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SpaceX's Falcon 9 successfully reaches orbit!

Discussion in 'Alley of Dangerous Angles' started by NOG (No Other Gods), Jun 5, 2010.

  1. NOG (No Other Gods)

    NOG (No Other Gods) Going to church doesn't make you a Christian

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    Remove all ads!
    [​IMG] SpaceX is a private company bidding for NASA's new contracts to provide access to the ISS and space in general, according to Obama's new vision. Falcon 9 is SpaceX's rocket to launch it's Dragon manned orbiter. At 2:45 PM ET, the first test launch of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and reached orbit, becoming the first commercial rocket to do so. The commercial space age has begun!
     
    NOG (No Other Gods), Jun 5, 2010
    #1
  2. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

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    Woot! :banana:
    I want a ticket to visit the ISS for my birthday! You all have about 4 months to save up... :p
     
    Kitrax, Jun 5, 2010
    #2
  3. Ragusa

    Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

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    About time.
     
    Ragusa, Jun 5, 2010
    #3
  4. NOG (No Other Gods)

    NOG (No Other Gods) Going to church doesn't make you a Christian

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    And you want to know the really amazing thing? It only cost them about $400M to design, develop, test, and launch the thing. Compare that to NASA's budget requirements for it.
     
    NOG (No Other Gods), Jun 5, 2010
    #4
  5. Morgoth

    Morgoth La lune ne garde aucune rancune Veteran

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    I was watching the live stream yesterday. It was a good thing that the people at SpaceX were telling me that things were happening "as intended" since the large amounts of water leaking, the exhaust turning red from the heat when the thing reached orbit and the rocket spinning out of control (at least, that's what it looked like to me) were making me somewhat worried. :p
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2010
    Morgoth, Jun 5, 2010
    #5
  6. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Hehe. You thought that slight roll was spinning out of control? :lol:
     
    Blackthorne TA, Jun 5, 2010
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  7. Morgoth

    Morgoth La lune ne garde aucune rancune Veteran

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    Well I didn't see a roll, but I did see the satellite change its yaw and pitch. The earth disappeared from view and came back a few times. Since I'm not very good at rocket science, I was wondering whether that was normal. :D
     
    Morgoth, Jun 5, 2010
    #7
  8. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    There was no pitch or yaw; it was a roll about the thrust axis. The camera was offset from the thrust axis (off to one side of the rocket nozzle) and the rocket was not pointed directly away from Earth ( it was going into orbit, so it had to be at some tangential angle to the Earth's surface), so maybe that's why you thought there was pitch and yaw movement...

    From what I heard they didn't expect that much roll, but they came to within 1% of their orbital target, so it was very successful.
     
    Blackthorne TA, Jun 5, 2010
    #8
  9. Sir Rechet

    Sir Rechet I speak maths and logic, not stupid Veteran

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    Now for the big question: How many years do we have remaining before we need to reach Alpha Centauri? You know, so that we can file a complaint against that interstellar superhighway..
     
    Sir Rechet, Jun 6, 2010
    #9
  10. Morgoth

    Morgoth La lune ne garde aucune rancune Veteran

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    I hope that won't happen, as soon as someone sends a spaceship to Alpha Centauri the game will be over and we need to start a new one :(

    Edit:
    It seems that the Falcon rocket has caused some UFO sightings in Australia, how cool is that? :D
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2010
    Morgoth, Jun 6, 2010
    #10
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