History Made- SpaceX lands first stage of its Falcon 9 orbital rocket back on land!

[anon45]

Wow. Just wow.

 

[anon45]

And here are the core ingredients of SpaceX

 

[911]

And here are the core ingredients of SpaceX

Male only company?

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Holy crap I forgot about the launch!!!!!!!


Gentlemen we own space now!

This is next year!!!


Mars here we come!

 

[anon45]

Male only company?

lol no, its a figure of speech for courage, bravery, never saying never, etc.

Holy crap I forgot about the launch!!!!!!!


Gentlemen we own space now!

This is next year!!!


Mars here we come!

oh noooo Well the full video is up on the spacex youtube channel. The mission was a total success! Even the 2nd stage test burn!.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Hey @Martian2 SpaceX has done it!

 

[Slave_to_the_waffle]

In gif form:

This is next year!!!

Three of these beasts in one rocket...

Gentlemen we own space now!

Question... does the US have mobile launching facilities like the ESRANGE launch site? This particular site is used for ESA sounding rockets.

Dammit @SvenSvensonov without you we're slacking on the US Space news

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

In gif form:
Three of these beasts in one rocket...

 

[Slave_to_the_waffle]

View attachment 281259

Always impressive... until you see this and realize the SLS will eclipse the Saturn V:

A shame Aries V was cancelled in 2010 - but its cancellation lead to the SLS:

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Always impressive... until you see this and realize the SLS will eclipse the Saturn V:

A shame Aries V was cancelled in 2010 - but its cancellation lead to the SLS:

True, but since the Falcon rockets are reusable the flight costs will go way down.

This will move SpaceX to the top in the commercial satellite launching business.

 

[Beast]

True, but since the Falcon rockets are reusable the flight costs will go way down.

This will move SpaceX to the top in the commercial satellite launching business.

Space shuttle is also reusable but the cost is even more than a dispensable soyzu capsule. I doubt this falcon rocket launch will be cheaper than Chinese or Russian space mission.

 

[F-22Raptor]

Wow, that was amazing!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Space shuttle is also reusable but the cost is even more than a dispensable soyzu capsule. I doubt this falcon rocket launch will be cheaper than Chinese or Russian space mission.

Shotwell: Reusable Falcon 9 Would Cost $5 to $7 Million Per Launch at Parabolic Arc

 

[Beast]

Shotwell: Reusable Falcon 9 Would Cost $5 to $7 Million Per Launch at Parabolic Arc

That is an estimation. We all wouldn't know what will turn out when comes to the final production cost.
My concern is valid as proven on US space shuttle enormous cost per launch.

 

[Jai Bharat]

Space shuttle is also reusable but the cost is even more than a dispensable soyzu capsule. I doubt this falcon rocket launch will be cheaper than Chinese or Russian space mission.

Space Shuttle was designed for human flights and scientific experiments, not for launching satellites. Furthermore, the costs were not cheap as the Solid Rocket Booster stages fell into the ocean and had to be retrieved and the main fuel tank was discarded entirely. Additionally, it was using mainly cryogenic H2/O2 rather than the semi-cryogenic RP1/O2 that SpaceX is using for the core stages.

There is no reason to believe that the Falcon 9 reusable variant would be more expensive than the Chinese or Russia satellite launches. SpaceX is using the cheapest possible fuel, a simple 2 stage rocket, and completely retrieving the 1st stage. Only in cost of labor SpaceX can't compete, which shouldn't be enough to make them noncompetitive.