Regarding the interaction with the relative wind, I thought it odd that the program calls for the rocket to tilt to a set angle, stay like that for a good minute, then abruptly return to centered attitude before MECO. If this were an airplane, the angle of attack would be changing gradually according to the airspeed and thickness of the atmosphere.
Anyone has a good guess what this strange maneuver is for?
What happened to Steve, btw? I really miss his launch coverage.
Quote from: Rekt1971 on 01/20/2021 11:40 amWhat happened to Steve, btw? I really miss his launch coverage.I'm still alive and kicking! In order that I can spend more time on my other interests, I decided to retire from providing live launch coverage on NSF.
Just Read the Instructions droneship has departed from the Starlink landing zone and is en-route to Port Canaveral.
Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief have split up!Ms. Chief is now arriving at Port Canaveral whilst Ms. Tree is heading straight to the Transporter-1 LZVisible on Fleetcam shortly:
Empty 😲Ms. Chief has returned from the Starlink mission without a fairing half, not even a fragment to be seen.Ms. Tree is still offshore and heading directly to the Transporter-1 LZ. Not clear if Ms. Chief will head back out soon.As seen by @NASASpaceflight Fleetcam
They showed Ms. Tree at sea during the webcast today for the Transporter-1 scrub. No fairing half to be seen on deck.Is it possible they lost both fairing halves from this mission? Perhaps sea states were bad enough to lose the halves and damage Ms. Chief enough to require a return to port? Pure speculation.
Just Read the Instructions droneship - from the Starlink mission - will be arriving at Port Canaveral tomorrow (24th) sometime after 8:30am ET. Probably will be later in the day, depending on overnight progress.
Quote from: cscott on 01/23/2021 02:08 pmThey showed Ms. Tree at sea during the webcast today for the Transporter-1 scrub. No fairing half to be seen on deck.Is it possible they lost both fairing halves from this mission? Perhaps sea states were bad enough to lose the halves and damage Ms. Chief enough to require a return to port? Pure speculation.They showed Ms. Chief, not Ms. Tree.
Quote from: Rekt1971 on 01/23/2021 02:18 pmQuote from: cscott on 01/23/2021 02:08 pmThey showed Ms. Tree at sea during the webcast today for the Transporter-1 scrub. No fairing half to be seen on deck.Is it possible they lost both fairing halves from this mission? Perhaps sea states were bad enough to lose the halves and damage Ms. Chief enough to require a return to port? Pure speculation.They showed Ms. Chief, not Ms. Tree.Oh! We knew Ms. Chief didn't have fairing halves on board. Still possible that Ms. Tree has one or two on deck from the starlink launch, then?
Getting closer!
B1051.8, the first eight flight booster is almost back to Port Canaveral. #SpaceXFleet #SpaceX