| Author | Message | ||
     Blake |
Was planned to launch an hour and a half ago, delayed due to rainy weather and clouds, T=-1 hour and counting. Go SpaceX and NASA! | ||
| Blake |
Live coverage from NASA itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aymrnzianf0 | ||
| Hootowl |
Been watching since the steam went live a few hours ago.  This is a big day. | ||
| Hootowl |
Though I’m watching the spacex stream. I expect they’re using the same feeds. | ||
| Blake |
I can't say how much I appreciate Elon Musk. He is exposing the truth about the stark differences between an energetic private enterprise versus the fat and politically mired juggernauts of our Defense Industrial Complex, and he's putting them to shame. No excuses, just get it done and make it happen. Yeah, I know he leverages taxpayer funding as well. He's taking advantage of what is out there. Without it, he'd be doing it anyway, though Tesla may not be nearly so successful absent the taxpayer subsides. Your'e welcome Jeff. Geniuses launch, and they do so with a solid vehicle, not a vehicle compromised by built-in and introduced fatal flaws managed by incompetent bureaucrats. Yeah, I'm still bitter about both Shuttle disasters, the premature ending of that program while lacking a manned flight capability, and the HDI killing of Buell. | ||
| Blake |
SpaceX stream does appear identical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjb9FdVdX5I | ||
| Blake |
The weather has cleared. Fuel is loading. | ||
| Blake |
So who wants to guess how long until the International Space Station reports its first case of Wu-Flu?  | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well, they're certainly socially-distant enough to keep it contained... | ||
| Hootowl |
I’m guessing they’ve been tested and appropriately quarantined. Standard procedure, even before all this crap. The decision to buy a $70k vehicle was not swayed by a few thousand dollar tax credit, but I do thank you. I also thank myself. Lord knows I pay in enough. | ||
| Blake |
Crud. Weather inadequately cleared, no specifics. Launch is scrubbed for today. Try for a go launch tomorrow. Sounded like cloud cover was unacceptable nearby. | ||
| Hootowl |
FYI EV tax credits are per manufacturer and are based on vehicle sales. The credit for buying a Tesla has nearly pinched off. T minus 10 minutes! | ||
| Hootowl |
Crap. What a letdown. Those two guys must be deflated. | ||
| Hootowl |
Retry Saturday. | ||
| Tpehak |
They aborted launch because of coronavirus. | ||
| 86129squids |
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| Hughlysses |
On a somewhat-related note, SpaceX had another successful static fire of Starship prototype SN4 down in Boca Chica, Texas today. Unfortunately, after about a minute fuel and/or oxygen started billowing out from underneath and a few seconds later, SN4 disappeared in a HUGE explosion. Meanwhile, SN5 is pretty much complete, SN6 is making good progress, and parts are being made for SN7, so SpaceX rolls on. Hopefully tomorrow’s launch will come off without a hitch. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Video just showing today’s explosion of SN4: | ||
| Hootowl |
Spacex oftentimes tests to failure under conditions the craft would never see, then they fix the weak spot. Not sure what this was. They’ve performed multiple static fires on sn4 over the past few days. These early prototypes aren’t meant for orbit, they’re just test beds, as much for the engines and fuel tanks as the process of building them. The goal is to assembly line hundreds of these ships very quickly; they’re developing the assembly line. | ||
| Tpehak |
Is there 10000 FPS explosion footage in slow mo? | ||
| Hughlysses |
The SpaceX enthusiasts on YouTube say that the leak appears to have been from the methane fill connection, so hopefully this is something that was a fluke or can be remedied easily. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Very cool video analysis of yesterday’s explosion: | ||
| Akbuell |
They are off !!! The first (ish) stage(s) are done. Now 18hrs of orbital ballet to meet with the space station. HooRah and Congratulations to all! | ||
| Hootowl |
10 minutes of adrenaline, 18 hours of waiting. I hope spacex installed an mpeg viewer in the computer driving those flatscreens. Or maybe the video games from the Tesla computer. Internet access via starlink and they’re good to go. | ||
| Tpehak |
They just sleep this time. | ||
| Aesquire |
The orbital ballet is counterintuitive and oddly elegant. The class on that really needs drawings with vector arrows. | ||
| Crusty |
The class on that really needs drawings with vector arrows. And a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what it was and how it was to be used against us in a Court of Law. | ||
| Hootowl |
That would use up a lot of cop equipment. | ||
| Hootowl |
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| Tpehak |
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| Crusty |
I didn't know they were launching from California... | ||
| Hootowl |
They sometimes do. | ||
| Ebutch |
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