This twitch video appears to be shot from Jetty Park, so there's a hill in the way. The people talking in the video can't see that the booster is out over the water. This is actually what's supposed to happen if the rocket thinks it has a problem: it's pointed offshore until the middle of the final landing burn. If it's unhappy, it stays pointed at the ocean.
Surprised but glad it didn't explode after it fell over. Apparently they plan to use it for internal projects, which I took to mean the in-flight abort test of the Dragon.
I seem to recall that the Block 5 is targeting >10 reuses so even if they flub 1 in 20 landings going forward that's far from the end of the world in ROI terms.
Although it didn't land as they wanted, primary mission is still success. Also the booster is in the sea and still transmitting and will be recovered, but only be used for internal spaceX missions. Unfortunately the live spaceX webcast tuned away from the failing booster. But Elon has given his word it was wrong to tune away.
The issue is apparently with the hydraulics system of the grid fins that had a problem. It was nice to see that the gimballing engines recovered the spin before the sea landing.
It's been just 3 years since the first rocket landing, and we're so used to it to the point that today's mishap will get more coverage than yesterday's achievement. Seeing the renewed speed of the space launch industry puts a huge smile on me.
Actually, that was a good "intact water landing" the rocket stopped the spin before landing, then the rocket positioned itself so it fell horizontal on the water for retrieval instead of vertical
This is the best video of the failed landing attempt I've seen so far. Elon tweeted a grid fin hydraulic pump stalled.
I understand for "marketing" reasons why they stopped the video feed from the first stage but since there wasn't any danger to humans here I was disappointed that they cut away from that and pretty much went into the damage control speak of "the primary mission is going well."
Did they actually have a plan to divert to water if they knew they couldn't safely land?
They aren't clear about whether it was an accident that they ended up in the water or was it by design. They could have planned ahead for this situation, if they detect that they have a problem and can't do a normal safe landing (the out of control spin) and then they could send it for a 'safe' and hopefully controlled water landing like they did. Or it could just be that it was way off course because they couldn't control it and it was just luck.
It’s by design. The default for all F9 rockets is to land off-shore in the water. Once all the checks are complete and the rocket is “happy” and all systems are performing nominally, it redirects to the landing zone (either a barge or on land).
greglindahl|7 years ago
This video from a plane shows how far offshore it was: https://twitter.com/flying_briann/status/1070392207696453632
And Elon's tweet with SpaceX's video from the booster itself: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1070399755526656000
Symmetry|7 years ago
I seem to recall that the Block 5 is targeting >10 reuses so even if they flub 1 in 20 landings going forward that's far from the end of the world in ROI terms.
th0br0|7 years ago
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1070399755526656000
cmsonger|7 years ago
dolfje|7 years ago
The issue is apparently with the hydraulics system of the grid fins that had a problem. It was nice to see that the gimballing engines recovered the spin before the sea landing.
vvillena|7 years ago
segmondy|7 years ago
Pica_soO|7 years ago
[deleted]
ChuckMcM|7 years ago
I understand for "marketing" reasons why they stopped the video feed from the first stage but since there wasn't any danger to humans here I was disappointed that they cut away from that and pretty much went into the damage control speak of "the primary mission is going well."
codeulike|7 years ago
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1070399755526656000
Engines stabilized rocket spin just in time, enabling an intact landing in water! Ships en route to rescue Falcon.
joshlegs|7 years ago
I'm a little disappointed too, but it was probably the right call by them to cut the feed.
craftyguy|7 years ago
Perhaps some mod can fix the typos in the title?
Latteland|7 years ago
They aren't clear about whether it was an accident that they ended up in the water or was it by design. They could have planned ahead for this situation, if they detect that they have a problem and can't do a normal safe landing (the out of control spin) and then they could send it for a 'safe' and hopefully controlled water landing like they did. Or it could just be that it was way off course because they couldn't control it and it was just luck.
darkport|7 years ago