Spot the Space Station

[day_trippr]

fwiw Terran 1 is 36 minutes from....something.
Maybe lift-off, maybe final hold, can't really tell yet...

[edit] Holding at T-20 minutes for an Upper Level Winds Violation. Oh well...

Cheers!

 

[Konadog]

Maybe next time.

 

[day_trippr]

Rocket Labs has rescheduled the Mar 14th launch to this early evening between 6 and 8pm EDT...

https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/next-mission/
Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

Electron launch went off without apparent issues. Did not see it here this time, too much light at 6:38 EDT...



Cheers!

 

[Konadog]

Well, 2 SpaceX launches today, one on each coast. I'm still trying to catch a daytime launch but just not clear enough on the West side today.

 

[day_trippr]

Starship might launch soon!

https://observer.com/2023/04/spacex-starship-orbital-launch-date/

 

[Yesfan]

Starship might launch soon!

https://observer.com/2023/04/spacex-starship-orbital-launch-date/

April 11th launch would be awesome as that is my mom's birthday!

 

[passedpawn]

Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy. Richard Branson doesn't have Musk magic. Virgin Orbit launches satellites to orbit, a lucrative biz if you can do it. Unlike the heavy lifters that SpaceX uses, Orbit launched their vehicles from an airplane, not ground. So, there is some fuel savings there, not sure how much.

Regardless the savings, failures will ultimately doom a company, and the recent failure in January (US and UK satellites ended up in ocean) meant the end for this player.

 

[passedpawn]

Interesting animation illustrating fuel usage of various spacecraft. Fuel is the alpha and omega of these things.

 

[Konadog]

My neighbors daughter worked for them and was recently laid off. She said that after January's launch failure, everything dried up. One big difference is payload size, these are very small rockets that don't carry much. Larger rockets can carry multiple payloads that also share the cost, not one like Virgin Orbit's.

 

[day_trippr]

Ride sharing is another market where SpaceX has totally beaten the competition into dust...

 

[day_trippr]

Starship stacked! I believe a launch date has been set for 04/17/2023 12:00 UTC (8 AM EDT)
Gonna make Earth shake



Brief article here: SpaceX | Starship | Orbital Flight Test

Cool animation here:


Most of that won't be happening of course

Cheers!

 

[Konadog]

That's going to be one exciting watch party! Will it work as planned, or will Elon have another addition to his exploding rocket compilation

 

[day_trippr]

I thought I had heard on the news that Musk said Starship would launch later in April but maybe that was just late reporting of the April 17 date.

Anyway, yeah, when this sucker flies it is gonna be epic...

Cheers!

 

[Pkrd]

My neighbors daughter worked for them and was recently laid off. She said that after January's launch failure, everything dried up. One big difference is payload size, these are very small rockets that don't carry much. Larger rockets can carry multiple payloads that also share the cost, not one like Virgin Orbit's.

Rocket lab reported last year that they would launch more often if they had more customers.

 

[day_trippr]

Meanwhile SpaceX has another "Transporter" launch coming up on April 14 at 2:30 AM carrying 51 payloads...

Cheers!

 

[Yesfan]

17th at 8AM? Damn, I hate my work schedule.........


Guess I'll have to watch a replay on the YooToobs........

 

[day_trippr]

Looks like SpaceX confirmed the Monday morning Starship launch. Also confirmed that both the booster and vehicle will end up landing in water (literally - they're gonna drown!) instead of landing pads or ships.

Meanwhile it looks like the upcoming Falcon Heavy launch window will open for an ~hour at 7:29 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Presumably they will attempt to land at least two of the three cores...

Cheers!

 

[Pkrd]

Looks like SpaceX confirmed the Monday morning Starship launch. Also confirmed that both the booster and vehicle will end up landing in water (literally - they're gonna drown!) instead of landing pads or ships.

Meanwhile it looks like the upcoming Falcon Heavy launch window will open for an ~hour at 7:29 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Presumably they will attempt to land at least two of the three cores...

Cheers!

I’m excited about starship!

Next falcon heavy is fully expendable so no landings.
https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/...-launch-spacex-falcon-heavy-viasat-3-americas

 

[day_trippr]

Ah, "expendable". Too bad, at this point most of the coolness is seeing the side boosters landing together.
Maybe next time...

Cheers!

 

[passedpawn]

Should be exciting. 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines.

Important to note that this is the rocket that will carry humans to the moon in 2025. Americans have not stepped on the moon since Gene Cernan did so in 1972. I was 7 yrs old at the time - no I do not remember the event.

Also important to note that, at this date, it's the vehicle that will take men to mars. Lot's to say about that, but not germane.

 

[day_trippr]

PSA: Set your alarms for 7:50-ish Monday morning and hope SpaceX gets Starship off the pad...

Cheers!

 

[passedpawn]

excited! (I get up with the sun, no alarm needed!)

By the way, I don't see where I signed up for notifications, but this site below will tell you when everything is happening. Pretty nice. The notifications just pop up, I don't have to go looking. There must be a "sign up for notifications" link somewhere.

https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/

 

[Pkrd]

Midnight kickoff here. I've stocked up on snacks.

 

[day_trippr]

Pushed to 9:20 AM EDT...

 

[day_trippr]

Aaaand scrubbed...

 

[Konadog]

Well that was a big wet rehearsal! Minimum turnaround is 48 hrs so maybe later this week.

 

[day_trippr]

"SpaceX is targeting as soon as Thursday, April 20 for the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas. The 62 minute launch window opens at 8:28 a.m. CT and closes at 9:30 a.m. CT."

Hopefully this try will get off the pad...

Cheers!

 

[Pkrd]

Bump. Not long now.

Here’s a quad livestream for you all to watch while I’m unfortunately sound asleep. 1:30am is a bit late even for me.
https://multistream.co/p/EkPzIhIQYS...arship_and_Super_Heavy_Integrated_Test_Flight

 

[passedpawn]

Bump. Not long now.

Here’s a quad livestream for you all to watch while I’m unfortunately sound asleep. 1:30am is a bit late even for me.
https://multistream.co/p/EkPzIhIQYS...arship_and_Super_Heavy_Integrated_Test_Flight

That's a great stream there. I was looking at youtube.