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Hopefully the sat gets released properly...if so, this is great news for space access. We finally have a company that has launched something without being a govt program....and they are therefore able to do it at much lower cost.
now we can hope Spacex can recover first stages of their launches to lower the costs even more...
Cheers!
M
now we can hope Spacex can recover first stages of their launches to lower the costs even more...
Cheers!
M
robotical":24phr9pt said:
So it wasn't only my computer seeing that!
I got REAL nervous at the end.
Right at MECO the nozzle flared real hot, like a serious fuel-lean situation. But, everybody seems happy. Go Malaysia!
That red hot nozzle is normal, by design. Don't forget, up there, there ain't no air to take the heat away
dragon04":bf23e8d8 said:
Yeah, that should be interesting. 9 engines firing at once. I assume of course SpaceX will tell us about the launch 12 minutes in advance
MeteorWayne":769vgwhd said:... Don't forget, up there, there ain't no air to take the heat away
That goes for all of the S.2 burn.
The flare only happened in the last couple seconds.
MeteorWayne":bkj7qvd9 said:dragon04":bkj7qvd9 said:
Yeah, that should be interesting. 9 engines firing at once. I assume of course SpaceX will tell us about the launch 12 minutes in advance
:lol:
Their website says that all the engines will be tested "in July". They don't do a great job of updating though. I think Elon Musk has friends in the ESA or something.
I checked back a couple times but no word on the second burn.
Absolutely Congrats to SpaceX!!
SpaceFlightNow rundown: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon/005/
Can't believe the muted response at NSF though; it's as if they needed a gold-plated telegram and video before they'd believe the reports of success. Makes one think some over there don't like the competition
Anyhow...the next F1 launch will be a Falcon 1e with double the payload capacity.
SpaceFlightNow rundown: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon/005/
Can't believe the muted response at NSF though; it's as if they needed a gold-plated telegram and video before they'd believe the reports of success. Makes one think some over there don't like the competition
Anyhow...the next F1 launch will be a Falcon 1e with double the payload capacity.
Great! Now they simply need to show that they can do this reliably at least another 9 out of 10 times (or even better), and they are off and running!
Then hopefully move on to the regular Falcon 9, and do the same thing, and finally the Falcon 9 Heavy and do the same thing.
Then build the Dragon Capsule for NASA to get up to and back from the ISS without having to depend upon the Russians, and make that Dragon Capsule compatible with not only other systems such as the Delta IV, and the Ariane V, but also the Falcon 9 Heavy when they prove out its reliability also!
So it would seem that they do have their work cut out for them!
But for now, they are indeed very triumphant, and should be! Another failure at this time might not have been a total show stopper, but it would have made things very difficult for them!
I do like the new Elon Musk a whole lot better now that he has obtained a true degree of humility about this business, and is now willing to admit that actually launching such rockets is not the "piece of cake" that he originally seemed to think it was. And he has managed to do this without losing that very essential confidence that he originally showed!
Besides which Southern California can certainly use the renewed aerospace business that his company brings back to this area! An area that was at least as important to originally placing men on the moon as any other in this great country. I happen to know this somewhat intimately, as I was one of those 400,000 or so that was responsible for that greatest achievement of the last century!
Heck, if I was still young enough to even want to work, I would be more than happy to join his growing company here, I do think they have a truly great future! Providing of course, that they keep up their level of quality, it is true that cost is a very important commodity, but without quality in this business all the other things do not even exist!
But I think that he and his people are well aware of all that. If nothing else the earlier failures were instrumental in teaching that very important lesson, and now they are truly on the verge of making a real difference in space!
And that will eventually be very good for all the industry and even the government!!
So on to the Falcon 9, and just as great a flight of that much larger rocket!
Have a Truly Great Day, Elon Musk, and spacex, and all you other "Space Cadets" here on space.com!!
Then hopefully move on to the regular Falcon 9, and do the same thing, and finally the Falcon 9 Heavy and do the same thing.
Then build the Dragon Capsule for NASA to get up to and back from the ISS without having to depend upon the Russians, and make that Dragon Capsule compatible with not only other systems such as the Delta IV, and the Ariane V, but also the Falcon 9 Heavy when they prove out its reliability also!
So it would seem that they do have their work cut out for them!
But for now, they are indeed very triumphant, and should be! Another failure at this time might not have been a total show stopper, but it would have made things very difficult for them!
I do like the new Elon Musk a whole lot better now that he has obtained a true degree of humility about this business, and is now willing to admit that actually launching such rockets is not the "piece of cake" that he originally seemed to think it was. And he has managed to do this without losing that very essential confidence that he originally showed!
Besides which Southern California can certainly use the renewed aerospace business that his company brings back to this area! An area that was at least as important to originally placing men on the moon as any other in this great country. I happen to know this somewhat intimately, as I was one of those 400,000 or so that was responsible for that greatest achievement of the last century!
Heck, if I was still young enough to even want to work, I would be more than happy to join his growing company here, I do think they have a truly great future! Providing of course, that they keep up their level of quality, it is true that cost is a very important commodity, but without quality in this business all the other things do not even exist!
But I think that he and his people are well aware of all that. If nothing else the earlier failures were instrumental in teaching that very important lesson, and now they are truly on the verge of making a real difference in space!
And that will eventually be very good for all the industry and even the government!!
So on to the Falcon 9, and just as great a flight of that much larger rocket!
Have a Truly Great Day, Elon Musk, and spacex, and all you other "Space Cadets" here on space.com!!
I am sorry docm, but the only organization that I can think of that uses the acronym NSF would be the National Science Foundation (and when I go and Google NSF, that is what I get for at least the first half dozen or so entries), and somehow that would not seem to apply here, as this was a purely commercial launch, and they would be concerned only with scientific launches if even concerned over any launches at all.
Even NASA, which I am certain was at least monitoring this launch, would not have been overly concerned.
So please tell us just what the letters NSF stand for!
By the way, it is always polite here to actually spell out any acronym used for the first reference in any post (or at the very least the first such reference in a thread), for instance I used NASA here, and that is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Although most people on such a site as this one would certainly know just what NASA stood for, it is still polite to completely spell it out on at the very least the first time I use it in a thread here!.
Not a real heavy duty complaint, just a suggestion, is all..... :?
Thanks!!
Even NASA, which I am certain was at least monitoring this launch, would not have been overly concerned.
So please tell us just what the letters NSF stand for!
By the way, it is always polite here to actually spell out any acronym used for the first reference in any post (or at the very least the first such reference in a thread), for instance I used NASA here, and that is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Although most people on such a site as this one would certainly know just what NASA stood for, it is still polite to completely spell it out on at the very least the first time I use it in a thread here!.
Not a real heavy duty complaint, just a suggestion, is all..... :?
Thanks!!
NSF is nasaspaceflight.com The guys over there can't believe Spacex finally did it. They are a doubting bunch. They are still thinking that direct 3.0 has a chance. What a bunch of poor diluted souls. I guess when Falcon 9 is successful and Ares 1x has a successful liftoff and test it may finally sink in. :lol:
frodo1008":dx1w2kyc said:
Just an FYI... The next mission they fly will not only be the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 but will also have a functional Dragon on top of it. It will be a roughly 5 hour mission where the capsule separates from the booster, does some obribtal maneuvering, proves out the ability to take commands and execute them, transmit telemetry, then re-enter the atmosphere for ocean recovery.
The flight manifest lists this to happen in 2009 but no hard date or even range of dates is given on the site. However, the first COTS Demo is scheduled for 2009 as well, but I'd guess that doesn't happen until 2010. In fact, 2010 could be very busy for SpaceX. The launch manifest has 7 missions, including the first ISS resupply mission set for 2010.
They have a pretty ambitious schedule. Looking at 10 ISS resupply missions by the end of the year 2014. Interestingly, no mention of any tentative crewed missions, but then, the Dragon hasn't even flown yet.
I had been extremely skeptical of SpaceX. I had thought this was just a case of a Rich Guy with the ultimately expensive hobby, to be honest. I figured they'd fall flat on their faces. Crow doesn't taste too bad with a little ketchup.
There should be no reason for any crow dragon. The history of these smaller start up rocket launch operations has absolutely not been conducive to a great deal of confidence at any time. Even LM, with all of its experience, stubbed its toe on that type of operation!
So having honest doubts should not be anything to feel even the slightest bit bad about. And some of Elon Musk's earlier over confident remarks did not inspire an over amount of confidence in me either. But this man at least seems fully capable of learning from his mistakes, and that now inspires even more confidence than his earlier remarks did not!
My only real complaint here has been the sometimes out and out hatred shown by some of alt.spaces' more cheerleader types for the more traditional and far more experienced companies, to me that has always been uncalled for!
It should be remembered by some here that the Air Force's EELV program by both Boeing and LM have already reduced the cost of placing a pound into LEO for the US government from some $10,000 per pound for the older shuttle and Titan IV systems, to the approximately $5,000 per pound (and as they gain more flights even lower per pound prices) of both the Delta IV and the Atlas V EELV's. The original goals of that program were not some highly reduced amounts to LEO, but to reduce that $10,000 per pound amount to some $2,000 to $3,000 (say $2,500 as an average), so even $5,000 per pound is a triumph in itself! And with more launches to amortize the developmental costs. an even more remarkable $3 billion or so for two entirely new entire families of launchers, even including the first new liquid H2.O2 engine in over 25 years, the EELV program may eventually bring such costs down to the original goal of $2,500 per pound to LEO! Not bad at all for a government run program using the more experienced contractors!
However, if spacex can indeed eventually (remember, they too have to amortized the developmental costs) cut even that lower amount down by another half to some $1250 per pound, they will then be within striking distance of the magic number of only $1000 per pound to LEO! That would eventually (say in a decade or so) enable us to place a 200 pound human being into LEO (at say the ISS) for only the same $200,000 that Burt Rutan now wants to put the same 200 pound human being into just a sub orbital flight! Of course, by then Rutan's sub orbital flights should be down to his eventual goal of only some $50,000 per person for the same sub orbital flight!
Indeed, at those kinds of rates, a true space age can then begin!
To say nothing of then forcing all the other launch systems to also come way down in price!
So hopefully we will now see a true new beginning in humanities eventual quest for a true space faring civilization, and that is why I do sincerely wish spacex all the absolute best in and out of this world!!!
So having honest doubts should not be anything to feel even the slightest bit bad about. And some of Elon Musk's earlier over confident remarks did not inspire an over amount of confidence in me either. But this man at least seems fully capable of learning from his mistakes, and that now inspires even more confidence than his earlier remarks did not!
My only real complaint here has been the sometimes out and out hatred shown by some of alt.spaces' more cheerleader types for the more traditional and far more experienced companies, to me that has always been uncalled for!
It should be remembered by some here that the Air Force's EELV program by both Boeing and LM have already reduced the cost of placing a pound into LEO for the US government from some $10,000 per pound for the older shuttle and Titan IV systems, to the approximately $5,000 per pound (and as they gain more flights even lower per pound prices) of both the Delta IV and the Atlas V EELV's. The original goals of that program were not some highly reduced amounts to LEO, but to reduce that $10,000 per pound amount to some $2,000 to $3,000 (say $2,500 as an average), so even $5,000 per pound is a triumph in itself! And with more launches to amortize the developmental costs. an even more remarkable $3 billion or so for two entirely new entire families of launchers, even including the first new liquid H2.O2 engine in over 25 years, the EELV program may eventually bring such costs down to the original goal of $2,500 per pound to LEO! Not bad at all for a government run program using the more experienced contractors!
However, if spacex can indeed eventually (remember, they too have to amortized the developmental costs) cut even that lower amount down by another half to some $1250 per pound, they will then be within striking distance of the magic number of only $1000 per pound to LEO! That would eventually (say in a decade or so) enable us to place a 200 pound human being into LEO (at say the ISS) for only the same $200,000 that Burt Rutan now wants to put the same 200 pound human being into just a sub orbital flight! Of course, by then Rutan's sub orbital flights should be down to his eventual goal of only some $50,000 per person for the same sub orbital flight!
Indeed, at those kinds of rates, a true space age can then begin!
To say nothing of then forcing all the other launch systems to also come way down in price!
So hopefully we will now see a true new beginning in humanities eventual quest for a true space faring civilization, and that is why I do sincerely wish spacex all the absolute best in and out of this world!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTFlFFrf ... re=related
For those of you who missed the launch, like me. Here is the you tube video. It continues until SECO. Great shots.
Congratulations to SpaceX. The key to SpaceX is Elon Musk. Paypal, Tesla motors and now Spacex. This is an interesting guy. As a kid, he built his first rocket engine. This marks a string of successes in varied industries.
If you look at Musk's presentation to the Augustine Commission, you can see that in addition to launch services, they produce most of their hardware in house, and are in a position to sell that to NASA at prices much lower than other concerns.
The Nasaspaceflight article says the first flight of the Falcon 9 is scheduled for November. With the second one in January 2010. All of the engines are supposed to be qualified by the end of July.
For those of you who missed the launch, like me. Here is the you tube video. It continues until SECO. Great shots.
Congratulations to SpaceX. The key to SpaceX is Elon Musk. Paypal, Tesla motors and now Spacex. This is an interesting guy. As a kid, he built his first rocket engine. This marks a string of successes in varied industries.
If you look at Musk's presentation to the Augustine Commission, you can see that in addition to launch services, they produce most of their hardware in house, and are in a position to sell that to NASA at prices much lower than other concerns.
The Nasaspaceflight article says the first flight of the Falcon 9 is scheduled for November. With the second one in January 2010. All of the engines are supposed to be qualified by the end of July.
Hi Frodo,
I am not sure where you get your numbers at. it seems that launch costs for the current launchers are much higher than you state.
I don't want to diminish what you or others have done, but it has not been done cheaply. The ULA is just a govt program where efficiency of cost was not the driving factor...it is a jobs program. That is fine with me, but it was never going to get the regular Joe to space at low cost. there was no incentive to do so.
I'll also point out that even the very successful Atlas V uses Russian built engines, so we are funding Russian rocket development!
Here is a quote i just dug up on pricing:
That is *a lot* higher than the numbers you state...
SpaceX, whether arrogant or not, is changing the game and the establishment does not like it. I don't blame them. if i was on the govt dole for 20+ years and made huge profits from it, I would not want the competition either!
Best,
M
I am not sure where you get your numbers at. it seems that launch costs for the current launchers are much higher than you state.
I don't want to diminish what you or others have done, but it has not been done cheaply. The ULA is just a govt program where efficiency of cost was not the driving factor...it is a jobs program. That is fine with me, but it was never going to get the regular Joe to space at low cost. there was no incentive to do so.
I'll also point out that even the very successful Atlas V uses Russian built engines, so we are funding Russian rocket development!
Here is a quote i just dug up on pricing:
That is *a lot* higher than the numbers you state...
SpaceX, whether arrogant or not, is changing the game and the establishment does not like it. I don't blame them. if i was on the govt dole for 20+ years and made huge profits from it, I would not want the competition either!
Best,
M
Maitri982":fga2tyh7 said:
GTO payload is around half the LEO payload for delta IV and atlas V.
that accounts for the difference in figures.
Maitri982":3myxwj3d said:
What percentage of ULA´s launch cost can be contributed to labour costs?
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