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4 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

4:30 in the morning? Ugh... I'd love to, but I don't think my parents are going to like that with me being late to school basically all of last week (even if it was only by about ten seconds).

isn't it Columbus day? or is that only a non-schoolday thing in the US? or parts of the US? problem for me is I'm lazy and don't want to get up

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14:37 for me. That’s usually during school time, but I’m sick, so I’m not at school. 

For some reason, every time a launch is scheduled during school hours, I’m either sick or I can watch it during the lesson without the teacher noticing or there’s a holiday. Odd.

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Logged into my work PC and opened the webcast during the opening credits; perfect timing!

This is a new booster, correct? The grid fins are white so they must be aluminum, not titanium. I guess they are from the stockpile. Is this Block 3, Block 4, or Block 3/4?

It's so weird that all the SpaceX media images and mockups have black legs but all the rockets so far have had white legs. 

The LOX vent from S2 seems much more intermittent than usual.

Ah, confirmed. "These are the aluminum grid fins; we are using these today instead of titanium because the return is less extreme than a geostationary transfer launch." I wonder if they are still manufacturing the Al ones, then.

I don't remember the ten deployment points being individually indicated on the launch sequence at the bottom for Iridium I or II.

I think he said that even though this is a droneship landing, it'll still have a boostback burn. I don't see it on the sequence at the bottom, though.

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T-30!

Nominal liftoff!

Foggy view from the ground. 

Passed Mach 1.

Really weird view from below through the fog...the plume keeps fading in and out of view as the cloudbank alternately thickens and thins. Looked like normal flames for a bit.

Underexpansion clearly visible.

T+2:29, MECO and S2 startup!

Boostback ignition at just under T+3 minutes. Really eerie night view of the plume around the boostback burn.

Fairing jettison!

S1 apogee at T+4:00 at 107 km.

I can come back and get a pretty good idea of the horizontal speed component by comparing the change in altitude over time to the change in overall speed over time.

Entry burn ignition. 1, then 3, then cutoff; brief glimpse of the grid fins in the glare from the entry burn plume. 

Wondering what kind of droneship view we'll get with how dark it is.

T+6:55, landing burn ignition!

Plume coming through clouds is fantastic.

I see the droneship!

Legs out! And down!

Falcon has landed!

Gorgeous view of the landing with only a momentary pause from the link on JRTI.

 

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That landing was a bit scary, with the barge appearing from total darkness and short signal loss!But it looked pretty cool

Also, how many LOX ports/valves does that strongback have? they are really spilling that stuff everywhere...

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On 10/7/2017 at 1:50 PM, magnemoe said:

This, and its seen an lot in large projects like road construction too, in the military far more, B1 bomber used parts from 45 states or something, hardly economical but an way to spread the pork around. Wonder if this is how pulled port was invented :)

On the other hand military is not ruled by purely economical needs, the US keeps the M1 tank production line alive, not because they need more M1 but because if they shut if down  they lose the ability to make tanks. Recreating it because they need an M1 replacement in 2029 would be harder. 
 

It's also worth noting that the military has a habit of throwing contractors a bone when they aren't doing well. Ben Rich talks a little bit about it in Skunkworks but once you realize it happens the pieces fall into place for several projects. 

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5 hours ago, TheEpicSquared said:

14:37 for me. That’s usually during school time, but I’m sick, so I’m not at school. 

For some reason, every time a launch is scheduled during school hours, I’m either sick or I can watch it during the lesson without the teacher noticing or there’s a holiday. Odd.

I watched it during US History, my teacher didn't notice :)

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For some reason the school wifi is letting me watch deployment (!) but I misses the second burn of the second stage by five seconds and its not letting me rewind the livestream.

EDIT: Our school wifi is so great! It's almost letting me watch the deployment in glorious 144p!

Edited by Ultimate Steve
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