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

[manboy]

NASA is starting to upload photos of the launch (I hope they managed to get a few closer shots)

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=225

[Mapperuo]

NASA is starting to upload photos of the launch (I hope they managed to get a few closer shots)

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=225

I'm sure they did, Just need to head out to the launch pad to reclaim the cameras.

[Chris-A]

Dragon deployment, one more set to go

[edfishel]

I'd love to hear SpaceX talk about the role of John Muratore, the veteran NASA computer expert and troubleshooter, in preparing for this flight.  Wayne Hall has a very nice blog item about John posted at  http://waynehale.wordpress.com/ which was spotted by another NSF member a few days ago.

[Chris-A]

[Halidon]

Bolden live on CNN talking with their morning crew

[tigerade]

Good launch replay here with nice audio:

[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.

Didn't see Dragon or the Falcon 9 second stage. Probably too much light pollution from where I am. Any better luck, JimO?

[Chris Bergin]

Here's the presser coming up.

[Chris Bergin]

Big guns are out today.

[Chris Bergin]

[manboy]

Bill says a lot of positive things about SpaceX.

[MP99]

Gerst effusive!

cheers, Martin

[Chris Bergin]

Gerst notes he's worked with a lot of teams down at the Cape, but there are none better than SpaceX (ULA just fell off their chairs).

Alan is full of even bigger praise for SpaceX and seems very emotional. "There's still a 1000 things that need to go right".

Ms Shotwell is more reserved, but you can tell she's bursting! We've got further than we did on the last flight. Got TDRSS pointing nominally.

Elon, looks emotionally worn out: Notes it's a tremendous honor to work with NASA. Three in a row shows it's a good solid rocket. Everything is looking really good with Dragon.

[RocketEconomist327]

Gerst notes he's worked with a lot of teams down at the Cape, but there are none better than SpaceX (ULA just fell off their chairs).
<snip>

That will be delivered to a few congressmen and women, personally.  I spit water when he said that.

Elon calls mission a success.

VR
RE327

[rickl]

I like how he compared the roles of government vs. commercial to the explosive growth of the internet in the 1990s.  (Started by government, then private industry took the ball.)

[Chris Bergin]

Questions.

To Elon on how he was feeling.

Elon: Every bit of adrenaline released in my body at launch. Was concerned about first stage after the abort, but worked really well. Notes the firsts. I feel very lucky.

More for Elon..asking about the cheers.

Elon: The team are seeing the fruit of their labors. So when it worked people saw their handy work in space and operating as it should.

Another question for Elon on private space.

Elon: Reminds him of the internet, where it started as government but went commercial and available to the mainstream.

Another for Elon - message for Congress who want to cut commecial crew.

Elon: I hope the success so far will dispell some of the doubts. Some people had legitiment concerns (if they are reasonable), but now we've had three successful flights of F9.

Another for Elon - any human remains on Dragon.

Elon: Not that he's aware.

Jay for Ms Shotwell on GNC door.

Ms Shotwell - attempting it earlier. Waiting for confirmation.

[Ben the Space Brit]

Elon looks half-dead. I'm betting that he has only had a few hours' sleep, max, since before the first launch attempt!

I did like Ms. Shotwell's little wave.

[Rex Chan]

What is celeste? (not sure about spelling).

[corrodedNut]

They can't stop asking about Celestis. Little bit morbid.