Falcon 9 CLS-5 Launch

[Raptor9]

Not sure if anybody was following the latest launch of the Falcon 9, but when the booster stage tried to do the controlled powered landing on the drone ship, it landed hard. But there's hope...

Latest Tweets from Elon Musk:

7hrs ago: "Ascent phase good. Dragon deployed to Space Station rendezvous orbit"

7hrs ago: "Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho."

7hrs ago: "Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced..."

7hrs ago: "Didn't get good landing/impact video. Pitch dark and foggy. Will piece it together from telemetry and ... actual pieces."

8mins ago: "Grid fins worked extremely well from hypersonic velocity to subsonic, but ran out of hydraulic fluid right before landing."

6mins ago: "Upcoming flight already has 50% more hydraulic fluid, so should have plenty of margin for landing attempt next month."

6mins ago: "Am super proud of my crew for making huge strides towards reusability on this mission. You guys rock!"

Sounds like they're getting it nailed down. Not to shabby to hit a target 300km downrange from the launchsite after slowing down from hypesonic speeds. Must not have landed too hard if some deck equipment is all that was damaged. Great job guys!

EDIT: To watch the liftoff replay on the SpaceX site: http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

Edited January 10, 2015 by Raptor9
Added webcast replay link

[Raptor9]

Awesome photos with a surprise at the end...can't believe they linked it. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/16/elon-musk-falcon-9-rapid-unscheduled-disassembly

[Dartguy]

Correct me if I am wrong, but he article says the barge is in the Gulf of Mexico. That can't be right. It must have been to the east, which is the Atlantic.

Also, does anyone know how far of the coast the barge was stationed?

[Raptor9]

Yeah, I'm sure that was wrong. I watched the launch live and the rocket was on a northeastern heading, tracking stations in New England and Newfoundland were picking up the telemetry as it went up. If I remember correctly, they said the drone ship was 400km downrange from Cape Canaveral, so it would have been well in the Atlantic Ocean.