around 4:45 SpaceX is going to launch a cargo ship to the international space station... this is an awesome thing for a private company to do in and of itself, but they are going a step further...
50
they are going to attempt to separate the first stage of the rocket (which is typically discarded) and LAND IT ON A BARGE... in the ocean. The idea is that if they can recover the first stage, they can slash the cost of putting things in orbit. This is a game changer. Chances they succeed on this attempt? 50/50 (according to elon musk, who has admitted this statistic is just a guess)... either way this attempt will secure tons of data to eventually allow them to land their first stage at a launch pad near the launch point.

1/9/2015 8:32:34 PM

I would, but I don't think they'll have a live feed from the barge, so what's the point?

1/9/2015 8:55:33 PM

you can keep up with things from the forums at NSF...
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36518.msg0#new

1/9/2015 9:59:21 PM

how did it go? too lazy to click link for some reason

1/10/2015 4:57:30 AM

launch looks nominal so far.

Dragon is in space.

no word on first stage landing yet.

1/10/2015 5:00:40 AM

looks like the first stage made it to the barge, but landed hard and didn't survive...

from Elon Musk:
"Close but no cigar"

sounds like they got tons of data though.

1/10/2015 5:11:53 AM

Congratulations, you crashed a rocket on a barge.

1/10/2015 2:41:40 PM

^not quite that extreme

^^I am excited as hell to see their next attempt. Pretty damn impressive what they pulled off today. If landing on an aircraft carrier is as difficult as pilots say it is, then this must have been insane.

1/10/2015 2:52:22 PM

I do this shit on Kerbal all the time.

1/10/2015 8:30:11 PM

musk mentioned not having enough hydraulic fluid in this test so it lost control as it neared landing. the next version has 50% more fluid and should theoretically avoid that issue

1/10/2015 9:56:08 PM

Interesting. Thanks Smath

1/10/2015 10:30:41 PM

https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK

video of attempted landing

1/16/2015 9:20:22 PM

COOL!

1/16/2015 10:29:40 PM

Trying again at 6:10. Tune in!

2/8/2015 5:53:17 PM

should try again this evening.

2/9/2015 9:23:12 AM

Thanks for bumping this! Didnt even hear they were doing another attempt

Scrubbed until tomorrow (Tuesday) due to weather

2/9/2015 5:30:53 PM

TODAY

(hopefully)

2/10/2015 9:01:06 AM

6:05-ish if i remember what I read correctly...

2/10/2015 10:26:59 AM

delayed until 6:03 tomorrow. high winds the cause.

2/10/2015 7:37:21 PM

I never let winds and ish stop me in Kerbal. I DO WHAT I WANT

2/10/2015 11:43:54 PM

3 minutes.
not attempting barge landing from what i heard due to rough seas.

2/11/2015 6:00:47 PM

link to feed?

2/11/2015 6:02:56 PM

space.com

2/11/2015 6:03:37 PM

haha, didn't think that was a serious reply at first

2/11/2015 6:08:43 PM

Next launch opportunity is tomorrow 4/14 at 4:10pm EDT.

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/spacex-falcon-rocket-vs-robot-boat-round-two/

4/13/2015 11:43:28 PM

will be watching.

4/14/2015 9:13:09 AM

http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

4/14/2015 3:53:33 PM

4 minutes

4/14/2015 4:06:35 PM

2 min

4/14/2015 4:08:44 PM

2015, and we are shooting off tiny unmanned rockets. And celebrating it.

4/14/2015 4:12:28 PM

Whats this kilometer they speak of? MILES BITCH

4/14/2015 4:14:32 PM

The excitement isn't from "shooting off tiny unmanned rockets" it is from A) Using a non-government entity to resupply the space station (currently only ever done by the USA and Russian governments) and B) Landing a stage on a barge on the ocean, which is something that has never been done.

4/14/2015 4:22:31 PM

Dragon is in orbit! Haven't heard yet from the landing attempt but from the reactions it looked very close and then hands when up on heads.

4/14/2015 4:29:12 PM

someone posted a picture of the barge on a forum i'm on, and there was no landed first stage.

If it were easy it woudn't be a big deal i suppose.

4/14/2015 4:31:08 PM

Quote :

"Elon Musk @elonmusk · 55s 55 seconds ago Ascent successful. Dragon enroute to Space Station. Rocket landed on droneship, but too hard for survival."

4/14/2015 4:31:33 PM

another tweet...

Quote :

"SpaceX Engineer ?@SpaceXEngineer 2m2 minutes ago We falcon punched the barge... @SpaceX CRS-6"

4/14/2015 4:33:49 PM

Quote :

"https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK video of attempted landing "

looks like Smath playing Kerbal

4/14/2015 4:39:38 PM

pretty much.

4/14/2015 4:48:19 PM

So they crashed another rocket onto a barge? Congratulations?

4/14/2015 4:48:34 PM

yay!!! 2015 and we can hit a boat with a rocket.

July 20, 1969 we put a man on the moon, April 14, 2015 we crash landed a rocket on a barge.......we have come so far...eerrr nevermind.

[Edited on April 14, 2015 at 4:51 PM. Reason : .]

4/14/2015 4:49:38 PM

Quote :

"Using the now-retired space shuttles for this kind of thing cost $1.5 billion per launch; Musk has said he believes reusable rockets could bring that down by a factor of 100."

4/14/2015 4:54:05 PM

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/588082574183903232/photo/1

4/14/2015 4:56:43 PM

holy shit so close. can't wait to see video.

4/14/2015 4:58:11 PM

Quote :

"All we have right now is low frame rate video (basically pictures). Normal video will be posted when ship returns to port in a few days."

4/14/2015 5:02:00 PM

SpaceX right now

4/14/2015 5:05:32 PM

OMG

https://vine.co/v/euEpIVegiIx

4/14/2015 9:30:52 PM

lol @ comments about making the barge move to balance the rocket

isn't the thing the size of a football field?

4/14/2015 9:51:11 PM

Man that thing was coming in pretty hot the fact it almost landed is impressive

4/15/2015 8:46:04 AM

It actually did land, it just had too much lateral momentum to stay upright.

4/15/2015 8:49:08 AM

I wonder if they'll need it to land successfully on the barge prior to getting permission to land on the ground.

4/15/2015 9:33:07 AM