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Title: New photos of SpaceX booster show sooty, but undamaged rocket
Source:
Ars Technica
URL Source: http://arstechnica.com/science/2016 ... ow-sooty-but-undamaged-rocket/
Published: Jan 4, 2016
Author: Eric Berger
Post Date: 2016-01-04 12:56:59 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 743
Comments: 2
The Falcon 9 rocket not only survived, it now appears increasingly clear it did so in good shape. On Sunday SpaceX released a new photo of the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket that it successfully landed two weeks ago. Aside from soot, produced by the rocket's engines, the Falcon 9 booster appears to be structurally intact. That was the assessment of SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who tweeted, "No damage found, ready to fire again," on New Year's Eve. Musk has said the flown booster will undergo "static fire" testing on the launch pad, in which the rocket is restrained while its engines are fired. After testing the rocket is expected to become a valued artifact, although Musk has not said where its final resting place will be. During a conference call with reporters after the launch and successful recovery of the Falcon 9 rocket on December 21, Musk said he expects the company will attempt to refly a Falcon 9 rocket sometime in 2016. SpaceX has more than a dozen launches on its manifest for the coming year, including the delivery of the Jason 3 satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on January 17. That satellite will make detailed measurements of the Earth's sea level. SpaceX also has the launch of communications satellites for SES and, perhaps in February, its next cargo supply mission for the International Space Station. As the NOAA satellite will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, it is not clear when the next launch and recovery attempt will take place at SpaceX's Landing Zone 1 in Florida. 
Poster Comment:
Inside the wheeled ladder, you can see a smaller blue ladder. It appears to be a 6' Werner fiberglass ladder available from Ace Hardware. Just to give you an idea of the true scale of this large launcher which is comparable to the old Saturn rocket's first stages.
IOW, this is a big-ass rocket, well beyond that puny Bezos tourist rocket that can barely make it to the edge of space. The launcher shown here is around 150' long.
Other nice photos at the website.
After a few successful re-used launchers later this year, this first launcher will likely end up at the Smithsonian.(1 image)
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It's impressive that something that long can land vertically.
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul#2. To: hondo68 (#1)
They had some lovely photos. Musk has a right to be proud. It is a great launch platform, the only one designed in this century. The Russians are flying 50yo designs, we're not doing much better so far except for SpaceX.
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