Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Falcon Heavy Launch

I watched it live yesterday.  Didn't post about it, though.  The landing of the two boosters was as impressive as the launch itself.  I was struck at how quickly the rocket moved up and away.  It seemed to be moving faster than what I was accustomed to seeing on rocket launches.  Perhaps it is just my imagination.

They lost the center core.  It crashed into the ocean a short distance from the drone ship.  The drone ship was damaged slightly, or so I read.  The payload was successfully put on a interplanetary course, but the course was somewhat overshot, or so I read.  It will nearly make it to the asteroid belt.

Other than these two less than perfect outcomes, it was a good launch.  The launch itself appeared flawless.

Elon Musk wants to move on from this rocket.  It seems odd that he would say things that were less than confident about this Falcon Heavy design, yet the proposed BFR rocket is based upon the same ideas.  Why not prove the concept with as many launches as necessary so as to gain confidence in it?

Maybe he is pushing the BFR too hard and too fast.


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