LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon COTS Demo (C2+) LAUNCH and FD1 UPDATES

[ugordan]

Also, the 2nd stage burn at around 8:20 suddenly showed a much larger, blue-ish plume. Would this have been the point it came into sunlight?

Yes.

[wechose]

great coverage NSF!

Shame about five people completely ignored the clear instructions about who was to cover this to MECO, so as to avoid multiple duplicates. That won't happen again.

Just so long as you always get to be the guy who always gets to type LAUNCH first Chris,that is what is really important.

[RocketEconomist327]

Congrats to Elon and SpaceX.  Congrats to NASA, the C3PO and COTS office.  And congrats to the tax payers.

Finally, congrats to NSF - best coverage period.

Everyone won today at life.

VR
RE327

[Ronsmytheiii]

Falcon 9 pics from 100 ml W ''was about like a -2 magnitude orange star; tracked for about 10 minutes''

https://twitter.com/#!/Astroguyz

[Chris-A]

[paycom]

Coeliptic burn should be in process.

[Chris Bergin]

great coverage NSF!

Shame about five people completely ignored the clear instructions about who was to cover this to MECO, so as to avoid multiple duplicates. That won't happen again.

Just so long as you always get to be the guy who always gets to type LAUNCH first Chris,that is what is really important.

Ha, that's not important. Just trying to avoid 15 people all posting "MaxQ" at the same time

[Ronsmytheiii]

[Chris Bergin]

This Bolden speech might be fluffy.

[JimO]

Time to brave the mosquitos and go outside to look for the texas flyover. I'll be offline for about 20 minutes.

[Robotbeat]

great coverage NSF!

Shame about five people completely ignored the clear instructions about who was to cover this to MECO, so as to avoid multiple duplicates. That won't happen again.

Just so long as you always get to be the guy who always gets to type LAUNCH first Chris,that is what is really important.

Ha, that's not important. Just trying to avoid 15 people all posting "MaxQ" at the same time

Totally missed the instructions!!!! 

I guess I owe you, then.

[Chris Bergin]

No biggy Chris, it's never personal, it's only ever about having a solid and flowing update thread.

And here's the General.

[Chris Bergin]

Oh, it's not fluffy, it's live and not some pre-recorded happy clapping.

Notes they only have one way to get to the ISS. Shuttle retirement was difficult. Now on the brink of a new future, one on the shoulders of Gemini, Apollo, Shuttle.

Congrats to SpaceX and god speed Dragon.

Fair play!

[Chris Bergin]

Making a big point of commercial LEO and NASA BEO.

"It's a great day for the world. People thought we had gone away. No, we haven't gone away."

[Chris Bergin]

Next milestone is in an hour when the GNC door opens. Has to lock in place with a grapple bar for it to be able to be berthed by SSRMS.

Fluid mission overview. He's on form.

[Chris Bergin]

"This is exciting stuff. This is why we in the space business get up in the morning. This is why you space reporters cover it. I hope you report victory and triumph."

[Chris Bergin]

So we've still got the presser with Ms Shotwell and company to come I think.

Let's get to GNC door success and I'll get another article drafted.

[edfishel]

Agreed, Chris. It was a pretty straightforward statement and comments essentially repeating the "partnership" between the SpaceX and NASA teams and the importance of commercial space providing low-income access to space so NASA can go do riskier ventures such as asteroids and Mars. I also was impressed by his detailed knowledge of the specifics of this flight.

[Jorge]

Time to brave the mosquitos and go outside to look for the texas flyover. I'll be offline for about 20 minutes.

ISS flyover was reasonably bright, waiting for Dragon now.

[Nathan]

Has the vehicle done the gps demo yet?