Is the music they're playing during the countdown something identifiable? It's the kind of thing that's perfect for playing over and over for hours without getting repetitive.
haha it's funny you mention that. I was thinking to myself 1 min ago that technically it's not a failed launch but an aborted one. thanks for pointing it out!
Not just technically. That was a _very_ successful test of their launch abort system and engine diagnostics. And of their ground crew for diagnosing and fixing it so quickly :)
The amazing thing for me was when one of their earlier launches aborted and they refueled and launched the same day. That's just obscene turnaround time compared to anything else that can reach LEO.
Apparently they couldn't do it this time due to the narrowness of the launch window, not because they couldn't be ready again in a few hours.
It works on iPad - they're using livestream.com which is the only service I've seen with a decent non-flash live-streaming service - I'm not sure why they don't have the option to serve that to other devices.
The tank holds liquid oxygen, which is the oxidizer for the engine. Since oxygen is a gas at the ambient Florida temperature, it boils off all the time. A it boils off, the gas is released into the atmosphere, and the tank is replenished.
Strictly speaking the white `gas` is water from the delightfully humid Florida climate condensing in the presence of the extremely cold Oxygen boil off.
So amazing to see this and experience the launch with them. You can tell how much energy, passion and personal sacrifice these people and their leader, Elon, put into this. It's absolutely beautiful to see. Real innovation, a true testament of our capabilities as human beings. Not a company with 800+ million users that can't even figure out the ad business. :) Congrats guys!
It is kind of sad that Facebook has a $100B valuation considering what SpaceX is doing, and plans on doing. One is just one particular web-profiles-and-chat service, not that hard or original. The other is frickin rocket science.
SpaceX is a revolution, not a business (yet).
In our world, Facebook's data is more valuable than a revolution.
But hey, we might not be dealing with just our world any more :)
Never will I post, on HN or anywhere else, anything that I cannot support with evidence. Thank you for correcting me.
My point isn't entirely moot though. I still think knowing things about almost a billion people, namely what & when they do things, has more proof of value today than these contracts. The cool factor doesn't necessarily mean money.
(What 'money' itself means and how it represents value is a totally different discussion)
Moreover, this Falcon 9 launch was part of a commercial contract with NASA to provide supplies to ISS over the next few years (12 additional flights in addition to this demo). When someone signs a contract with you and gives you money in exchange for goods and services we call that business.
Unfortunately the majority sees it in other light - "ah yeah, another space ship, whatever, let me check what stupid photos my mates uploaded recently...". It's basically the society that's rotting, and FB just takes the profit.
It's getting exciting. Imagine if the moon landings would be taking place with today's mass communication capabilities. Hope I can live through the next such event (heck even an asteroid would do).
This is a long read but worth the historical perspective, it's the Apollo 11 landing, annotated transcripts of the voice communications between mission control and the astronauts:
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 254 ms ] threadApparently they couldn't do it this time due to the narrowness of the launch window, not because they couldn't be ready again in a few hours.
Unless you count Quicktime or WMP.
"And the next day is... Hatch opening day!! YAY!!!" <Does the Happy Dance>
"Everything is, uh, go, so we're ready to rock'n'roll!!!"
I get the sense that the enthusiasm is completely unscripted.
My point isn't entirely moot though. I still think knowing things about almost a billion people, namely what & when they do things, has more proof of value today than these contracts. The cool factor doesn't necessarily mean money.
(What 'money' itself means and how it represents value is a totally different discussion)
Moreover, this Falcon 9 launch was part of a commercial contract with NASA to provide supplies to ISS over the next few years (12 additional flights in addition to this demo). When someone signs a contract with you and gives you money in exchange for goods and services we call that business.
Really reminds me the Idiocracy movie...
Buzz Aldrin is now the major of The Moon.
Foursquare: Elon Musk has become the Mayor of Mars.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.landing.html
http://spacelog.org/
And away she goes
Way to go, Elon! If you can keep this up, history isn't going to forget you.