

------
gjkood
This is my kind of Super Bowl. A win for humanity.

------
ggonweb
The SpaceX Reusable Rocket Story and other attempts [https://medium.com/lazy-
collections/trying-to-land-a-rocket-...](https://medium.com/lazy-
collections/trying-to-land-a-rocket-the-story-b73fadb430ef)

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andersen1488
Self driving electric cars, virtual reality, now this. I think 2016 is the
future you guys.

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hyperion2010
Tuned in just in time to see stage 1 sitting happily on the drone ship. Not as
much data about what can go wrong, but hey, they got an intact stage 1 back
and going over that is going to provide them with mountains of data. Looking
forward to more.

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mmaunder
I literally tuned in 5 seconds before it touched down. So glad I caught that -
feels like it's bit of a step forward for mankind actually. Huge congrats to
the SpaceX team. We're all very proud of the awesome work you're doing!!!

~~~
gherkin0
> I literally tuned in 5 seconds before it touched down.

No, you probably didn't. The link in this post is to a youtube recording
bookmarked to the point a few seconds before touchdown.

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aws_ls
Amazing stuff! BTW, can we buy those "Occupy Mars" T-shirts somewhere? :-)

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shogun21
Elon is having a very good week!

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r0m4n0
Here is footage of the Falcon 9 stage 1 landing and the celebration that
ensued... (if you missed it)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKDr7YwRR7Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKDr7YwRR7Y)

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parr0t
So annoyed my alarm didn't wake me this morning to watch this live, glad it
didn't explode this time and made an awesome landing. Huge congratulations to
SpaceX!

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agumonkey
Musk is having the week of his life.

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smegel
It came down at quite the angle.

~~~
cryptoz
This is intentional. I think the plans are that SpaceX would be directing the
first stage to de-orbit and enter the atmosphere with an "incorrect"
trajectory, so that if the landing burn fails the rocket will be safely sent
out to sea. Part of the landing burn is a redirect maneuver, so that the
rocket will always have a crazy angle when it comes in, but will also keep
land/people safe.

~~~
iamcreasy
I don't think that's the correct explanation.

~~~
cryptoz
Perhaps that's not what happened here - it sounds like Elon later explained
that there were high winds at the landing site that might have caused the
heavy lean. However, what I said about the last minute divert maneuver is
possible/probable for future landings. Here is a recent discussion about it:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/3xzn7s/my_previous_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/3xzn7s/my_previous_spacex_falcon_9_vs_blue_origin_new/cy98n0b)

~~~
facetube
Here's the NASA press conference where he says it:
[https://youtu.be/EmN9IJyzBG0?t=23m30s](https://youtu.be/EmN9IJyzBG0?t=23m30s)

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hipaulshi
Wow!! Wow!!! Wowww!!!! That is SOOO COOL!!! >.<

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tunesmith
Missed it by five minutes :) Is there a replay?

~~~
gamegoblin
You should be able to rewind the YouTube stream.

~~~
tunesmith
Shows my age - I'm so used to live streams being non-rewindable that this
didn't even occur to me.

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mbreese
Just seeing the first stage come in for a landing was amazing. Being able to
stream that video was a wonderful surprise.

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perseusprime11
Can somebody please remind me again why we have to land this thing on a barge
on water instead of land?

~~~
connorshea
It's because there's not enough fuel to make it back to a landing pad.

~~~
ygra
And they actually explained that in the video:
[https://youtu.be/7pUAydjne5M?t=23m37s](https://youtu.be/7pUAydjne5M?t=23m37s)

~~~
perseusprime11
Thanks guys.

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11thEarlOfMar
WooHoo! NAILED IT AGAIN!

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jroseattle
Somebody tweeted last week that Elon Musk is the new Steve Jobs.

I think he's the new Tony Stark.

~~~
mapt
You may have that backwards.

[http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/08/robert-
downe...](http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/08/robert-downey-jr-
modeled-his-portrayal-of-tony-stark-after-elon-musk-one-of-the-founders-of-
zip2-paypal-tesla-motors-and-spacex/)

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deegles
Can't wait to see this first stage land again! (and again and again...)

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zump
Is there anyone here who doesn't drink the SpaceX Kool-Aid?

~~~
himlion
Why don't you? Serious question.

~~~
zump
It's not a worthy character trait. Jesus.

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carlosdp
Very nice, congrats SpaceX!

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RPG11Slayer
Wow simply amazing.

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verytrivial
Woohoo!

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vvanders
Max-Q, looking good!

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randonymous
Yesss! They landed it!

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sangd
Wowwww, amazing. Congrats!

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vvanders
They did it! On the ground!

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yoda_sl
Wow! Mind blowing stuff today

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rgovind
Woohooo. It landed back safely.

