SpaceX launches its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket

[pocaracas]

SpaceX launches its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/169712...-elon-musk

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket has pulled off its very first launch. The vehicle took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, this afternoon and soared to space, carrying its payload — CEO Elon Musk’s red Tesla Roadster — into orbit. The Falcon Heavy’s flight still isn’t quite over yet, but the rocket has shown its prowess and is likely ready to begin missions for customers.

Adding to the launch’s success, two of the Falcon Heavy’s rocket cores successfully touched down back on Earth after takeoff. The two outer boosters broke away mid-flight and returned to the Cape, touching down around 1,000 feet from one another on SpaceX’s concrete landing pads — Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2. The center core then broke away from the vehicle’s upper stage, but it’s not yet clear whether it landed as intended on one of SpaceX’s autonomous drone ships in the Atlantic Ocean. That means SpaceX has now landed a total of 23 — and possibly 24 — rockets upright.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Recap here: https://youtu.be/wbSwFU6tY1c

[SteelCurtain]

The core hit the ocean at over 300mph.

Several of the re-entry engines failed to ignite.

Nevertheless, what an amazing thing to witness!

[bennyboy]

2 rockets landing side by side on their tails like that-- that's some spooky sci-fi shit, right there! I mean. . . wut?

[KevinM1]

The core hit the ocean at over 300mph.

Several of the re-entry engines failed to ignite.

Nevertheless, what an amazing thing to witness!

Apparently, the core ran out of TEA-TEB which is used for engine (re)ignition.  The good news is that future Falcon Heavy flights will be using Block V rockets (which is the final major iteration of Falcon 9), so the flights should be even smoother sailing/landing.

According to Musk in the post-launch press conference, their next all-in project is finishing the Dragon 2 for crew certification, which he thinks should be done by the end of the year (in Musk speak, that likely means early next year ), and then all attention will be on making the BFR, with initial pathfinder/grasshopper tests 18-24 (my estimation... he said 18 months) from now.

I'm incredibly excited.

[vorlon13]

Sounds like the burn to escape earth orbit was successful.

The Tesla Roadster hit 26,000 mph on the way out to the asteroid belt.

[Anomalocaris]

Sounds like the burn to escape earth orbit was successful.

The Tesla Roadster hit 26,000 mph on the way out to the asteroid belt.

Perhaps the opening sequence of the 1970s film Heavy Metal is more prescient than credited.

[Jackalope]

Sounds like the burn to escape earth orbit was successful.

The Tesla Roadster hit 26,000 mph on the way out to the asteroid belt.

Perhaps the opening sequence of the 1970s film Heavy Metal is more prescient than credited.

Whodathunkit?

If Elon Musk has the Loc-Nar, we're all screwed.

[Fireball]

Sounds like the burn to escape earth orbit was successful.

The Tesla Roadster hit 26,000 mph on the way out to the asteroid belt.

If the driver had hair, and there was any air, it would be streaming back...there.

[The Grand Nudger]

Sounds like the burn to escape earth orbit was successful.

The Tesla Roadster hit 26,000 mph on the way out to the asteroid belt.

Perhaps the opening sequence of the 1970s film Heavy Metal is more prescient than credited.

The whole launch was a play on geekdom.  The drone ship is Just Read The Instructions.  The second one still under construction will be Of Course I Still Love You.
(which should probably be another line of evidence in Boru's villain thread)