Okay, maybe a little off topic for BCP, but… this video is just AMAZING !
This is the Live Feed video from yesterday's (December 21, 2015) Space X launch of the Falcon 9 rocket. And yeah, it returned and landed. Stunning ....
Space X (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) is the Hawthorne, California company headed by Elon Musk, the TESLA car guy. Falcon 9 launched, and deployed it’s second stage to deliver 11 satellites into low earth orbit. What is AMAZING is that the normally expendable (and expensive) first stage booster assembly then used rocket power for a controlled re-entry and a vertical upright landing back very near the launch pad. It is incredibly weird and awesome. The video has labels all along the bottom progress bar to help mark important events.
Here is the actual URL in case the link does not work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5bTbVbe4e4#t=2568
Lift off is at 22:50
A guy at 33:21 screams "Holy shit, we did it!"
Elon Musk is extremely interested in Mars, and the SpaceX spokesman at the end shows amazing creativity. He ends the video with a hilarious Star Wars pun about the new film The Force Awakens. I won’t ruin it by revealing the end. Definitely worth watching. Oh yeah, it helps to know that "Jakku" is the desert planet in the latest Star Wars saga.
The Conspiracy Crowd will say that the landing back at the launch pad in a vertical upright orientation is simply the video run in reverse, but you would have to disregard the direction of the exhaust smoke. Maybe the Ballistic Recovery System BRS rockets in small aircraft can be modified to provide JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off). Hey in 1941 they did it on an Ercoupe, so why not a Cub. I am sure the FAA and the Department of Homeland Security would be simply delighted at the thought.
...just kidding...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JATO
Aha… I knew there had to be SOME relevance SOMEWHERE to BCP for posting this video. Happy Holidays !
