First Elon tweeted that there was a good chance that they would try again today.
Then a parade of cars drove down to the pad as the sheriff's roadblock stayed up. A blue boom-lift was seen reaching up under SN5's skirt (quiet down CC!). I can imagine a mechanic emerging, wiping his hands on his overalls and saying, "It's a bad spin-valve. It isn't going to be cheap." And Elon saying "Go ahead and replace the spin-valve, I can afford it."
Spin-valves are used to introduce high-pressure gas from a COPV to spin up the turbopumps prior to igniting the preburners that turns them into little jet engines.)
Then the boom lift came down and the parade of cars left the pad again. Looks like they are repressurizing the vehicle so they appear to be having another go.
Edit: 6:43 PM CDT fueling underway
Edit 2: 6:50 - Siren sounding!
Edit 3: 7:00 - SN5 JUST FLEW!
Screenshot from the NSF stream. Notice how it's flying crooked. That was expected, since the single engine is slightly off-center and is thrusting through the entire vehicle's center of mass.
Flight looked good. No visible damage. The huge thing is now sitting over at the landing pad, leaning slightly. The Leaning Tower of Boca Chica! Perhaps one day more famous than the one in Pisa, at least to Martians, since it's the beginning of their history.
The SpaceX workers were watching and cheering. Imagine the hours of work that they put into making these things. They must feel good to see it finally succeed. Mary photographed some of them high on a large boom lift to get a better view.
Watch the video clip below (by Mary naturally) in full-screen with the sound up, not only to hear the rocket's roar, but also the reaction of the gathered SpaceX workers. It's very good, Elon retweeted it and is featuring it on his twitter page.
https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...7882431488
Here's Tim Dodd and SPadreIsle's very good video, featuring Tim freaking out. This one shows the landing less obscured by smoke and dust, so that you can see the rather cryptic landing legs.
https://twitter.com/Erdayastronaut/statu...6665084928
Edit: 7:38 - Road is still closed. Vehicle is being safed. Since there are no ground support connections at the landing pad, speculation is that the remaining fuel is being allowed to boil off.
Nomadd in Boca Chica reports that it was louder than Hoppy. His porch was shaking. Imagine what a Super Heavy will sound like with ~30 engines! (The Mother of All Rockets
Then a parade of cars drove down to the pad as the sheriff's roadblock stayed up. A blue boom-lift was seen reaching up under SN5's skirt (quiet down CC!). I can imagine a mechanic emerging, wiping his hands on his overalls and saying, "It's a bad spin-valve. It isn't going to be cheap." And Elon saying "Go ahead and replace the spin-valve, I can afford it."
Spin-valves are used to introduce high-pressure gas from a COPV to spin up the turbopumps prior to igniting the preburners that turns them into little jet engines.)
Then the boom lift came down and the parade of cars left the pad again. Looks like they are repressurizing the vehicle so they appear to be having another go.
Edit: 6:43 PM CDT fueling underway
Edit 2: 6:50 - Siren sounding!
Edit 3: 7:00 - SN5 JUST FLEW!
Screenshot from the NSF stream. Notice how it's flying crooked. That was expected, since the single engine is slightly off-center and is thrusting through the entire vehicle's center of mass.
Flight looked good. No visible damage. The huge thing is now sitting over at the landing pad, leaning slightly. The Leaning Tower of Boca Chica! Perhaps one day more famous than the one in Pisa, at least to Martians, since it's the beginning of their history.
The SpaceX workers were watching and cheering. Imagine the hours of work that they put into making these things. They must feel good to see it finally succeed. Mary photographed some of them high on a large boom lift to get a better view.
Watch the video clip below (by Mary naturally) in full-screen with the sound up, not only to hear the rocket's roar, but also the reaction of the gathered SpaceX workers. It's very good, Elon retweeted it and is featuring it on his twitter page.
https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...7882431488
Here's Tim Dodd and SPadreIsle's very good video, featuring Tim freaking out. This one shows the landing less obscured by smoke and dust, so that you can see the rather cryptic landing legs.
https://twitter.com/Erdayastronaut/statu...6665084928
Edit: 7:38 - Road is still closed. Vehicle is being safed. Since there are no ground support connections at the landing pad, speculation is that the remaining fuel is being allowed to boil off.
Nomadd in Boca Chica reports that it was louder than Hoppy. His porch was shaking. Imagine what a Super Heavy will sound like with ~30 engines! (The Mother of All Rockets