SpaceX And/Or Rocketry In General

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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According to this and that

According to this and that they will attempt a barge landing next week ..... :-)

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

robl
robl
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Good find - with a barge

Good find - with a barge landing also. The Kennedy Space Center confirms this launch also.

archae86
archae86
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Multiple sources affirm a

Multiple sources affirm a current planned launch attempt with recovery attempt on April 13. Last story I read gave an appreciable chance of postponement to a little later in the week for weather alone.

Can anyone here supply a web site somewhat likely to have live video?

I imagine live video of the launch is more likely than of the descent to the drone ship, but the latter would be much the more interesting to me.

robl
robl
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RAC: 8674

RE: Multiple sources affirm

Quote:

Multiple sources affirm a current planned launch attempt with recovery attempt on April 13. Last story I read gave an appreciable chance of postponement to a little later in the week for weather alone.

Can anyone here supply a web site somewhat likely to have live video?


Live feed here. Currently a count down clock displayed. Live feed will go realtime 20 (????) minutes before launch.

Quote:
I imagine live video of the launch is more likely than of the descent to the drone ship, but the latter would be much the more interesting to me.


Would love to see the descent too as most here would. Suppose it depends on sea conditions. Weather here is quite nasty at present. Lightning/thunder. Delay as you point out is likely.

robl
robl
Joined: 2 Jan 13
Posts: 1709
Credit: 1454482658
RAC: 8674

RE: RE: Multiple sources

Quote:
Quote:

Multiple sources affirm a current planned launch attempt with recovery attempt on April 13. Last story I read gave an appreciable chance of postponement to a little later in the week for weather alone.

Can anyone here supply a web site somewhat likely to have live video?


Live feed here. Currently a count down clock displayed. Live feed will go realtime 20 (????) minutes before launch.

Quote:
I imagine live video of the launch is more likely than of the descent to the drone ship, but the latter would be much the more interesting to me.

Would love to see the descent too as most here would. Suppose it depends on sea conditions. Weather here is quite nasty at present. Lightning/thunder. Delay as you point out is likely.

Live stream begins at 16:15 EDT at the above link. Static engine firing occurred on Saturday. See the still at the same link.

robl
robl
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RAC: 8674

As of Sunday evening EDT

As of Sunday evening EDT there is a 60% chance of a go for Monday.

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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Posts: 6534
Credit: 284710168
RAC: 110462

Well I've gone and spoilt

Well I've gone and spoilt myself ( calendrical recurrence of the day of my birth tomorrow ) and obtained a copy of Sled Driver. This arrived just now via courier :

... price be damned, Carpe Diem ! Or should I say 'In Thrust We Trust' :-) :-)

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

MAGIC Quantum Mechanic
MAGIC Quantum M...
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1964?

1964?

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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No Magic, that would be 1960

No Magic, that would be 1960 ie. 55 Sun circuits completed ex-womb tomorrow. :-)

Here's some better figures : 80,000 feet, 3572 km/h, two North Korean Mig's disappearing faster than the speed of sound behind you. Now there are 3600 seconds in an hour so that'd be 1000 m/s ...

Cheer, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

archae86
archae86
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Credit: 7023774931
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RE: Or should I say 'In

Quote:

Or should I say 'In Thrust We Trust' :-) :-)

Cheers, Mike.


Enjoy your copy of Sled Driver. I've liked mine.

Regarding the thrust matter, I've always heard that the F-4 Phantom was often regarded as a triumph of thrust over aerodynamics. The Oxcart, and several extremely closely related descendants (including the SR-71) seem to want to go fast just sitting on the ground. A mere nudge of modest engines and away they go. Well, I exaggerate a touch, but it is true that early testing did not benefit from the intended engines, which had not quite made it to readiness, so the powerplant of which the F-105 had one was supplied as a pair to get things "off the ground" literally.

By the way, if you look around there is a quite wonderful official history of the Oxcart program available online. Amazing what the CIA could do in those days. Less amazingly, the next major publicly known activity of the main CIA guy involved (Richard Bissell) was a little matter in Cuba commonly referred to as the Bay of Pigs. Oops.

Last, personal tidbit. Many years ago, a business colleague who was a private pilot related that he once lined up to land at the wrong airport in southern California. Before he waved off, he spotted what appeared to him to be multiple SR-71s, but somehow lacking the accustomed black over most of their surface. At the time, I had not yet learned the Oxcart history, and presumed he had spotted a collection of SR-71s in some cycle of maintenance involving removal of the black coating, but I now believe he happened to come near a rotting set of Oxcarts, before someone finally disposed of them. I don't recall ever learning what became of them, whereas nearly all the SR-71s which survived until the end of the program flew to museums. Even the Battleship Alabama somehow rated getting an SR-71 in the parking lot. I've seen about half a dozen at museums, and every one looked fabulous. For a clue at what he saw, and how it differed from the all-black standard SR-71 appearance, consider this oft-reproduced picture from many years earlier at a different place.

Oops, after I wrote the above, I did careful research (i.e. I typed a search string into Google), and found this listing of Blackbird museum displays and found that the one I saw at Battleship Alabama is listed as an A-12 (i.e. an Oxcart). It also lists multiple other A-12s on museum display.

this other listing of Blackbird museum sites agrees on that point.

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