LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 - CRS-3 Dragon - ATTEMPT 2 UPDATES

[DecoLV]

Bad gateway! No biscuit for you!

[wannamoonbase]

Appeared very smooth, other than the surprise jets of sooty material.

Congrats to SpaceX and all the people that worked to make the launch possible.  Very impressive.

Like many of us, I'll be watching to see what happens with the first stage test and how quickly they can turn around for the next launch.

Very exciting times.

[Chris Bergin]

Bad gateway! No biscuit for you!

Maybe if you and the other 99 percent of people on here joined L2, maybe we could afford all the biscuits we need to avoid such things.

#JustSaying.

[dglow]

Never seen a sooty launch like that before.  Made my eyes go wide!

Conjecture:  Rain+pools of water inside sooty flame trench+rocket thrust blasting upwards = sooty water deposition.

NASA TV is running replays of the launch from different angles. The one labeled 'SpaceX Pad' gives a great angle on both the 'soot geyser' and the flame trench's exit and exhaust.

While the geyser of soot rises alongside the vehicle, hardly any emissions are seen from the trench. After several seconds the trench then shows high-velocity exhaust, right as the soot geyser falls and dissipates.

I don't know what to make of this exactly, but thought it was worth pointing out.

[mikelepage]

Did it rain in Florida recently?  Could have just been dirty water in the trench.

Yes they were saying there was a decent amount of rain this morning.  It could have been that a steam explosion in the trench was enough to precipitate something solid and send it skywards.  We might even see a similar effect doing a hover landing at sea.

[Space Pete]

Congrats SpaceX! You guys really are impressive.

I just saw an amazing sight - Dragon + F9 second stage passing over my house in the UK! I attach a photo - not exactly photography greatness, but I had to grab my camera and do a hand-held time-lapse just before they passed over the horizon, so it was never going to be brilliant.

But you can distinctly see two points of light. Dragon is the one on top I think, as it is brighter due to deployed arrays, and also since the extra delta-V imparted by stage sep would make Dragon faster than second stage, meaning Dragon would go into higher orbit and thus second stage would start to over-take it underneath (as you can see in my image).

[padrat]

Blimey SpaceX, you popular!

Sorry.........it's not like I put flyers out or anything....

[plank]

Congrats Spacex I wish for you to have all the success you need for today.

[pippin]

Err. They have a water deluge system, don't they? Some rain water probably won't add a lot of volume to what that's throwing into the trench.

My bet's on some standing wave building up inside the trench.

[dglow]

Blimey SpaceX, you popular!

Sorry.........it's not like I put flyers out or anything....

Padrat, congrats on a successful launch!

[TSomers]

Better shot of the soot plume and resulting mess from the 'SpaceX Pad' angle. 

[Helodriver]

Soot conjecture: excess water in the flame trench plus channeling effect caused by the presence of the long legs along the side of the vehicle   = soot and steam geyser never before seen.

[AncientU]

Blimey SpaceX, you popular!

Sorry.........it's not like I put flyers out or anything....

Padrat, you guys rock!
Congrats to the entire amazing team at SpaceX.

[pagheca]

Conjecture:  Rain+pools of water inside sooty flame trench+rocket thrust blasting upwards = sooty water deposition.

I would expect rain is pumped away eventually, and the level of waterin the trench  is strictly monitored and controlled.

I was surprised too by the fountain, and also I feel there were more debris detaching from the stage than usual during the ride, specially at high altitude, but I may be wrong.

[archipeppe68]

Blimey SpaceX, you popular!

Sorry.........it's not like I put flyers out or anything....

Padrat, you guys rock!
Congrats to the entire amazing team at SpaceX.

I quote everything.

SpaceX girls and guys: you're great!

[PahTo]

Congrats to SpaceX and this site!  Thanks for the ideas on the soot plume--wondering about that.  Hope to see footage of the first stage descent at some point...

[phantomdj]

When will we know if the first stage soft landing was attempted or successful?

[Mapperuo]

[Poole Amateur]

Congrats to the SpaceX team and many thanks to Chris for NSF. Enjoyed that launch, particularly as the weather forecast made it somewhat unexpected! Looking forward to hearing about the first stage and good luck for the rest of Dragon's mission.

[Avariel]

Congratulations to the SpaceX team. Wonderful launch!