
SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon Launch Webcast (starts at 12:00am PDT) - alex1
http://www.spacex.com/webcast/?hn=1
======
mmaunder
I don't think we'll ever know how hard it was for a private space startup to
convince NASA and the international community to let them dock with the ISS
and to work with them to make it happen. Elon Musk is a legend.

~~~
sasha-dv
_Elon Musk is a legend._

... and an inspiration!

I'm done with CRUD-ing my life away. It's time to tackle some hard problems.

~~~
alinajaf
Also grinning like an idiot for the past hour. Really made my day, ecstatic
that it's been successful.

I think I'm still young enough (26) to retrain. I'm not a US citzen, but screw
it. This is the future, and I _will_ be a part of it.

~~~
mmaunder
Mission control in 1969: <http://i.imgur.com/Siqi6.jpg>

Mission control in 2012: <http://i.imgur.com/xevZj.jpg>

~~~
willyt
'69 looks more futuristic somehow.

~~~
smithian
In '69 all those huge monitors, telemetry displays, and cool panels were high
tech. They built a room that screams "I am the future!". Today, all that stuff
is commodity hardware that could just as easily be put to the task of playing
some computer game or buying shoes as launching a spacecraft. And it inhabits
a perfectly normal looking, functional room.

~~~
twelvechairs
Yes. Its worth noting that the '69 room looks heavily purpose-built, designed
so that most people can look over their own workstations at some common fixed
displays (TV, clock, binary lights, etc.) and also it has a (soundproofed?)
glass box, which I guess is for the media.

Nowdays most of this really isn't necessary of course. The media can watch the
same screens from a different room and the workers can share the same view on
different computers and work in pretty much any room large enough to fit them
all. It is still somehow important though to have everyone in the same room
(mission control still isn't separate people in their own backyards connected
over the internet)....

~~~
JackC
Having directed large groups doing much, much, much less important things, the
ability to run across the room and shout at someone when something goes wrong
is still pretty indispensable. Plus it's fun.

~~~
stcredzero
So long as there aren't fake explosions with people falling out of their
chairs. (And the comms officer falling a different direction than everyone
else.)

------
napoleoncomplex
I missed it and couldn't find the official recording yet, so here's a youtube
of the launch:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2_49KPj9jE>

And a few moments in the vid which really show how much it means to the team:

Solar panels deploying:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=e2_49KPj9jE#t=720s)

The ground crew after the launch:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=e2_49KPj9jE#t=840s)

------
plinkplonk
This is why I admire the USA. With all its faults, I can't imagine a startup
like SpaceX happening in any other country on Earth today.

Well done, Americans! Be proud!

(non US citizen, fwiw)

~~~
wheels
There are lots of rocket companies, some outside of the US:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_spaceflight_com...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_spaceflight_companies)

To be honest, I don't really get the hubbub about this launch. It's a business
innovation, not a scientific one. We've been putting unmanned rockets into
space for 70 years.

~~~
dagw
_I don't really get the hubbub about this launch. It's a business innovation_

The business innovation is what the hubbub is all about. People aren't excited
because of the science, but because this is a watershed moment in the business
of space.

All successful technological revolution have to pass through two critical
phases, when it becomes possible and when it becomes profitable. This is a big
step in phase two.

~~~
lonnyk
Also - this is the first business to recover a spacecraft and _will_ be the
first business to dock with the ISS

------
simonh
It's amazing how exciting this is. It's not as if it's the first time humans
have sent an automated delivery capsule into space, yet it feels like a game
changing event.

Co-incidentally I read a post on HN this morning arguing that the iPhone
wasn't special. We already had phones, and palm computers, and downloadable
apps. It was no big deal.

In the case of both SpaceX and Apple thy've taken something that's existed
already, but made it accessible. With SaceX the massively reduced costs has
made dreams possible that we all thought were dead. With the iPhone they made
a hand computer that my wife's sister, who's hardly ever used a computer in
her life, could pick up and understand and fall in love with in minutes.

When you take an existing technology, but cut the barriers to entry radically
lower (barriers in terms of cost, or usability, whatever) then you have
something special. Amazon did this with online shopping, facebook did it with
social networks (orkut was a clunky piece of junk - been there). Instagram did
it with photo sharing, dropbox did it with file sharing.

Identify barriers, in whatever form you find them, and knock them flat. That's
where the opportunities are.

------
nkoren
I'm loving the little human touches in the webcast.

"And the next day is... _Hatch opening day!! YAY!!!_ " <Does the Happy Dance>

"Everything is, uh, go, so we're ready to rock'n'roll!!!"

I get the sense that the enthusiasm is completely unscripted.

~~~
hinathan
Webcast team wiping away tears as the camera cuts back to them. Awesome.

~~~
dakrisht
So amazing to see this and experience the launch with them. You can tell how
much energy, passion and personal sacrifice these people and their leader,
Elon, put into this. It's absolutely beautiful to see. Real innovation, a true
testament of our capabilities as human beings. Not a company with 800+ million
users that can't even figure out the ad business. :) Congrats guys!

~~~
mkramlich
It is kind of sad that Facebook has a $100B valuation considering what SpaceX
is doing, and plans on doing. One is just one particular web-profiles-and-chat
service, not that hard or original. The other is frickin rocket science.

~~~
mehulkar
SpaceX is a revolution, not a business (yet). In our world, Facebook's data is
more valuable than a revolution. But hey, we might not be dealing with just
_our_ world any more :)

~~~
mkr-hn
SpaceX is a business. You can pay for one of their rockets if you have
something to put in orbit.

~~~
ithkuil
wonder if some kind of permissions would be necessary(and whom to ask) to put
something in orbit. Can I put my arduino based spy satellite in orbit?

~~~
mkr-hn
It would depend on the laws of the country you launch from.

------
Swizec
Definitely the best tech startup on the planet. Those of us doing "web stuff"
can go hide in shame.

~~~
ErrantX
No way! Don't forget that Musk started out doing "web stuff".

Today you are doing web stuff. Tomorrow...

~~~
lionheart
Exactly. The biggest motivator for my "web stuff" is this "space stuff".

~~~
pirateking
Same here. The science fiction dreams of our youth won't realize themselves!

------
reason
Watching the webcast is exhilarating. Humans are fucking amazing.

------
reneherse
How about that roar from the SpaceX crowd when the solar panels deployed! Way
to go humans!!

------
topbanana
In case anyone is tempted to purchase their own launch, here is the handy user
guide. <http://www.spacex.com/Falcon9UsersGuide_2009.pdf>

------
hinathan
This is a long read but worth the historical perspective, it's the Apollo 11
landing, annotated transcripts of the voice communications between mission
control and the astronauts:

<http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.landing.html>

~~~
ubernostrum
For even longer reads:

<http://spacelog.org/>

~~~
hinathan
New to me, thanks!

------
haberman
It blows me away that an object can go from standing on the ground to being in
orbit in less than 10 minutes.

~~~
rplnt
You have to consider how low that orbit is. ISS is closer to earth than SF is
to LA for example.

~~~
dalke
Skyscrapers aren't that tall either. Burj Khalifa is only 830 meters tall,
which is about half the distance from here to the neighborhood store.

At 21,000 meters, the U-2 didn't fly that high. That's only a half marathon,
and many people can run that distance easily.

In other words, I fail to understand your point, even omitting the
7.9km/second sideways velocity for LEO.

~~~
reitzensteinm
It doesn't speak to the technical difficulty, but his example, and all of
yours, help put the distance into context that we can intuitively understand.
It's definitely helpful.

~~~
stcredzero
The kinetic energy of 1 kg moving at orbital velocity is about 31 megajoules.
The potential energy of the same kilogram suspended 100km overhead is less
than a megajoule.

Most of the difficulty to orbit isn't distance, it's the amount of energy it
takes to get something moving that fast.

Actually it's much, much worse than that, because it's actually the change in
momentum involved.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation>

------
mukaiji
The best thing about the first aborted launch? We get to see more of Ron
Burgundy.

~~~
BrainInAJar
Failed means exploded. The first launch was aborted.

~~~
mukaiji
haha it's funny you mention that. I was thinking to myself 1 min ago that
technically it's not a failed launch but an aborted one. thanks for pointing
it out!

~~~
bdonlan
Not just technically. That was a _very_ successful test of their launch abort
system and engine diagnostics. And of their ground crew for diagnosing and
fixing it so quickly :)

~~~
aidenn0
The amazing thing for me was when one of their earlier launches aborted and
they refueled and launched the same day. That's just obscene turnaround time
compared to anything else that can reach LEO.

Apparently they couldn't do it this time due to the narrowness of the launch
window, not because they couldn't be ready again in a few hours.

------
rdl
It's interesting to see how long a lot of the people at SpaceX have been with
SpaceX; it's different from most startups. People who had 20+ year careers
with USAF or NASA before joining SpaceX back in 2003-2006, and have been there
ever since.

------
tanvach
I love that little roll correcting nozzle twitching

------
DavidSJ
And <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html>

~~~
est
and
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLKRHzcP5cU&feature=lb](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLKRHzcP5cU&feature=lb)

------
pirateking
Wow that was just fucking awesome in all ways. I really feel pumped up to go
to space after watching that. Thank you SpaceX and Elon Musk for unlocking the
next frontier.

------
mmaunder
1000 km downrange the coolest comment just heard was "...and we're picking up
data from New Hampshire" in a British accent.

------
godbolev
>"Once in orbit, it will take three days for the Dragon to reach the ISS, and
two >more days of pre-docking maneuvers to ensure everything is in order
before >finally meeting the ISS on the fifth day of the mission. After nine
days at the >station, the ISS crew will load the Dragon with return cargo
which will be >recovered after the spacecraft splashes down in the Pacific
ocean."

<http://www.geekosystem.com/spacex-iss-mission-tomorrow/>

------
ErrantX
Oh man, I timed that perfectly :) woke up 10 minutes ago, click link just now
- T - 25.

And away she goes

~~~
possibilistic
It was amazing to watch! I'm so happy to see it go smoothly so far. It means
so much for the future of space exploration.

Way to go, Elon! If you can keep this up, history isn't going to forget you.

------
ortusdux
It was truly surreal to stand in the middle of a prairie about 120 miles from
Cape Canaveral, have the live cast in the palm of my hand, and watch the
rocket off in the distance.

~~~
ataggart
I often get that feeling: "We're living in the future". It's not quite the
future I imagined as a kid, but it's pretty damned cool.

------
wensing
Got to watch the red fire trail disappear into the clouds over South Florida.
So awesome.

------
DeepDuh
It's getting exciting. Imagine if the moon landings would be taking place with
today's mass communication capabilities. Hope I can live through the next such
event (heck even an asteroid would do).

~~~
vibrunazo
+10000 points - your first extra-terrestrial check-in.

Buzz Aldrin is now the major of The Moon.

~~~
mkramlich
I can see it now, in like 10 years...

Foursquare: Elon Musk has become the Mayor of Mars.

------
msg
I was lucky to tune in about ten minutes before launch. I wasn't alive for the
Apollo program, and I thought of our space efforts as a little lame as the
shuttle program ratcheted down and finally expired over my lifetime.

This launch blew all of that away. I just have to figure out how to present it
to my seven year old.

Godspeed and all the best, SpaceX.

------
wgd
Is the music they're playing during the countdown something identifiable? It's
the kind of thing that's perfect for playing over and over for hours without
getting repetitive.

------
kcima
Full high quality video of the entire hour long Webcast:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-gSkGQnFR8>

------
ChuckMcM
If you have NASA TV on your cable/satellite feed its been on since about 11PM
PST. Easier to stay up until about 1AM than it was 3AM :-)

~~~
ChuckMcM
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

------
architgupta
Congratulations on the successful launch Elon and Team!

Guys, don't beat up other startups and people on what they are doing or will
do.

Celebrate this for what it is.

------
steamboiler
The Washington Post article[1] on the launch comments on the the apparent
cultural differences between NASA and SpaceX:

 _Many of the SpaceX controllers wore untucked T-shirts and jeans or even
shorts, a stark contrast to NASA’s old suit-and-tie shuttle team._

[1] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-
science/privat...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-
science/private-rocket-maker-tries-again-to-launch-eager-to-begin-1st-private-
space-station-delivery/2012/05/22/gIQACDhIhU_story.html?hpid=z2)

------
bond
They sure like the word "Nominal"... :)

~~~
ndcrandall
Nominal and Anomaly sound way too similar. I got nervous everytime they said
Nominal thinking there was an anomaly!

Congrats to SpaceX for a successful launch!

~~~
mkramlich
I had the same thought about nominal vs anomaly. When the word for a good
thing is so close to the word for a bad thing, that's bad. Perhaps they have a
standard where they've banned the speaking of "anomaly" on all operations
audio channels. I'd ban it.

------
mbenjaminsmith
Listening to the cheering when the solar arrays deployed made my day.

------
lionheart
I can't believe I'm staying up to watch this, but it just might be history in
the making.

------
navneetloiwal
What is the white gas that comes out of the launch vehicle (pre launch)?

~~~
rshm
liquid oxygen after boiling

~~~
Wawl
What is it for ?

~~~
smithian
The tank holds liquid oxygen, which is the oxidizer for the engine. Since
oxygen is a gas at the ambient Florida temperature, it boils off all the time.
A it boils off, the gas is released into the atmosphere, and the tank is
replenished.

~~~
excuse-me
Strictly speaking the white `gas` is water from the delightfully humid Florida
climate condensing in the presence of the extremely cold Oxygen boil off.

------
javert
How long will it take to reach orbit? And the space station? Should I stay up
and keep watching? :-P

~~~
javert
Well, it was in orbital with solar panels deployed after about 12.5 minutes.
Then they said on the video feed that it would be "a couple of days" before it
rendezvous with the space station.

~~~
trafficlight
Yeah, they have a series of tests they have to complete over the next few days
before NASA will give them the go ahead to dock.

------
jaems33
This is the first live space launch I've ever watched.

------
ncarlson
We did it! We fucking did it! (Humanity, that is)

------
PaulAnunda
I got chills watching the vehicle lift off the launchpad. Hats off to Mr.
Musk/SpaceX.

------
rdl
I'm curious what they will do with the failed check valve from the previous
launch.

~~~
jacquesm
Analyse the crap out of it to figure out how it passed q&a.

------
HairyFotr
Well this is the most exciting (and literal) launch of a startup I've ever
seen.

------
molmalo
Falcon 9 is now in orbit!!

------
Intermediate
Can I watch this webcast without flash player?

~~~
tom_usher
It works on iPad - they're using livestream.com which is the only service I've
seen with a decent non-flash live-streaming service - I'm not sure why they
don't have the option to serve that to other devices.

------
dakrisht
Liftoff!!! Good luck SpaceX & Elon Musk

------
follower
Was watching the "live stream" but missed the countdown because somehow the
video became 3 minutes delayed behind the actual time. Reloaded the page a
couple of seconds into the launch.

I only noticed it because the Twitter feed updated correctly...

(Edit: Poking around some more it seems the problem occurs when changing the
quality setting.)

------
zokier
Was the stream 720p or 480p? The reason I'm asking is that I have only found a
480p screencaptured recording of it, and I'd rather watch it in HD. Sadly I
missed the live event :(

NasaTV has their own video at youtube, but I'd be more interested of the
SpaceX version (apparently they were separate streams).

------
ajtaylor
It made it to orbit!

------
sasha-dv
Falcon 9 is in Orbit! Hell yeah!

------
bdz
this is the best video so far from inside the crew in the mission control
center <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QXzZBk3WaA> from here to eternity!

------
rangibaby
Now in orbit. Congratulations!

------
drtse4
For those who lost the original webcast:
[http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/22/3035908/spacex-
successful-...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/22/3035908/spacex-successful-
iss-launch)

------
dakrisht
God speed. Let's make it happen tonight. Hopefully all systems go.

------
iscrewyou
Missed it by 4 minutes. Anyone has a recording of the launch?

~~~
egor83
You can rewind the webcast.

~~~
iscrewyou
awesome. thanks! edit: I was watching it on ustream and couldn't see how. But
this link worked.

------
AliCollins
Lift off!!!

------
Shtirlic
Congrats to SpaceX team for the great launch!

------
ajtaylor
Only 25 minutes until launch! It's a shame this window is in the dark, but I'm
sure it will be awesome to watch anyway.

------
loganfsmyth
Definitely staying up to watch this!

------
obilgic
she was so excited.

~~~
mkramlich
Not sure if you were referring to her, but I think I saw the company's
president Gwynne Shotwell come into the control room and thank everybody. I
was hoping to see Elon Musk somewhere too.

~~~
TheDrifter
He was at the front of the control room.

~~~
mkramlich
Thank you. I watched the SpaceX video again and now I think I see him sitting
at the frontmost table, center, wearing a black shirt.

Engineer billionaire playboy CEOs for the win!

------
rodh257
What's the next thing we can watch live? The docking with ISS? when will that
be on?

------
bhaisaab
When will the actual docking take place? And will they or NASA stream that as
well?

------
pbreit
Orbit!

------
SquareWheel
That was amazing to watch.

------
deepGem
The loud cheer when the solar panels were deployed - priceless.

------
est
and it's lift off.

------
firefox
The only thing hotter than this is the Tesla

------
nkoren
Gods that was fun. Just went through Wikipedia and updated all its articles to
reflect that they're 3 for 3 on the Falcon 9. Such a raving fanboi over here.

~~~
aidenn0
If the Falcon Heavy works on the first launch, then I'm going to seriously dig
to see if Elon Musk sold his soul for such successful launches; the Falcon 9
launches are impressive, but there is so much more that can go wrong in the
heavy.

~~~
nkoren
I actually have high hopes that it'll work on the first try, without too much
selling of souls involved. SpaceX is actually pursuing a very sensible
incremental route with their designs. They gave themselves the opportunity to
learn at the School of Hard Knocks, blowing up their first three Falcon 1
flights, before getting the next two right. By the time they moved on to the
Falcon 9, they had five launches and two successes under their belt.

The Falcon 9 is actually a fairly incremental upgrade from the Falcon 1:
essentially identical engines; nearly identical avionics; just much bigger
tanks and more complicated plumbing. It's evident now that this approach has
really paid off for them.

Similarly, by the time they'll fly a Heavy, they'll have at least five Falcon
9 flights under their belt. And the Heavy is not really much more of a step
change from the Falcon 9 than the Falcon 9 was from the Falcon 1: just a lot
more of the same engines; very similar avionics, and more complicated plumbing
due to the propellant cross-feed system. So, not THAT big a step technically,
despite its outrageous payload capabilities.

~~~
nknight
> _blowing up their first three Falcon 1 flights_

Only the first flight did anything close to "blow up", and the payload was
recovered largely structurally intact (sensitive components irreparable). It
would almost certainly have been survivable in an LES-equipped capsule.

Flights 2 and 3 were prevented from reaching orbit but did not blow up, catch
fire, or do anything else that would have precluded a safe, if rather early,
return of the crew.

~~~
nkoren
I admit to using the term "blowing up" rather colloquially. you're entirely
right: it's not accurate. Even the first flight (which suffered an engine
shutdown due to a fuel leak) didn't really "blow up" until it hit the ground;
the latter two probably only "blew up" upon re-entry. (Although I'm not
actually sure about the third flight; during staging, the first stage rammed
the second stage at a low velocity, damaging it enough to scupper the mission.
No idea how intact the second stage and payload were after that.)

All three flights would certainly have been survivable if equipped with a LES;
all three would certainly have led to loss of payload if not launching people.
In any case, five flawless flights since then have demonstrated that they've
learned quite a lot from those early experiences.

------
AliCollins
2 minutes....!!

------
SudarshanP
YAY

------
greedo
Bravo Zulu, Elon!

------
raheemm
That was awesome!

------
mehulkar
Why can't I see this webcast? Using Chrome on Linux Mint.

~~~
Jach
Because it's over, you missed it.

------
sicxu
Awesome!

------
mkramlich
One of my favorite lines on the mission control audio channel, just tossed off
in an offhand way:

    
    
        "Vehicle is supersonic."

------
mkramlich
dragon has reached orbit and deployed solar/radiator wings. lots of cheering
from SpaceX folks heard.

------
mkramlich
launch happened. safe so far. second stage sep success. seems to be above
atmosphere now...

~~~
catch23
they mentioned it reached orbit... around the 10 minute mark. pretty fast! I
think they mentioned at one point it was traveling at 3km/s. At 12mins, the
solar arrays were deployed. They mentioned it would take a few days to dock
with the ISS though.

I heard lots of cheering during the deployment of the solar array, I'm
guessing past missions this has been the turning point?

~~~
aiscott
I believe this was the first deployment of solar arrays for spacex. The
previous orbit was internal power only.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Yup, they've launched a capsule before but in order to be a useful spacecraft
the solar arrays are pretty high priority, and this was the first time that
whole part of the spacecraft was put to the test.

------
Johnang
I am moved again. For nothing, only the humans' advancement. I am a science
fans since young. I always have a dream that humans make the colonies on the
other planets. Maybe the space travel. However, it can not come true on our
era. Last, i really need a time machine to see the future. Really! "Back to
the future 1-3" impresses me very deep.

------
mkramlich
protip for you day traders out there: SpaceX is a BUY

~~~
dasmoth
SpaceX is private at the moment, but that's probably going to change. IPO
timing is a regular topic of debate among SpaceX-watchers.

------
clebio
Ten, nine, eight...

