True story about this you will likely find interesting. Right after SpaceX started crashing rockets into barges and hadn’t perfected it yet, I met a young engineer who was part of NASA’s research program for supersonic retropropulsion. He said,… /1
2/ “At NASA, we had a big program planned to study this. We were going to start with lots of computer simulations. Then we would put a thruster on a high speed rail car and shoot the plume into the direction of travel. Then we’d drop rockets off high altitude balloons…
3/ “But then @elonmusk just went and tried it, and it WORKED! So NASA canceled our entire program!”😂😂😂The beauty is that SpaceX didn’t even have to land on the barge for this result. Just hitting the barge with the booster proved that supersonic retropropulsion worked.
Actually, they proved it on F9 F6 out of Vandenberg. @lrocket gave me a banger quote about watching that reentry that is in my forthcoming book on the development of Falcon 9 and reuse.
I’m thrilled to announce the sequel to Liftoff, titled REENTRY, will be published on September 24. This book picks up the story where Liftoff left off, taking readers on a wild ride aboard the Falcon 9, Dragon, Heavy, and so much more.Publisher page: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/759707/reentry-by-eric-berger/I packed a lot in here: the origins of the Falcon 9, its development, the early launches and fruitless recoveries, two devastating failures, the remarkable road to reuse, flying the first Dragons, crewed flights, Falcon Heavy, the rivalries, and more.The story is again told primarily through the employees at SpaceX, the big names are all there of course, but also lesser known but critical players like Roger Carlson, Catriona Chambers, Robert Rose, Ricky Lim, and many more.There are technical details and wild stories. Most of all, I want to provide a sense of what Elon Musk and his team slogged through to reach the point where they are today, at the pinnacle of global spaceflight. It was never easy. Nor inevitable.Thanks to @johnkraus for the great cover photo. If you compare it to the US cover of Liftoff there are some wonderful symmetries with the rocket and text going up on Liftoff, and then returning on REENTRY.The new book is 50 percent longer than Liftoff because there was so much story to tell. I’m deeply indebted to the many dozens of SpaceXers who spoke to me, in addition to those from NASA, FAA, and elsewhere. I did my best. I hope you like it.
May as well go for a trilogy
I have seen some of the pre-production chapters, and, like Liftoff, I learned a lot of details that I didn't know from reading the book. The story is so big, even those of us in the middle of it don't know it all
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1748235987828765100QuoteMay as well go for a trilogy
I hope you wrote something about the designs for full reuse on Falcon…
Alas, I must say I did not. There were about 10 million different loose ends I could have written about. As it is, the book is already quite long, more than 110,000 words.
Will REENTRY have a section will lots of photos like LIFTOFF did?
Yes, if I can get off my butt and get the requisite permission forms signed off on. I know y'all want to see early Falcon 9's accidentally being crashed into buildings during transport.
@mastenspace Xombie in-air relight.
This moment is in Reentry.
#HappyBirthday to ASE Life Member Susan Helms, who flew to space five times between 1993 and 2001 (STS-54, STS-64, STS-78, STS-101, and STS-102), including as part of trips and expeditions to the @Space_Station (Expedition 2)!
General Helms also made the call to lease SLC-40 to SpaceX nearly two decades ago. She did this despite furious lobbying against it. I detail this in REENTRY.
Quote from: Blackstar on 04/29/2023 12:35 pmI'm sure he'll be totally objective.In my experience, he is. There’s a weird online Twitter cult of Berger haters who’ve been repeating just a whole ton of libelous attacks on him (I think because he has made some predictions about SLS which turned out to be right?), and I think it has succeeded in making even normal people like yourself think there’s something bad there, but there just isn’t. My respect always goes down for people whenever they make unfounded side remarks about how somehow Berger is dishonest. Do better, Blackstar, I know you’re one of the good ones.
I'm sure he'll be totally objective.
12 years ago the @SpaceX Dragon D1 became the first commercial cargo vehicle to visit @Space_Station, where my crewmates and I captured it with the Canada robotic arm in May 2012; Expedition 30.
I have a full chapter in Reentry devoted to this mission. It's a hell of a tale, culminating in Pettit grabbing this Dragon by its tail.
