SpaceX Falcon 9 : CRS-13 : Dec 15, 2017 : DISCUSSION

[Kaputnik]

Anyone else notice a big flat piece of debris flying away at liftoff?

[rpapo]

Anyone else notice a big flat piece of debris flying away at liftoff?

Yes.  Appeared to be at least six feet across.  Flew to the left, not far from the original level of the Dragon itself.

[catdlr]

Anyone else notice a big flat piece of debris flying away at liftoff?

you mean this?

[eeergo]

Anyone else notice a big flat piece of debris flying away at liftoff?

you mean this?

No, this.


There appears to be at least three bright red items (see last image) on the pad, visible to the mast camera. I gather the "rag" flying around could have come from the red area (cushioning?) close to the S1 LOX umbilical, when it got blasted by the plume upon liftoff, and got recirculated around by the turbulence.

[stcks]

Anyone else notice a big flat piece of debris flying away at liftoff?

you mean this?

No, this.


There appears to be at least three bright red items (see last image) on the pad, visible to the mast camera. I gather the "rag" flying around could have come from the red area (cushioning?) close to the S1 LOX umbilical, when it got blasted by the plume upon liftoff, and got recirculated around by the turbulence.

Its looks like the curved support piece on the TEL, you can see it in the pre-liftoff photo. Maybe it blew off during launch?

Edit: rewording the post to make it clear I'm guessing....

Edit2: and clearly this is wrong. something something about assuming ....

[ejb749]

As an armchair rocket scientist, I also noticed what seems like a slow deploy on the grid fins, and then some sort of washer floating loose at Dragon release.

[eeergo]

As an armchair rocket scientist, I also noticed what seems like a slow deploy on the grid fins, and then some sort of washer floating loose at Dragon release.

The grid fins appeared to deploy normally to me, but two of the landing legs did hang around in almost vertical positions for significantly longer than the other pair did, much more so than in previous flights.

I wonder where a loose washer might have come from on the interior of the interstage, it was definitely not coming from the S1-S2 separation plane where things are supposed to come apart.

[Pete]

The NASA TV coverage had a pretty good tracking cam on the way down, like NROL-76.

I hate to have a repeat of the "calipers" but there was most definitely a washer flying around at the end of the NASA TV replays during Dragon separation!  No way it was ice this time IMO.

... because ice never forms in toroids?

You... I....
Words fail me.
You believe what you want to believe, it must be nice in there

[Ben the Space Brit]

As an armchair rocket scientist, I also noticed what seems like a slow deploy on the grid fins, and then some sort of washer floating loose at Dragon release.

During the stage 2 powered flight, there was also what looked like an exhaust leak at the top of the engine bell, from beneath the piping that wraps around the top.

[JamesH65]

The NASA TV coverage had a pretty good tracking cam on the way down, like NROL-76.

I hate to have a repeat of the "calipers" but there was most definitely a washer flying around at the end of the NASA TV replays during Dragon separation!  No way it was ice this time IMO.

... because ice never forms in toroids?

You... I....
Words fail me.
You believe what you want to believe, it must be nice in there

Ice?, washer? Washer made of ice? We'll probably never know. No need to be rude about.

[abaddon]

The fins were slow... no they were fast... that was a wrench... not made to last...

Ah yes... I remember it well.

[Lars-J]

Ah yes, the typical post-flight commentary on NSF we all have come to love. You all get a cookie - what would SpaceX do without you guys spotting critical malfunctions!?

[rockets4life97]

I want to hear more about the demonstrations for Crew that have taken place on Cargo missions. Sounds like SpaceX won't discuss it (post-launch new conference). Maybe NASA will?

[Rhyshaelkan]

Fun how the MC tried to keep it about the mission but all we want to know is about SpaceX. SpaceX needs to start doing it's own post launch briefings. Only with credible news sources though. We saw the travesty when questions were not screened before asking Elon Musk.

[mme]

"Any questions related to the mission?"

I always feel bad for NASA at these post launch pressers when they fly SpaceX.

[Jim]

Fun how the MC tried to keep it about the mission but all we want to know is about SpaceX. SpaceX needs to start doing it's own post launch briefings.

Not going to happen on NASA or commercial missions, so get use to it.

[vanoord]

What's this?

I suspect it's a temporary structure (tent) which would have been used during the re-building of the pad.

The previous TEL was dumped next to the 'tent', but the remains are now gone.

(IIRC the new TEL was built in the HIF building, so the temporary structure wasn't for that).

[su27k]

What's this?

I suspect it's a temporary structure (tent) which would have been used during the re-building of the pad.

The previous TEL was dumped next to the 'tent', but the remains are now gone.

(IIRC the new TEL was built in the HIF building, so the temporary structure wasn't for that).

Yeah, you can see the tent clearly in the images here: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=41060.msg1671301#msg1671301, top left on 1st image, bottom left on 2nd image

[centaurinasa]

According to the timeline, GNC "Guidance, Navigation & Control" bay door opens.

[Brunberg]

According to the timeline, GNC "Guidance, Navigation & Control" bay door opens.

Are these photos taken from ISS?