JoeSchmuckatelli

This was a wet dress rehearsal

I get that - but... ...at least in that video I'm not seeing much in the way of "pretending there's a tower". I do see a neat, controlled landing on the water.

I've said this before - but I remain impressed that they are practice landing that close to a prepositioned camera. Indicating that the reentry is pretty much on target. That said - there is not much lateral transition. Basically if you just go off the above video and imagine a tower - they'd pretty much have to scrape by it. Suggests that when they go for the tower catch things could get interesting.

I thought the same. Also - if the thing is supposed to be sekret - why publish a photo that says 'here I was!'

Wow Thanks! So - is there a time frame for 'coming up' when we can look for an update on whether the Bennu-Tea has the six 'missing' amino acids? Great panel discussion, btw! I'm also curious about the similarities to the JAXA samples - was that expected or surprising? Did they get a similar wet environment signal or did Bennu have a different history?

No kidding On my maps it's "The Gulf of Joe"

That Edited Image - cannot catch both Booster and Ship without dismounting Booster... (Sez they guy who thinks the tower isn't tall enough for that!) Interestingly - starting at 1:52 of that video - where Booster is just about to light the landing burn - you can see they're already venting gas from the place we got all concerned about venting burning gas. It of course ignites. Seems to me to be part of the plan - as it's coming from a vent.

I'm expecting that if they're going for a catch - even if they don't do a full orbit - they'd have to effectively be in orbit to make it all the way around, plus account for rotation and then do a burn for descent. So to catch at Boca Chica, the burn has to start somewhere west (and likely north of Texas) and the descent will be over land for a period - it's just I don't have enough KSP time to guestimate what the in-atmosphere descent profile would look like as a line drawn over a map of the United States. Is it fast enough that it's only in the atmosphere over Texas... or might they enter over Oregon?

You can light it on fire and heat up canned food. You shouldn't hit it with a hammer.

So - lets say they do decide to try for a catch of Ship back at Boca Chica... anyone got an idea what the descent plan looks like?

I kind of figured that out as I was typing the question - but you never know. I've only ever seen "installing the FTS system". (Fun fact - we used to juggle, make bunny rabbits of and burn C-4 to freak out younger Marines during training.)

Dumb question - does "Installing the FTS" mean a fully live system? If so, why install the FTS inside a potentially critical piece of infrastructure like that building? I write this as a guy who was fairly comfortable handling and setting up explosives back in the day - but I have questions. Do they leave the mechanical/electronic triggers disconnected until a certain point?

SpaceX (Falcon 9) and BO debris found in Poland and Bahamas. “Satellites and rocket parts of moderate size re-enter almost daily, while small-size tracked space debris objects re-enter even more frequently,” the agency said. The SpaceX rocket part that streaked through the European skies this week was a rare occurrence, however. The debris came from the second stage of a Falcon 9 rocket that had carried out a routine mission. The rocket took off from California on February 1, hauling a batch of satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink network, " ... The piece of Blue Origin debris that washed up in the Bahamas is not a sign of a rocket launch gone awry. Rather, the debris — a large chunk of a rocket’s nose cone that features the signatures of Blue Origin employees — appears to have been discarded as expected from the company’s New Glenn rocket during its maiden flight on January 16. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/21/science/blue-origin-spacex-debris-bahamas-europe/index.html

Sailing north out of Nassau, Bahamas I noticed something different about the water. It was a deep, dark almost black blue. My kid asked me why it was so dark and I quipped that meant the water was probably in excess of 6,000 feet deep. Literally just from stuff I picked up by hanging out with Navy types. Turns out I was right. Just north of Nassau is a part of the ocean called "Tongue of the Ocean" that cuts through the plateau that makes up most of the shallow seas that give the Bahamas such beautiful water. And yes - it was about 6,000 feet deep where we were. Not far from there it can get as deep as 13,000 feet deep! !8o The Bahamas FWIW - Nassau is pretty much in the middle of the map in the link above. Map-of-Tongue-of-the-Ocean-Bahamas-star-indicates-deployment-site-with-the.png (850×634)

Then I saw that ship too! (Second photo above)

Back from my trip. Never got a chance to see the flight. Up at 4am to make a flight to Orlando, then cruising... 1am? Nope. Too old. But here's what I did see: Bob As the ship started to leave the port we watched some cool stuff going on at the other wharves. On one a crane was doing something interesting... Turns out, the large industrial stanchion, covered in soot wasn't a crane stanchion at all - it was a SPACESHIP! And not just any spaceship - but a Falcon 9! Woot! We all thought that was pretty cool! But when we got back - we were treated to TWO Falcon 9s and BO's ship leaving the port. Finally at the car rental lot we got a chance to see both pretty well. Thing is - like I mentioned before - they don't look all that special. Have a look at the first picture - of Bob. The Falcon 9 is there... and I never recognized it. We had to get up close for it to resolve itself into a spaceship. They just look like industrial, workmanlike things. Not overly different from the crane stanchions or other vertical industrial stuff in the area. Still, in this last picture, you are seeing two rockets that were each up in space less than a week before the image was taken. Cool stuff! .

Todos Santos anyone? ... cubic square mile, 1000 feet tall... an arcology, named Todos Santos, to which control of the area and legal jurisdiction was ceded. The higher standard of living enjoyed by Todos Santos residents causes resentment among Angelenos. The arcology dwellers have evolved a different culture, sacrificing privacy – there are cameras (not routinely monitored) even in the private apartments – in exchange for security.

Funny thing is that I took a picture of the Booster at the same time I snapped Bob. Never saw it or recognized it for what it was. Just luck that we drifted right past it and I was having a beer on the deck with my kids Looked back at the picture of Bob... And there it was. Looks like an exhaust pipe or a crane stanchion Again - I'll post pics when I get back to my PC. Phone doesn't play well

OK - probably this one his was the 18th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously Crew-5, CRS-28, Intelsat G-37, TD-7, Immarsat I6-F2, GPS III-6, NG-20, and now 11 Starlink missions https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-12-18 The crazy thing is just how workmanlike the thing looks. Not super clean new high tech space ship, but rather a piece of industrial equipment we regularly use to do work. Commonplace and competent

One SOOTY baby!

Cruise ship is passing a booster right next to Bob. Quick! - which booster? I'd post a picture but I don't have apps to use on my phone

Jacklyn is down here, too.

I saw Bob!

Currently in Coco Beach - where do I find the maps of where to expect to be able to see any launches? I know there is a map with concentric rings with times / visibility {presuming a launch}

Any launches in the next couple of days? (Bahamas cruise)