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

[titanmiller]

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk  31s
Data upload from tracking plane shows landing in Atlantic was good! Several boats enroute through heavy seas.

Incredible! Truly amazing achievement!

[Owlon]

A big congratulations to everyone at SpaceX! I've gotta say, between the legs and the "dirty water", we've got some extra spectacular liftoff photos on this one.

[ArbitraryConstant]

Is that the first ever non-destructive return to Earth of a liquid fueled first stage of an orbital launch?

[Elmar Moelzer]

Wow, this sounds like great news! I hope for more solid information soon!

[Galactic Penguin SST]

For those who missed, here's the SpaceX version webcast in full length: 

[Avron]

 ‏@elonmusk  53s
Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal.

[pagheca]

Is that the first ever non-destructive return to Earth of a liquid fueled first stage of an orbital launch?

you can remove "liquid fueled", I guess... Or not?

[ugordan]

[Avron]

Looks like the boost stage was alive while in the water.. I wonder if anyone is scared yet?

[ArbitraryConstant]

Is that the first ever non-destructive return to Earth of a liquid fueled first stage of an orbital launch?

you can remove "liquid fueled", I guess... Or not?

Shuttle SRBs

[yg1968]

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk  31s
Data upload from tracking plane shows landing in Atlantic was good! Several boats enroute through heavy seas.

Is that a good idea from a safety perspective? How long can a rocket float?

[edkyle99]

Is that the first ever non-destructive return to Earth of a liquid fueled first stage of an orbital launch?

you can remove "liquid fueled", I guess... Or not?

Depends on whether SRBs were "first stage" or not.

 - Ed Kyle

[Helodriver]

I think a few Ariane V boosters too, although most are discarded.

[joshcryer]

I guess you could reduce it to first recovery of orbital engines? That is the important part (well, the turbos too of course).

[sanman]

Even more Elon Tweets:

    Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk 9m

    Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal.

[plank]

Is that the first ever non-destructive return to Earth of a liquid fueled first stage of an orbital launch?

you can remove "liquid fueled", I guess... Or not?

How about without a parachute?

[sanman]

Even more Elon Tweets:

    Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk 9m

    Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal.

Hmm, so that probably means ~8 seconds for it to topple over after touchdown?

Would flight computers have stopped transmitting due to wires snapping, etc, due to loads shifting to horizontal? Or would they have been pre-programmed to know when they're going horizontal?

[titanmiller]

Even more Elon Tweets:

    Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk 9m

    Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal.

Hmm, so that probably means ~8 seconds for it to topple over after touchdown?

Would flight computers have stopped transmitting due to wires snapping, etc, due to loads shifting to horizontal? Or would they have been pre-programmed to know when they're going horizontal?

Maybe the antenna became submerged.

[drsnooker]

Any idea what ships are out there? I'm looking at marine trackers around 400km from KSC, but not finding anything...

[sanman]

Just a thought....

Could returning rocket booster stages one day be fitted with a black box to enable/facilitate data recovery by ocean-going crews?