Falcon 9 launches today

[Rock]

Fingers crossed!

[Wolf Larsen]

Launch escape system is armed.

[Detroit Hoser]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

Launch escape system is armed.

So don't try anything funny.

[Cochrane]

I find it a little amusing that the first names of the two astronauts are Bob and Doug. Are you sure they're not Canadian, eh?

[What Exit?]

4 minutes, it looks like a go!

[What Exit?]

Good launch, now will the first stage land cleanly? Go Dragon Go!

[What Exit?]

We have a clean landing of stage 1! Falcon 9 & Dragon are well on the way!

This is so cool.


And clean separation!

[Rock]

Well, that was the coolest thing I've seen in quite some time!

[Wolf Larsen]

Yesss!

[3acres]

Amazing. And all those live shots of the cockpit and displays, booster separation and landing. None of the clumsy animations or men with models like we saw in the 60s. And I'm sitting here in rural Missouri, watching live transmissions from a space lsunch on my phone. Wild.

[Zeener Diode]

Worth the wait!

[What Exit?]

Did anyone see the live stage one touch down? The NASA TV feed lost the connection at the critical time.

[Detroit Hoser]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

Did anyone see the live stage one touch down? The NASA TV feed lost the connection at the critical time.

I was disappointed, having never seen the thing land before, even in videos. So now I'll find a video because I hear it's super cool.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Detroit Hoser

I was disappointed, having never seen the thing land before, even in videos. So now I'll find a video because I hear it's super cool.

I watched the first landing, along with the prior fail. It was like a freaking 50's sci-fi movie it was so cool.

[3acres]

Originally Posted by Detroit Hoser

I was disappointed, having never seen the thing land before, even in videos. So now I'll find a video because I hear it's super cool.

Two Falcon Heavy boosters land side by side.

[Glazer]

Originally Posted by 3acres

Two Falcon Heavy boosters land side by side.

That was the exact video I was going to suggest.

[C2H5OH]

Originally Posted by Detroit Hoser

I was disappointed, having never seen the thing land before, even in videos. So now I'll find a video because I hear it's super cool.

The coolest thing I thought is that it looks like fake hollywood special effects, but it's real.

[Rock]

NASA TV has a live post-launch press conference starting in just a couple of minutes, including talking to Bob and Doug.

Edit: You can watch it on Youtube here. [Link deleted]

[Wolf Larsen]

I was a small kid when the Mercury program was going. I remember a lot of early mornings when I would be in my pj's and watch the launch. Most launches had at least one scrub due to equipment problems. So the last few days have felt like that. Watching the launch was really similar except now we have way better video of what is going on.

I hope they put the internal loop where they got launch commit from the various controllers up where we can hear it. There is nothing like hearing "boosters are go!, flight surgeon is go!, telemetry is go! ..."

[3acres]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

I hope they put the internal loop where they got launch commit from the various controllers up where we can hear it. There is nothing like hearing "boosters are go!, flight surgeon is go!, telemetry is go! ..."

They don't do that with Dragon. They mentioned it prelaunch today and Wednesday. They get go/no go from the controllers electronically. I kinda miss hearing all the folks giving their go votes.

[Detroit Hoser]

Originally Posted by 3acres

Two Falcon Heavy boosters land side by side.

Oh. my. god...

[Jaglavak]

Either they stick the landing, or 100 engineers have to fall on their mechanical pencils.

[PSXer]

Can you dock with the ISS?

https://iss-sim.spacex.com/

[Wolf Larsen]

Did it on my first try!

[Wolf Larsen]

Just for the hell of it, I tried it again after having a stiff rum and ginger ale drink. Still got it in the first try.

50 years of gaming pays off.

[Glazer]

Originally Posted by Detroit Hoser

Oh. my. god...

@Detroit Hoser and this was the payload on those two boosters that landed in tandem. To bad the central booster failed to nail it's landing.

[JackieLikesVariety]

wow!
thanks to all for the videos.

[3acres]

Today's big event:

"Today, after about 19 hours in transit, Behnken and Hurley's vehicle will soar up to the International Space Station and dock with the orbiting laboratory. Docking is scheduled to occur at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT), although that timing is subject to change."

PS - right now the livestream has a view of the approaching Dragon vehicle as seen from the ISS

[Rock]

They're showing some pretty cool live images from the ISS on NASA TV right now, as the Dragon capsule approaches for docking in just over 2 hours.

Oops, didn't notice your PS before I posted, 3acres! Oh well, it's worth saying again- cool stuff.

[Detroit Hoser]

Originally Posted by Glazer

@Detroit Hoser and this was the payload on those two boosters that landed in tandem. To bad the central booster failed to nail it's landing.

At least Elon Musk's giant ego has an amusing aspect to it.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Detroit Hoser

At least Elon Musk's giant ego has an amusing aspect to it.

He is a strange one. Weird pissing matches with rescue workers but his engineering efforts make him a Heinlein like Hero driving the future. He takes credit for other's work like Edison. But he delivered a tunnel to Las Vegas and he's about to deliver two astronauts to the ISS.

[Detroit Hoser]

He took his mom to the Met Gala Ball or whatever that thing is called. I thought it was pretty cool of him. Or maybe he's just a giant mama's boy, I don't know.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Detroit Hoser

He took his mom to the Met Gala Ball or whatever that thing is called. I thought it was pretty cool of him. Or maybe he's just a giant mama's boy, I don't know.

I think that is just it, he's an enigma.

[JackieLikesVariety]

where-all are folks watching stuff? so far I've only gone to the link in the first post: PBS live.

I'm going to go look for NASA TV.

[Rock]

Originally Posted by JackieLikesVariety

where-all are folks watching stuff? so far I've only gone to the link in the first post: PBS live.

I'm going to go look for NASA TV.

You can watch it on Youtube here. [Link deleted]

[Flying Saucerian]

He reportedly whined about the lockdown, was dismissive of the Covid epidemic, and tried to force his employees to return to work in his Tesla factories in the middle of a pandemic.

[JackieLikesVariety]

Originally Posted by JackieLikesVariety

where-all are folks watching stuff? so far I've only gone to the link in the first post: PBS live.

I'm going to go look for NASA TV.

thank you for the link. I can't tell who/what the channel is "Space" official? not NASA, not SpaceX...?

I am trying to do too many different things this morning and multitasking is not a real thing, people. it is NOT.

[Rock]

Yeah, I wondered that too, when I found the channel yesterday. I don't know what Space Official is either. In the "About" section of their Youtube channel they say

Follow the latest Rocket launch webcasts, Conferences & more space-related Livestream events.

SPACE (Official) provides a Platform for Aerospace companies, nonprofit organizations & scientists to communicate their work to the general public, decreasing the knowledge gap between academia and society.

At the start of 2019, we have hidden all of the published videos on our channel so that we can give Spaceflight/Aerospace companies, the center stage to share their startup video with the worldwide space community, as well as our audience of nearly four million subscribers.

but that still doesn't tell us a lot. I've actually been watching most of the coverage on the NASA app on my Roku. I found that link yesterday when I was on my laptop.

[Rock]

So now I'm wondering if it's possible to pick up malware while watching a live stream on a questionable Youtube channel. I don't think it is, as long as I don't download anything or click any links in that channel. Does anyone know the answer? I can delete the link I posted if I need to but I can't delete the link in the post that Jackie quoted.

I'm going to start a thread in "Just the Facts" asking the same question so more people will see it.

[What Exit?]

I've been using this link: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public when not watching on DirecTV which carries the NASA channel.

Bypassing Youtube is a fairly good way to go in this case.

[Rock]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

I've been using this link: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public when not watching on DirecTV which carries the NASA channel.

Bypassing Youtube is a fairly good way to go in this case.

Yeah, better safe than sorry. I think I'll delete the link and ask Jackie to delete it from her quote.

[JackieLikesVariety]

done, why not.

that's nice link, Jim, it's currently showing the view from the space station. lovely.

[What Exit?]

I'm a little bit of a space nut. I have NASA as one of my 9 shortcut channels. Though most of the time I just use it when I have problems falling asleep in the middle of the night.

[JackieLikesVariety]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

I'm a little bit of a space nut. I have NASA as one of my 9 shortcut channels. Though most of the time I just use it when I have problems falling asleep in the middle of the night.

I love it when people geek out over whatever it is that blows their hair back.

[Oxirane]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

I'm a little bit of a space nut. I have NASA as one of my 9 shortcut channels. Though most of the time I just use it when I have problems falling asleep in the middle of the night.

I definitely am, as well. Dad was a pilot in the USAF and MDANG for 27 years, so I was always an airplane nut as a kid...I was three weeks away from age 7 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and remember that vividly, so between growing up in the days of Apollo and reading a lot of science fiction, totally get where you are coming from...

It's amazing to watch the displays on the Dragon, it's surreal, it's how Kubrick interpreted Clarke's 2001, and here, it's real...I loved watching them work their way through the post dock/pre-open hatch checklists with touch screen pads that are wireless and tied to the capsule...there was a point where (I think) Bob was looking at his pad, called back to SpaceX and said, "I'm seeing where X valve and Y solenoid are open, I'm recommending we close them", she immediately responded, "I'm seeing the same, I will defer to your decision to close X and Y", freaking amazing...

This is a big deal...IMHO...

[What Exit?]

I'll fess up, the Moon landing is basically my second memory after Mickey Mantle Day in 1969. There are a few less distinct memories I can't put a date on, so I count those as the first two.

[Rock]

For those who don't already know, you can watch the space station go overhead by going to https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ and telling it your location. The site is loading slowly today (probably getting a lot of visits) but it will give a list of dates for the next couple of weeks telling what time it'll go over and where to look in the night sky.

With the Dragon capsule attached it will be a little larger and a little brighter. It's pretty cool. It's supposed to go over the Albuquerque area just after 10 pm tonight. Unfortunately it's supposed to be cloudy this evening but I can catch it tomorrow night as well.

[3acres]

I've used that website before. Once you spot it, it's easy to keep an eye on the ISS going across the night sky. And it pretty well hauls ass. Very cool.

[Rock]

Originally Posted by Oxirane

I definitely am, as well. Dad was a pilot in the USAF and MDANG for 27 years, so I was always an airplane nut as a kid...I was three weeks away from age 7 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and remember that vividly, so between growing up in the days of Apollo and reading a lot of science fiction, totally get where you are coming from...

It's amazing to watch the displays on the Dragon, it's surreal, it's how Kubrick interpreted Clarke's 2001, and here, it's real...I loved watching them work their way through the post dock/pre-open hatch checklists with touch screen pads that are wireless and tied to the capsule...there was a point where (I think) Bob was looking at his pad, called back to SpaceX and said, "I'm seeing where X valve and Y solenoid are open, I'm recommending we close them", she immediately responded, "I'm seeing the same, I will defer to your decision to close X and Y", freaking amazing...

This is a big deal...IMHO...

Oxi, our birthdays must be pretty close because I was three weeks away from turning 13 when I watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. August 14 is the exact date so everyone out there has plenty of time to get me a birthday card.

This is a big deal, indeed. I couldn't sit down yesterday waiting for and then watching the launch. I was pacing back and forth in front of the TV. Loved every minute of it. This morning too. I really hope I can catch the ISS flying over tonight but if not I'll see it within a few days tops.

[Rock]

Originally Posted by 3acres

I've used that website before. Once you spot it, it's easy to keep an eye on the ISS going across the night sky. And it pretty well hauls ass. Very cool.

Another cool thing about it is that it's only illuminated by sunlight so you won't typically see it go from horizon to horizon. Some nights you might only see it for 30 seconds and some nights for 2 or 3 minutes, in a different part of the sky.