LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 1 Launch 5 (RazakSat) - July 13/14

[mmeijeri]

Not critisising them for this, but I don't understand why they haven't updated the manifest on their website's main page. This mission is still listed under upcoming missions.

[edkyle99]

My messages are not meant to be a "gripe" or complaint.  I only intend to point out that SpaceX could do much better at communicating with the press - and that has little to do with their web site.

Anyone reading this who is a U.S. taxpayer is a "SpaceX customer".  SpaceX has an opportunity to "wow" these "customers", by telling them how it might be able to save them money, for example.

 - Ed Kyle

Yes. And every time they did, in the past, the either got laughed at or accused of "hype" (to put it politely).

If they used good corporate communication practices, they could tell their story factually and still do the "wow" thing. 

 - Ed Kyle

[jongoff]

Anyone reading this who is a U.S. taxpayer is a "SpaceX customer".  SpaceX has an opportunity to "wow" these "customers", by telling them how it might be able to save them money, for example.

That's a really naive way of looking at it.  Sure, SpaceX is getting a lot of its business from NASA.  And sure, most of NASA's money can be traced back to US taxpayers throughout the country.  But the reality is that the Northern Alabama Space Administration's main customer is a set of Senators and Congresspeople in a few states that most of us don't get to vote for/against.  Sure, you could say that SpaceX is spending your money and my money, but quite frankly, neither of us matter one bit when it comes to how that money of ours is spent.

But FWIW, I'm perfectly happy with how SpaceX handled things.  They're one of the more open space companies out there, and I really enjoyed watching them fly.

~Jon

[Spacenuts]

Ok, just took a very quick look at the ULA website.  Looks similar except that they don't give you a list of upcoming launches.  I also not that some of the announcements are posted a few days after the actual successfull launch.  Of note is that there are no updates from the head of the company talking about things going on between launches.

Any time Elon speaks his statements are picked apart down to the use of the word "will" as apposed to the word "may" and how that reflects on comments he made three years prior (may be exagerating but the point is made).  I attribute this to us trying to make the most out of what we wish was more information.  So, I for one am happy that I get anything other than a generic web page and the successfull launch notice.  Keep them updates a' comin.

Questions, how much of a new rocket are we dealing with for the "1e" version??  How much larger is the potential market with the increase in payload?  If the Falcon 1 series solid and reliable does anyone here think we will see a big increase in the number of flights on the list??

[yg1968]

Anyone reading this who is a U.S. taxpayer is a "SpaceX customer".  SpaceX has an opportunity to "wow" these "customers", by telling them how it might be able to save them money, for example.

That's a really naive way of looking at it.  Sure, SpaceX is getting a lot of its business from NASA.  And sure, most of NASA's money can be traced back to US taxpayers throughout the country.  But the reality is that the Northern Alabama Space Administration's main customer is a set of Senators and Congresspeople in a few states that most of us don't get to vote for/against.  Sure, you could say that SpaceX is spending your money and my money, but quite frankly, neither of us matter one bit when it comes to how that money of ours is spent.

But FWIW, I'm perfectly happy with how SpaceX handled things.  They're one of the more open space companies out there, and I really enjoyed watching them fly.

~Jon

I agree. I would also add that at some point this criticism of SpaceX becomes nit picking.

[docmordrid]

It's been nit-picky as a bunch of tween-age school girls for quite a while.  Yes; there have been things to discuss, but all too often that discussion is catty and sneering. 

Rather tedious, actually.

[Jim]

It's been nit-picky as a bunch of tween-age school girls for quite a while.  Yes; there have been things to discuss, but all too often that discussion is catty and sneering. 

Rather tedious, actually.

Better than the school girl gushing and fawning that occurs more often

[dunderwood]

Better than the school girl gushing and fawning that occurs more often

Honestly, the fawning and nitpicking are about the same on the annoyance scale.

[HMXHMX]

You haven't seen nitpicking at work until you sit though a mission assurance review conducted by Aerospace Corporation, or by a peeved insurance broker/underwriter who has to pay out a few hundred millions in claims.

[Diagoras]

It's been nit-picky as a bunch of tween-age school girls for quite a while.  Yes; there have been things to discuss, but all too often that discussion is catty and sneering. 

Rather tedious, actually.

Seconded. Really, really seconded.

[corrodedNut]

BTW, there's a whole slew of new Flight5 photos on the SpaceX update page:

http://www.spacex.com/launch_updates.php

Including some nice aerial shots.

[stockman]

BTW, there's a whole slew of new Flight5 photos on the SpaceX update page:

http://www.spacex.com/launch_updates.php

Including some nice aerial shots.

thanks.. nice clear pictures there.. I hope they release the full length launch in the higher def video that they obviously have...

[Nick L.]

Honestly the "nit-picking" is not. It is a new vehicle and we are (I am at least) curious about the various differences between this and what we've seen before, and how they do things differently than other launch providers. How do they approach the common problems of getting to orbit differently from ULA/Arianespace/ILS/etc.? That is true for all vehicles, established or not. I am interested in the unique characteristics of each vehicle (like the fireball on D-IV) and Falcon is no exception. That is at least my motivation.

With that in mind the "fawning"/"cheerleading" is, to me, more irritating, as it is for the most part simply motivated by "yay, there's a launch provider that isn't the big bad establishment!" and not the technical details.

Just my 2 pennies.

BTW, there's a whole slew of new Flight5 photos on the SpaceX update page:

http://www.spacex.com/launch_updates.php

Including some nice aerial shots.

Awesome photos! Love the aerial shots.

[Patchouli]

I wonder if the upper stages on the F1Es will perform a deorbit burn after payload deployment?
If predictions of the launch market recovering soon are correct it's probably best to start doing some orbital debris mitigation.

[yg1968]

With that in mind the "fawning"/"cheerleading" is, to me, more irritating, as it is for the most part simply motivated by "yay, there's a launch provider that isn't the big bad establishment!" and not the technical details.

I think that the cheerleading is mostly motivated by the fact that the SpaceX costs per flight promises to be much cheaper than the competition. SpaceX has a chance to create a space tourism industry and their DragonLab also looks promising. Both of these industries aren't being served by any other commercial companies. At least not currently.

[pippin]

promises

[8900]

I have one question to ask




the upper one is a photo of Ariane 5 launch and the lower one is a photo of the recent F1 launch
Why Ariane 5 has a long, white "smoke" tail extending from the launch pad to the sky during its ascend, but F1 has nothing except a short yellowish flame tail?
is it something to do with the fuel used? (Ariane 5 uses LOx/LH2 producing water vapor as combustion product while F1 uses kerosene, producing transparent CO2) or is the smoke tail produced by the SRBs on Ariane 5?

[Skyrocket]

Yep, different propellants. Arianes solid fuel boosters produce a lot of smoke, while Korosene/Lox does not.

An Atlas-V launch without boosters (also LOX/Kero) is similar smokeless.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/330885main_launchHQ-m.jpg

[Skyrocket]

Addendum: nearly all rockets have Water in their exhaust, which often generates contrails while flying through cold air layers.

[ugordan]

Addendum: nearly all rockets have Water in their exhaust, which often generates contrails while flying through cold air layers.

Which tends to occur around max-Q. One of the flight 5 images shows the shadow on the clouds of this contrail.