SpaceX (HQ is in Hawthorne) to Try Daring Rocket Landing on Ocean Platform Tuesday (Jackson: 2015)

[ASensiblePerson]

I've never been inside SpaceX, but have met a couple of employees and have driven by the HQ a few times. Funny how it's right there off Crenshaw Boulevard, when that street name used to be so scary/infamous to people all over the world. Now there's a Costco, Lowe's, Target, and 24 Hour Fitness, things like that. Times change.

Anyway, basically at about 3:20 AM PST SpaceX is sending a cargo capsule to the International Space Station. What's different is they're trying to get the rocket carrying the capsule to orbit to come back to Earth and land on an unmanned barge 200 miles off the Jacksonville coast - instead of crashing into the ocean and sinking the way rockets are supposed to do. If it works (and they say it probably won't tomorrow but they'll keep trying this year) it will be the beginning of reusable rocketry. Good luck, Hawthorne folks!

SpaceX to Try Daring Rocket Landing on Ocean Platform Tuesday: Watch It Live

www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/science/space/next-frontier-for-spacex-and-elon-musk-landing-a-rocket-on-earth.html

The first rocket stage, Mr. Musk noted, is as tall as a 14-story building. “When a 14-story building falls over, it’s quite a belly flop,” he said. “What we need to do is to be able to land on a floating platform.”

So SpaceX built a floating platform, 300 feet long and 170 feet wide, for the rocket stage to land on.

A new addition to the rocket is a set of “grid fins” that will fold out after separation to help steer the rocket toward the platform. No people will be aboard the barge during the landing attempt.

[ASensiblePerson]

It got called off before launch. They may try again Friday morning.

Pioneering SpaceX rocket launch aborted - CNN.com

Private spaceflight company SpaceX scrubbed a scheduled rocket launch Tuesday, in which it planned to attempt the pioneering step of landing the rocket's first stage on a floating platform.

The next possible launch attempt is at 5:09 a.m. ET Friday, NASA said via Twitter, "pending resolution of the issue."

NASA and SpaceX said the problem was with the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage, rather than the section it plans to try to land.

[Gurbie]

Originally Posted by ASensiblePerson

I've never been inside SpaceX, but have met a couple of employees and have driven by the HQ a few times. Funny how it's right there off Crenshaw Boulevard, when that street name used to be so scary/infamous to people all over the world. Now there's a Costco, Lowe's, Target, and 24 Hour Fitness, things like that. Times change.

Anyway, basically at about 3:20 AM PST SpaceX is sending a cargo capsule to the International Space Station. What's different is they're trying to get the rocket carrying the capsule to orbit to come back to Earth and land on an unmanned barge 200 miles off the Jacksonville coast - instead of crashing into the ocean and sinking the way rockets are supposed to do. If it works (and they say it probably won't tomorrow but they'll keep trying this year) it will be the beginning of reusable rocketry. Good luck, Hawthorne folks!

SpaceX to Try Daring Rocket Landing on Ocean Platform Tuesday: Watch It Live

www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/science/space/next-frontier-for-spacex-and-elon-musk-landing-a-rocket-on-earth.html

Other states have Ark Parks. California has a space program