SoylentNews

Spacex Loses Falcon 9 Rocket on Landing in First of Two Starlink Missions

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 16 2021, @09:54PM   

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

A Falcon 9 loaded with Starlink satellites prepares for launch.

After successfully sending another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites into orbit Monday night from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, SpaceX appears to have missed the landing of its Falcon 9 first stage booster for the first time in a year.

On the livestream of the mission, a flash is seen just to the side of the droneship at the moment the booster should be landing, although no rocket ever enters the frame.

SpaceX has not yet confirmed the fate of the Falcon 9, but it seems very likely it crashed in the ocean. In the process, it appears to have spared three seagulls that were hanging out on the landing pad and may never understand how close they came to being barbecued.

The Falcon 9 itself had a pretty good life, completing six launches successfully, but only five landings in its career.

---

Original Submission

• heaviest payloads heaviest payloads (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 16 2021, @11:02PM (1 child)

  by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Tuesday February 16 2021, @11:02PM (#1113858) Journal

  The standard 60 Starlink payload is heavier than anything else SpaceX has ever launched, at 15,600 kg.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches#2019 [wikipedia.org]

  --
  [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

  • Re:heaviest payloads (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday February 17 2021, @01:22AM

    by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Wednesday February 17 2021, @01:22AM (#1113893) Journal

    Did An Engine Failure Kill A SpaceX Booster on Its 6th Flight? [youtube.com]

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

    Parent

• Any landing you can float away from..... (Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Wednesday February 17 2021, @01:59AM

  by MIRV888 (11376) on Wednesday February 17 2021, @01:59AM (#1113897)

  I bet boosters are lousy swimmers too.

• What did they learn? (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 17 2021, @02:17PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 17 2021, @02:17PM (#1114027)

  This is just a reminder that there is a residual risk in launch.
  If you roll the dice enough times, something will fail.

  One way to deal with this is test to fail and learn to improve the odds.

  Beats the other strategy (fail to test) hands down.

  It will be interesting to see what they learn once they look at this in detail.

• Humanity's loss (Score: 3, Funny) by EvilSS on Wednesday February 17 2021, @03:52PM

  by EvilSS (1456) on Wednesday February 17 2021, @03:52PM (#1114042)

  In the process, it appears to have spared three seagulls that were hanging out on the landing pad and may never understand how close they came to being barbecued.

  So it really was a loss for all of humanity...

• How Times Change (Score: 2) by Socrastotle on Wednesday February 17 2021, @07:01PM

  by Socrastotle (13446) on Wednesday February 17 2021, @07:01PM (#1114111) Journal

  It's really quite amazing how quickly:

  1) Watching landings started to become somewhat boring.

  2) A landing failing became news.

  Such an amazing reflection of the progress space and SpaceX has made over the past ~decade.

• Working Theory (satire) (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday February 17 2021, @11:48PM

  by ElizabethGreene (6748) on Wednesday February 17 2021, @11:48PM (#1114212)

  The working theory is that the booster observed the current temperature in Texas and decided not to land.