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posted by LaminatorX on Saturday April 19 2014, @08:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle-IN-SPAAAACE! dept.

The private company Space Exploration Technologies Ltd (SpaceX) launched their third International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission, named CRS-3, on friday 18th of April at 19.35 UTC from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. The mission carries supplies as well as experiments to the ISS, and is en route to dock with the station on April 20th.

An interesting aspect of the launch, is that it is the first SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch with landing legs on its first stage. The purpose is for the spent first stage to use propulsive landing, and be brought down to earth's surface intact. This being one of the first test runs, the landing happened in the atlantic ocean for safety reasons, Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, tweeted that the landing "looks good" and that "Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water." This is all part of SpaceX's reusability plan, which aims to make all the stages of the rocket fully reusable, possibly slashing cost of rocket launches by orders of magnitude.

UPDATE: NASA reports:

Dragon Berthing Process Under Way (April 20, 2014 - 9:30 AM EDT)

Following its capture this morning at 7:14 a.m. EDT, the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship is being maneuvered by ground controllers operating the International Space Station's robotic arm for installation onto the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module.

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by DrMag on Saturday April 19 2014, @08:58PM

    by DrMag (1860) on Saturday April 19 2014, @08:58PM (#33438)

    Let's get some people on board now, eh?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 19 2014, @09:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 19 2014, @09:04PM (#33439)

      No thanks, my PayPal account might be closed at _just_ the wrong time.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by moshfest on Saturday April 19 2014, @10:05PM

      by moshfest (2974) on Saturday April 19 2014, @10:05PM (#33456)

      With "landing" on the water surface they've completed the most important milestone in a fully rocket stage. Given how cheap their flights are without any reusability, this opens an incredible opportunity for decreasing spaceflight costs by a serious number---exactly what might be necessary to fire up space exploration again. I am incredibly excited about it.

      Also a bit overwhelmed. A year or two ago SpaceX---despite their enourmous success in getting to orbit---didn't do more than follow closely in NASA's footsteps. No noticable innovation. And in very little time this small new company pulls out a feat like this one. What this tells me is that rocket reusability (and cheap space travel) have been possible for some time now, and the shortsightedness of space agencies and the rest of the private contractors have prevented them from taking that opportunity. They were unwilling to innovate (when it seemingly took so little), and break the established bad practices in the field.

      That includes NASA, whose SLS which is incredibly expensive for what it does, and incredibly unimaginative, ESA who choose to play it safe, and aren't that fond of finishing their work on Ariane 6, which is already behind SpaceX. Hopefully, SpaceX will revilatise American space travel, and will also encourage others---ESA, the Russians, the Chinese, even the Iranians or the Indians---to compete.

      • (Score: 2) by Skarjak on Sunday April 20 2014, @02:37AM

        by Skarjak (730) on Sunday April 20 2014, @02:37AM (#33515)

        This just makes you think... Had we continued investing into space exploration as we should have, how far ahead could we be? We might have already gone to Mars. There are likely many innovations that are just within reach.

      • (Score: 1) by deimtee on Sunday April 20 2014, @11:37AM

        by deimtee (3272) on Sunday April 20 2014, @11:37AM (#33581) Journal

        Saw this video of their "grasshopper" rocket almost a year ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxKWh7kLDzw [youtube.com]
        A rocket scientist I know was seriously impressed by the control it demonstrates.

        --
        If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
  • (Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Saturday April 19 2014, @09:17PM

    by AnonTechie (2275) on Saturday April 19 2014, @09:17PM (#33446) Journal

    Good Luck to them and I hope they continue to innovate. Is that Mars trip happening anytime soon ??

    --
    Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
  • (Score: 3, Funny) by dmbasso on Saturday April 19 2014, @11:04PM

    by dmbasso (3237) on Saturday April 19 2014, @11:04PM (#33472)

    Private company [...] launched [...] on friday 18th of April [...] and is en route to dock with the station on April 16th.

    This is so cool! Time travel! I only hope it is backwards, because waiting at least almost a year would be too much.

    --
    `echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Sunday April 20 2014, @12:59AM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday April 20 2014, @12:59AM (#33497) Journal

      Wow, SpaceX is either much better, or much worse, than I thought they were! I wonder when we will find out which it is? Wait, what is today?

    • (Score: 2) by martyb on Sunday April 20 2014, @02:53PM

      by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Sunday April 20 2014, @02:53PM (#33604) Journal

      dmbasso wrote:

      Private company [...] launched [...] on friday 18th of April [...] and is en route to dock with the station on April 16th.

      This is so cool! Time travel! I only hope it is backwards, because waiting at least almost a year would be too much.

      Oops! I updated the story text and added an update that the module is currently being brought into position using the station's robotic arm. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!

      --
      Wit is intellect, dancing.