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On Fourth Launch Attempt, SpaceX Falcon 1 Reaches Orbit
xp65 writes with the just-announced success of Elon Musk's SpaceX's long efforts to reach orbit with a privately-developed launching craft: "T+0:08:21 Falcon 1 reached orbital velocity, 5200 m/s Nominal Second stage cut off (SECO) — Falcon 1 has made history as the first privately developed liquid fueled launch vehicle to achieve earth orbit!"
dbullard adds "This was a completely new vehicle — it's not using any previously developed hardware. All developed from scratch. No government supplied hardware, Russian engines, or old ICBM motors. My hat's off to the employees of Space X — all 550 of them. (Note — no 'cast of thousands,' just 550).
They've got video of the entire launch."
May SpaceX be there to participate as man finally reaches for the stars.
Let's bring some women too.
There's a hidden treasure in Python 3.x: __prepare__()
Wow, you like cursing and insulting other people huh? Let's brush that silly ad hominem aside and look at the facts.
Many people have ALREADY put their money into F1 launches, check their launch manifest. And that was when, by your standards, they had a 100% failure rate. I expect SpaceX to receive more bids now.
The F9 and F9 Heavy uses the Merlin engine, but in multiple configurations for added thrust. Now, you would want to prove your concept in the smallest scale possible to minimize losses, so they did, the F1 flying around our rock as we speak.
Now if they say the F9 Heavy will take about 30 tons to LEO, don't mind if I believe they can deliver.
Send your spendthrift head of state this
...but I'd feel perfectly safe with a 75% failure rate :)
$7.9 million? MASA will launch any payload and successfully land it on the moon for two hundred dollars.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
He then Falcon-Punched the reporter into orbit for dramatic effect.
Roughly half my comments are never submitted. You may be reading the better half...
I imagine he'd do pretty badly, since he can't even calculate the failure rate correctly.
I think he is trying to make amends for Paypal.
Cant really blame him....
Not since the final flight of the Saturn 1B rocket in 1975, has a rocket had the ability to lose any engine or motor and still successfully complete its mission,â said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX.
I hear what he's saying and I'm sure it can survive an engine quietly losing thrust, but I wouldn't quite bet on it with any of the more spectacular failure modes.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I would be fascinated to hear how you measured the radius of the Earth to the nearest proton diameter.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.