Launch News SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 with 6 Orbcomm generation 2 satellites, July 14, 2014

[Kyle]

404'd.

 

[Donamy]

Wow !!!

 

[Thunder Chicken]

OMG! This thing is still on the pad? I was out of the country for two weeks and figured this would be launched by now.

I hope the launch goes well, whenever that happens! :lol:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

The team did another (must be the 3rd time already) static fire hours ago. Finger's crossed..... :yes:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Still good for launch tomorrow so far.....

Weather IS co-operating this time... (well you can't ask for more from Florida summer.....)

Weather Forecast for Titusville, Florida on July 14, 2014 (9 a.m.)

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 33C. Winds S at 15 to 25 kph. Chance of rain 60%.

Time|Temps|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Cloud cover|Pressure|Wind|Weather
9 AM|27°C|24°C|85%|3%|0%|27%|1019 hPa|8 km/h SW|

Partly Cloudy

 

[Kyle]

27C with an 85% humidity at 9am. Just your typical Florida morning.

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Here we go (again)! Vehicle is apparently proceeding well into the count. Roughly two hours from T-0.

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Moving to the end of the window for a launch attempt.

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Issue has been resolved per SpaceX, everything is green again for a launch at 11:44am EDT.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

....and now the T-0 has moved a little forward to 11:15 am EDT (15:15 UTC). :hmm:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Webcast starting.....

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I love the banner at the bottom of the video feed:

SpaceX Launch Complex 40, Florida, EARTH :lol:

C'mon, launch this baby! Today is the day!

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Hey, they have the stream going, so better than even odds, yeah?

Also, I'm watching. Bettter odds still.

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Liftoff good, MECO and Staging good, fairing sep good.

 

[Kyle]

That view of Florida is outstanding! Never seen a launch with this high of an angle.

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511 kilometers in altitude.

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AOS Newfoundland.

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620 kilometers in altitude, MECO!

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Mark up another solid launch for SpaceX! Now let's hear how the first stage did.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Good launch. Now the whining begins - how did the 1st stage do on flyback? I saw the maneuvering thrusters fire at stage separation.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

I don't know if they were going to do flyback... I remember seeing somewhere that this was going to be a direct ascent to the target orbit, which would have been a really steep reentry for the first stage, so they decided not to try it this time.

 

[Kyle]

Saw NASA927, the NASA WB-57 Ascent video plane, take a sharp turn north at 344 knots right as launched commenced. If it was successful we're going to get an absolutely stunning video.

 

[DaveS]

Saw NASA927, the NASA WB-57 Ascent video plane, take a sharp turn north at 344 knots right as launched commenced. If it was successful we're going to get an absolutely stunning video.

I seriously doubt that. NASA tried this for the first few RTF launches and the video was no good at all, it was in fact much worse than the ground optics, so funding was withdrawn starting with STS-116.

It was the WB-57 Airborne Video Experiment (WAVE).

 

[Kyle]

Epic shot.

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5/6 of the Orbcomm satellites have deployed, waiting for confirmation of all being deployed.

 

[BrianJ]

Now the whining begins - how did the 1st stage do on flyback?

Count me in ;-) Why so reticent, SpaceX?

I don't know if they were going to do flyback... I remember seeing somewhere that this was going to be a direct ascent to the target orbit, which would have been a really steep reentry for the first stage, so they decided not to try it this time.

Couple of websites I've seen think they will try a "soft landing".
I'm not sure they would have wasted a set of landing gear if not.

Anyway, well done SpaceX. Good launch, enjoyed the (rather minimal) coverage.

Now...what about that 1st stage......?

 

[Kyle]

SpaceX is still probably accumulating data, we'll probably find out soon (like last time).

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All six Orbcomm satellites have deployed into their proper orbits.

 

[Shifty]

SpaceX is still probably accumulating data, we'll probably find out soon (like last time).

Musk just tweeted:

Rocket booster reentry, landing burn & leg deploy were good, but lost hull integrity right after splashdown (aka kaboom)

 

[Kyle]

Landing was successful, although it blew up right after splashdown.