Another beautiful long exposure of the launch:
Coverage now for people logged in as pre-warned.
Quote from: Chris Bergin on 09/21/2014 05:44 amCoverage now for people logged in as pre-warned.Before this thread gets closed ... Chris B., you posted the above a few minutes before the launch. I think you were warning people that if server load got too high you'd limit page views to people logged in, but it wasn't at all clear, and certainly would not have been to a newbie here, which is of course the key audience for those kinds of warnings. So, a gentle suggestion that you be a little more clear next time. If that IS what you meant As always, thanks for the coverage!
UPDATE THREAD for SpaceX's CRS-4/SpX-4 launch - ATTEMPT 2PLEASE NOTE THAT WE FULLY EXPECT THE SITE TO BE VERY BUSY ON LAUNCH DAYS FOR SPACEX MISSIONS. WE WILL RESTRICT IT TO FORUM MEMBERS ONLY - WITH NO ACCESS TO THE FORUM FOR GUESTS - WHEN THE SITE BECOMES TOO BUSY. READ THIS: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31697.0)
Funnies with the TLEs.......although it is clearly dense and not rapidly decaying, the lack of maneuvers makes me think it might not beDragon either... there are usually independent orbital elements on NASA's SkyWatch page at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/SSapplications/Post/JavaSSOP/JavaSSOP.html but they don't seem to have added the Dragon yet for this mission, so I'm not really sure what's going on.
Quote from: jcm on 09/22/2014 10:20 pmFunnies with the TLEs.......although it is clearly dense and not rapidly decaying, the lack of maneuvers makes me think it might not beDragon either... there are usually independent orbital elements on NASA's SkyWatch page at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/SSapplications/Post/JavaSSOP/JavaSSOP.html but they don't seem to have added the Dragon yet for this mission, so I'm not really sure what's going on.Wasn't there a small satellite on the second stage of this launch - could this be what is being tracked here?Paul
After multiple attempts, airborne NASA and U.S. Navy IR tracking cameras have captured a SpaceX Falcon 9 in flight as its first stage falls back toward Earth shortly after second-stage ignition and then reignites to lower the stage toward a propulsive “zero-velocity, zero-altitude” touchdown on the sea surface (see images).
In this thermal imagery captured shortly after stage separation, the top of the SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage appears as a dim dot with a fading plume within the brighter upper-stage plume. In the inset, the restarted first-stage engines power the first stage as it performs a propulsive descent to Earth. NASA/Scifli Team/Applied Physics Laboratory Images
NASA, SpaceX Share Data On Supersonic Retropropulsionhttp://aviationweek.com/space/nasa-spacex-share-data-supersonic-retropropulsion
Yeah, that's very cool. No idea why they gave it to Aviation Week and held it from presser release.