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posted by martyb on Wednesday December 05 2018, @05:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the this-time-for-sure dept.

Monday's SpaceX launch was a success with both the landing and with the booster recovery. Unfortunately, the second launch mentioned in that story had to be delayed:

Moldy Mouse Food Postpones SpaceX Launch:

SpaceX has postponed its cargo launch to the International Space Station until Wednesday after mold was found on food bars for a mouse experiment bound for the orbiting outpost, NASA said.

[...] Some 40 mice are part of the experiment aimed at studying the effects of microgravity in the immune system.

The launch will be the 16th for SpaceX, as part of an ongoing contract with NASA to send supplies to the astronauts living at the space station.

Some 5,600 pounds (2,500 kilograms) of food, experiments and other gear is packed onto the unmanned Dragon cargo ship, which will blast off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Launch is scheduled for 1 hour after this story goes live.

The launch will be live-streamed on YouTube starting approximately 15 minutes before launch time.


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  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:15PM (14 children)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:15PM (#770237) Journal

    Yep. I think that's one major difference between SpaceX and NASA: With NASA if something goes wrong it would still be broadcast - I remember watching Challenger. Maybe they lost the signal at SpaceX, it's sure possible, but I got the distinct impression that as soon as the data went south they cut the Stage 1 feed. Can't have the unexpected being broadcast to the world.

    The other thing, I'm not sure where the commentators were physically but at each major event (including the water splash of Stage 1) a great big cheer went up in the background. Rah rah SpaceX! This is contrasted with every NASA broadcast I've ever seen and remembering a line from Gene Krantz' memoir about the movies in that there is no way that a cheer would be allowed in a NASA control room - they all had to keep concentrating at their jobs, good or bad. Maybe I'm an old curmudgeon who's taken too many lawns but I prefer it that way, personally - YMMV.

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:27PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:27PM (#770243) Journal

    I was watching and find it hard to believe signal was lost. Although the steering was obviously out of control, there was no physical harm to the rocket still falling.

    As for the cheering, I don't think it is from the control room but from the peanut gallery.

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    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday December 06 2018, @12:21AM

      by bob_super (1357) on Thursday December 06 2018, @12:21AM (#770358)

      I'm guessing it's just in case it happens to miss by enough to hurt someone.
      They've had no qualms releasing missed landings and explosions, and they quickly released the video linked in the comments here.

      But when your bomb is tumbling (apparently) out of control, keeping the cool feed can turn into a legal problem. Not because there wouldn't be another 20 camera feeds showing the crash and blast, but because your broadcasting killing people live is typically considered negatively.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:45PM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:45PM (#770247) Journal

    No way would an erratically spinning rocket possibly lose its link to mission control!

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    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 05 2018, @09:41PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 05 2018, @09:41PM (#770291) Journal

      I had seen it spin a full 360 with perfectly clear signal.

      Video below of it landing in ocean.

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    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:04AM

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:04AM (#770505) Homepage
      Because the "squirt matter at high speed out of the bottom through a nozzle" subsystem is the same as the "squirt radio waves out of the top" subsystem?
      Or because the transmitting antenna is highly diectional?
      Or because the extra tens of meters of unexpected movement of the antenna was smooshing all the radio waves on top of each other, thus making it unintelligible?

      Ockham says "human with big red button wants to save face".
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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Sulla on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:52PM (2 children)

    by Sulla (5173) on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:52PM (#770249) Journal

    To my understanding this is not from the control room. Older videos shows a lot of the people from spacex gathered to watch the launch/landing that appear to be different than the control room. Visible in the FH launch.

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    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:59PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:59PM (#770252) Journal

      On Monday's launch and other previous launches, you can hear the commentator(s) talking over what sounds like cafeteria noises. Maybe they just gather employees in the company lunchroom to watch the launch on a big screen while eating some food (increasing their serotonin levels). Then record their enthusiastic applause as background noise for the live stream.

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    • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday December 05 2018, @09:15PM

      by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Wednesday December 05 2018, @09:15PM (#770281) Journal

      That's sort of what I gathered. And it was still good coverage - I liked it. Although I found the cheering pretty distracting it was still well worth watching and I'm glad SpaceX provided the coverage. It was also very interesting in a positive way that the commentators all (?) seemed to be actual line employees and not PR spokespeople - that was pleasantly different.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 05 2018, @11:31PM (5 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 05 2018, @11:31PM (#770329) Journal

    Yep. I think that's one major difference between SpaceX and NASA: With NASA if something goes wrong it would still be broadcast - I remember watching Challenger. Maybe they lost the signal at SpaceX, it's sure possible, but I got the distinct impression that as soon as the data went south they cut the Stage 1 feed. Can't have the unexpected being broadcast to the world.

    I'll note that in the case of Challenger, there were plenty of private feeds from the media too. And NASA has been notoriously poor at anticipating future problems. Maybe they just weren't prepared that day to cut the feed.

    The other thing, I'm not sure where the commentators were physically but at each major event (including the water splash of Stage 1) a great big cheer went up in the background. Rah rah SpaceX! This is contrasted with every NASA broadcast I've ever seen and remembering a line from Gene Krantz' memoir about the movies in that there is no way that a cheer would be allowed in a NASA control room - they all had to keep concentrating at their jobs, good or bad. Maybe I'm an old curmudgeon who's taken too many lawns but I prefer it that way, personally - YMMV.

    Yea, it's a different sort of theater when NASA does it. I look instead at who's successfully launching payloads. Sure isn't NASA these days, nor should it be.

    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:15AM (4 children)

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:15AM (#770509) Homepage
      "I look instead at who's successfully launching payloads. Sure isn't NASA these days, nor should it be."

      Yup, because launching things into space is absolutely nothing to do with either aeronautics[*] or space.

      [*Given the spelling of that word, when will americans admit that "airplane" should in fact be spelt "aeroplane"?]
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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:16PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:16PM (#770788)

        When we start saying "aeroplane", aka never.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:27PM (2 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:27PM (#770793) Journal

        Yup, because launching things into space is absolutely nothing to do with either aeronautics[*] or space.

        It's not their job. Just like flying people and cargo is not their job.

        space. [*Given the spelling of that word, when will americans admit that "airplane" should in fact be spelt "aeroplane"?]

        Never. I'm puzzled you even think that is something that can be brought up in polite company! Given the spelling of "air" why shouldn't we call airplanes, "airplanes"?

        • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday December 07 2018, @03:56AM (1 child)

          by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Friday December 07 2018, @03:56AM (#771021) Homepage
          Because of aeronautics and aerofoils and aerobatics and aerosols and aerobic respiration, which apparently your brain is getting none of.
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          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday December 07 2018, @07:10AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 07 2018, @07:10AM (#771062) Journal
            Then why don't we call air "aero"? "Air" and "aero" are both word forming elements with basically the same use. The former is easier to spell, due to being shorter, not using the "ae" construction, and being in common use as a stand-alone word.