SPACE X new Falcon 9 has landing legs on its booster stage - WANT!

[Wooks]

Today (Monday, April 14, 2014), SpaceX is scheduled to launch a modified Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission to the International Space Station. The launch is scheduled for 20:58 UTC (4:58 p.m. EDT), and you can watch it live on NASA TV or Ustream.

The booster stage has a set of landing legs (folded) and after the stage separation , the booster will execute a burn to slow down, and the legs will deploy during the burn. The maneuver will end with a splashdown, not a full fledged landing, but is the first full size test of the reusable booster system.

Take a look of this beauty

Take a look at the early Grasshopper 12-Story Test Flight

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Yeah, today's launch is going to be the first one that they'll actually try landing it, though they estimate a 30-40% chance of it actually working...

[TerLoki]

Well it's a step toward a fully reusable rocket, so I say it's a step in the right direction. Here's hoping the test gives them some good data to refine the design.

[zarakon]

Hope they're using MechJeb. It makes powered landings super easy

[Kerbonautical]

Take it I already missed the launch? Any idea if they're recording the re-entry attempt too or any idea of what sort of time that would likely happen? I can't seem to find any info on it, just a livestream of NASA HQ

[TMS]

I thought they'd tried this before (sans legs) and the engine failed to restart?

They didn't release any footage of that, surprisingly.

[RW-1]

Yeah, today's launch is going to be the first one that they'll actually try landing it, though they estimate a 30-40% chance of it actually working...

Incorrect, as the OP pointed out, it's the first launch with them attached. It will deploy and slow down, but will e a water impact and no recovery today. The quote about 30-40% chance of it working is true, related to the fact that the last booster slowdown after separation ended up in a tumble to splashdown. (Apparently the SpaceX Kracken is waiting for this one as well .... )

Target launch time: 4:58PM EST if they go on time ...

[Technical Ben]

Hope they're using MechJeb. It makes powered landings super easy

Until you plug in the wrong data, or it forgets the ground level height.

SpaceX looks like a nice rocket.

[R0cketC0der]

Hope they're using MechJeb. It makes powered landings super easy

Every time I let it land my reusable boosters in water, it has gone too fast and the fuel tank was destroyed by the water. I guess this is because it determines the height by CoM, which is ok for most smaller landers, but not excactly the best for a huge stick

[PDCWolf]

It is totally possible in KSP, but yeah, having those aerodynamic looking legs would be cool too.

[Wooks]

Take it I already missed the launch? Any idea if they're recording the re-entry attempt too or any idea of what sort of time that would likely happen? I can't seem to find any info on it, just a livestream of NASA HQ

Still on the launch pad, four hours ago from Space X´s twitter

Falcon 9 and #Dragon have gone vertical in advance of today’s launch to the ISS! Liftoff @ 4:58pm ET. pic.twitter.com/rwQFCx6hLn

Those long legs, dayum girl!

[mellojoe]

Does this mean these boosters will eventually fall over ground and try to land back at the launchpad? Or is the plan to land somewhere else? Doesn't this mean leaving extra fuel in the booster, which then means less useful boosters overall? Is the fuel for landing one of these lighter than simply using parachutes? Adding extra landing fuel to the booster seems like it would add weight to lift-off adding cost and/or reducing payload. What am I missing?

[TerLoki]

The plan seems to be landing back at the launch pad (or some facility, I'm not sure if the first stage can make it that far) under power by taking extra fuel. This would be a lot more precise than parachutes, but also probably cost a bit more weight. So the payload would be reduced a little to account for the extra needed fuel, but I think that the reusability of the rocket and quick turnaround that a land-based powered descent would provide is considered more beneficial. After all, if you want a bigger payload on a fully reusable rocket there's always the Falcon Heavy in development.

[RW-1]

If from Canaveral, you really want it coming back there, you could land it overseas, but to ship it back outweighs doing it in the first place. I was thinking perhaps in the current config the Falcon has the extra LWR to accommodate Dragon and the fuel for the stage to get back ....

[NovaSilisko]

The cost of getting the rocket back far outweighs the price of the payload lost. Or, so it's hoped.

Incorrect, as the OP pointed out, it's the first launch with them attached. It will deploy and slow down, but will e a water impact and no recovery today. The quote about 30-40% chance of it working is true, related to the fact that the last booster slowdown after separation ended up in a tumble to splashdown. (Apparently the SpaceX Kracken is waiting for this one as well .... )

Target launch time: 4:58PM EST if they go on time ...

I believe the plan is to go through the whole landing procedure, down to a near-hover, then softly set down on the water. After that they're going to fish the stage out of the ocean and inspect it to see if anything screwed up.

[TechnicalK3rbal]

The cost of getting the rocket back far outweighs the price of the payload lost. Or, so it's hoped.

I believe the plan is to go through the whole landing procedure, down to a near-hover, then softly set down on the water. After that they're going to fish the stage out of the ocean and inspect it to see if anything screwed up.

That was the way that I understood it.

[R0cketC0der]

They just said on NASA tv that launch has been scrubbed for today. Next launch window is Friday 3:29 pm ET.

[RW-1]

Copy that:

A SpaceX spokesperson says today's scrub was caused by a helium leak in the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage. SpaceX expects the issue to be fixed in time for a launch attempt Friday, but the weather outlook calls for marginal conditions.There is a 60 percent chance weather will violate weather constraints for Friday's launch opportunity at 3:25 p.m. EDT (1925 GMT)."

[Whirligig Girl]

It's a shame what just happened with the He tank.

[Thiel]

I thought they'd tried this before (sans legs) and the engine failed to restart?

They didn't release any footage of that, surprisingly.

How would they have gotten any? As a rule it's a bad idea to be in the splashdown area of large aluminium tubes.

[NovaSilisko]

They had a jet flying considerable distance away to capture the first stage descent of the CASSIOPE stage landing. That failed because the stage started spinning on its long axis, and centrifugal force took the fuel away from the engine and it shut off prematurely. Due to this failure, they didn't release the video.

When CRS-3 does fly, NASA is going to have a plane flying in the area to record it. So, in this case, whatever happens with it we likely will see the footage.

[Wooks]

They just said on NASA tv that launch has been scrubbed for today. Next launch window is Friday 3:29 pm ET.

Awww shucks! Well, not the first time they have to reschedule a launch, better safe than explodey.

[MK3424]

It's a shame what just happened with the He tank.

Good thing that is wasn't as dramatic as with the S-II explosion of the Saturn V due to a ruptured helium sphere while being pressurized in a test stand.

[R0cketC0der]

Friday 3:25pm ET has been confirmed as the next launch attempt. If weather will get in the way of that launch SpaceX has set a backup date on Saturday, 3:02pm ET.

[khearn]

They just launched. Everything seemed quite nominal. There was mention that the first stage did its re-entry burn and I think they said the had gotten video of it, but they didn't show it on the live webcast. They stayed with the Dragon capsule until it had separated from the second stage and had its solar arrays deployed, then stopped coverage.