SpaceX completes first ISS mission

[chuckskull]

Surprised there's no thread about this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18273811
http://vimeo.com/42613988
http://spacexlaunch.zenfolio.com/p208064181

I think it's brilliant, commercial space flight is what will really open up the solar system and it's vast resources.

[kalniel]

Yeah - looks like it all went to plan which is (to my feeble mind) quite an achievement.

[Bunjiweb]

Well although you couldn't call it "cheap" space flight, they have certainly shown their system to be considerably cheaper and quicker to reach consistent reliability than anything NASA has ever produced.

It will be interested to see what this Asteroid Mining mission headed up by some of the Google chiefs and other rich bods does...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Well although you couldn't call it "cheap" space flight, they have certainly shown their system to be considerably cheaper and quicker to reach consistent reliability than anything NASA has ever produced.

It will be interested to see what this Asteroid Mining mission headed up by some of the Google chiefs and other rich bods does...

TBH,Nasa did have to take much more risks to get there. Nowadays companies can rely on decades of tried and tested technology and more advanced testing abilities to complete programmes quicker.

It does make me think despite this ,that if private companies which need profit margins can do relatively well with industry level pay,why government lead initiatives cannot do the same.

[directhex]

Yeah - looks like it all went to plan which is (to my feeble mind) quite an achievement.

Lasting 60 seconds before exploding would have been quite an achievement, compared to Europe's finest ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUrqdUyEpI )

Making the entire trip, PERFECTLY, FIRST TIME is just unheard of in the world of space flight. Totally unprecedented. Mind-blowing.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Lasting 60 seconds before exploding would have been quite an achievement, compared to Europe's finest ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUrqdUyEpI )

Making the entire trip, PERFECTLY, FIRST TIME is just unheard of in the world of space flight. Totally unprecedented. Mind-blowing.

Falcon 1 had 3 out of 5 launch failures and Falcon 9 already had two test flights. Falcon 1 was the test bed for the Merlin engines used in the Falcon 9.

OTH,Ariane 5 was testing much more newer technology than on the Ariane 4,which used entirely different main engines. Also remember,that the stages on the Ariane 5 use more powerful LH2/LOX engines,whereas the Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 heavy don't use cryogenic engines and instead relies on clustering of less powerful engines,which probably have lower technical risk. However,as seen by the N1,clustering does have its limits even with perfect engines.

Also remember,that Ariane 5 launched nearly 20 years ago,so technology has moved on too.

This is still a great achievement for a private company though especially the Dragon capsule. However,it is the Falcon 9 Heavy will be the major achievement together with the man-rated equivalent of the Dragon IMHO. SpaceX say the Falcon 9 Heavy will have a very high payload fraction and is relatively low cost.

[directhex]

OTH,Ariane 5 was testing much more newer technology than on the Ariane 4,which used entirely different main engines. Also remember,that the stages on the Ariane 5 use more powerful LH2/LOX engines,whereas the Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 heavy don't use cryogenic engines and instead relies on clustering of less powerful engines,which probably have lower technical risk. However,as seen by the N1,clustering does have its limits even with perfect engines.

The rockets were fine. The problem was the computer didn't know 32768 is bigger than 32767

[dave87]

French electronics, whoda thunk it?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The rockets were fine. The problem was the computer didn't know 32768 is bigger than 32767

It was because they reused code from the Ariane 4 control systems to save time which was more of a blunder than a lack of capability. However,it still does not change the fact that the Ariane 5 was testing more new technology for Arianespace at the time than SpaceX is doing with Falcon 9. Falcon 1 was validating many of the systems used in Falcon 9 including the main engines,whereas Ariane 5 was testing loads of new things for Arianespace in its first test flight for the first time,hence,was a greater technical risk and it was nearly 20 years ago too. Take into account that was nearly 20 years ago, and there have been large advances in computer technology which probably would lead to better simulations too, and the fact the 60% of Falcon 1 launches failed, I don't think having a dig at Arianespace really makes any sense. Falcon 9 had already had two test flights too beforehand.

The ATV also was a success on its first launch.

Out of 178 Ariane 4 and 5 launches there have been only 7 failures in 24 years including test flights. Ariane 1,2 and 3 had a total of 26 test flights with only 3 failures.

Out of 8 SpaceX launches there have been 3 failures,with Falcon 1 taking 4 attempts to reach orbit.

It is still impressive for a private company which is not a defence contractor in the US to do this. However,only once they get Falcon 9 Heavy working and eventually launch people into space,I will be truly impressed.

If anything the fact that Arianespace,became the first successful commercial space launch operation 32 years ago,is rather impressive IMHO. It is shame despite that our large involvement with Europa we were not more involved in it.

[kalniel]

It wasn't a dig as far as I can tell, just showing how tricky it is to get it right first time. Remember SpaceX had problems as well but they caught them in time (just) so it wasn't a perfect launch/operation, but it was closer too one than one would expect for a first effort.