Today: 02/06/2018 @ 1:30 PM EST. SPACEX will Launch "The Falcon Heavy Rocketship"

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mrrsm

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If you are not too busy or distracted around 1:30 PM EST today and you live along the Atlantic Coast of Florida… you might want to look towards Cape Canaveral and observe the Test Flight of The SPACEX Falcon Heavy Rocket on its Maiden Voyage … ostensibly to deliver its unique payload of Elon Musk’s Personal Candy Apple Red Tesla Electric Car into Orbit ...around The Planet Mars . This Launch Vehicle will be capable of carrying the heaviest payload via any other rocket on Earth... by a factor of (2) and this comes out to around 140,000 Lbs. This platform will be capable of launching Cargo and Humans to the Moon and Mars.

The ever pragmatic Musk as cautioned everyone that due to the unknown areas of Rocket Dynamics in Engine Clusters that will combine the power of (27) Merlin MVAC (Space Vacuum Specific) Rockets; creating around 5,000,000 Pounds of Thrust... there is always the possibility that it could involve some bizarre affects of Unattenuated Engine Vibrations and Amplified Acoustics and thereby, anything could happen once those (27) Candles are lit. So whether the Launch turns out to be successful or not... the people watching the entire drama will be in for One Helluva Show.

If the Triple FH Rocket(s) make it off of the Launch Pad #39A without having a catastrophic explosion at the Cape and manages to have a successful burn completion of the Liquid Oxygen and RP-1 Kerosene Fuel… The plan is to have All Three First Stage Falcon Heavy Rockets/Boosters eventually return and land nose-up right back at the Space Launch Facility. If all goes well... Elon Musk’s “Go Hard ...or Go Home” Tesla Advertising Strategy may pull off the biggest Advertising Coup since Vance Packard taught “The Mad Men” the tricks on How to Sell Anything… IF... that is... He manages to pull this incredible effort off. I'm am ever The Optimist... So I say ...Let's Go For It!

If you like… you can Watch the Launch before, during and afterwards this takes place on this Youtube Link:

 
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Capote

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SpaceX is pretty much leading in terms of space exploration and satellite launches. Even NASA pays them to launch satellites because it's cheaper for a private company to do-so. I was watching a TON of spacecraft/space program videos on YouTube.
 

mrrsm

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You Bet... All of the archived SPACEX Launches are available from their website at spacex.com and well worth observing. I'd bet a Brace of Gutenberg Bibles that by tomorrow afternoon... You won't be able to Pull a Straight Pin out of the A** of the Head Engineer over at ULA (United Launch Alliance) with a John Deere Tractor if Musk is successful with his endeavors today.

There are Metric Tons of Government TAX Money being saved by Spacex via designing Falcon Rockets that not only launch and deliver Satellites into Orbit and Supplies to The ISS ... but they also can do an "About Face ....In Outer Space" and manage to land right back where they started for re-use on other launches. ULA never dreamed that Musk would even be allowed to use his Private Enterprise Dollars and Innovations to 'Walk through The Tall Corn with The BIG Dogs'... let alone his becoming so very successful at THEIR Game.

If you want to see just how hard they tried to stop him... watch this Youtube Video of a Very Cool Elon Musk vs. a Sweaty, Squirming ULA Prez...Mr. Gass... during a Senatorial National Security Hearing on the subject of Awarding of Space Contracts to more more than just one company...ULA... and Breaking Their Monopoly:

 
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mrrsm

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Due to Upper Atmosphere Sheer Winds... Today's "Falcon Heavy Test Flight" will be delayed until around 3:45 PM EST. But after waiting seven years for this event... a slight delay for the sake of additional caution and safety makes perfect sense. This Rocket Launch may rival some of those of the Apollo Moon Program Missions involving Dr. Werner Von Braun's team at NASA Scientists with their Three Stage Saturn V Rockets powered by the Most Powerful Single Nozzle Rocket Motors ever conceived: The Rocketdyne F-1. This amazing and revolutionary engine was (and still is... even though the Russian RD-180 is equally capable... IT has Four Rocket Nozzles per Engine to generate comparable Thrust) capable of making 1,800,000 Pounds of Thrust per Motor... and with Five of these Giant Rocket Motors tucked under the base of the Moon Rocket... it was a site to behold once they were all lit up and heading towards The Moon.

But with today's launch effort... many new technologies, materials and sub-designs will be tested to the brink in a live setting that may not go as planned. If nothing else, besides the inappropriate idea that, "What... It's NOT Rocket Science...Is it?" because in THIS case... It is nothing BUT when is comes to leaving the Earth and heading to Mars. This additional video will help anyone interested and following these events to manage their expectations a little bit better. Fingers Crossed and Best of Luck for Elon Musk's own Private Tesla Electric Car that right now.... is resting inside of the Nose Cone and going along for the ride towards Mars:

 

Reprise

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It *was* amazing to watch this, and to see it executed more or less flawlessly, first time out of the box.

One thing I've been looking for, but can't find online - The roadster is now flying through space exposed (the capsule 'shroud' was jettisoned, by design.)

How is that car *not* crushed in the vacuum of space? (looking for a 'real' answer here, folks!)
 

Reprise

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If you're being serious, can you cite a source(s)?

No reply needed if you're just joking.
 

mrrsm

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For the sake of reducing the Laws of Physics down to reasonable examples of what he probably meant...Here goes:

Lets use YOU for the first example to explain the part about "expanding". If you were sitting in the Tesla Red Apple Roadster right now instead of that Empty Spacesuit... moments after arriving in a parked low orbit outside of the Earth's Atmosphere... you would arrive in a Jet Black and Airless Vacuum that would cause your blood to boil away and effervesce like dropped can of Canada Dry Soda. The reason for this "expansion" is that your normal internal pressures to function at 14.7 PSI at Seal Level down here on the ground... essentially balancing your body's resistance internally to normal external atmospheric pressures back on Earth. But without the entire weight of that atmosphere to keep these two things in balance... there is nothing out there in the Vacuum of Space to prevent your internal liquids and gases from simply expanding outwards until your organs burst... and you die as the result.

As for the possibility of being "crushed" by merely being out there in the empty blackness of Space... The best explanation for the relationship between Empty Space... and Matter itself was coined by Albert Einstein to describes the wonderful simplicity of how the two things interact:

"Space... Tells Matter... How to Move..."
"Matter Tells Space... How to Curve... (Bend) .."


There are No Other Forces around the Empty Space Suit or the Tesla Car floating around up their right now in their Parking Orbit to "Crush" them. Once again... it was Albert Einstein who once said...:

"It Came to me as the Most Important and Wonderful Idea of My Life... When Any Object is in Free Fall... There is NO Gravitational Field"

What he meant by this can be demonstrated using a "Rock Tied To a String". If you spin the Rock fast enough.... its momentum will extend out in a revolving circle... tethered to your hand and it will keep on spinning as long as you induce enough force to keep it doing so. That Tesla Car up there right now is behaving like a Rock that is tethered to the Earth in its orbit at around 18,000 MPH. The only reason that the Car does not fly off in a straight line into Outer Space forever is because it is the very Space itself around the Massive Round Earth that is being Curved or Warped by its Massive Presence... Bending and Warping the Space right around where it is.

Consider the "0" Gravity that the Astronauts experience while hurtling around the globe inside of the ISS... They have NO Gravity because they are essentially Endlessly Falling in a Straight Line that follows around in the Curvature of the Space around the Planet Earth. Ergo.... There are no mysterious "crushing" forces present when mere objects are moving around or even just sitting static in the Vacuum of Outer Space. I hope this makes some sense using these explanations.


 
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Reprise

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The reason for this "expansion" is that your normal internal pressures to function at 14.7 PSI at Seal Level down here on the ground... essentially balancing your body's resistance internally to normal external atmospheric pressures back on Earth. But without the entire weight of that atmosphere to keep these two things in balance... there is nothing out there in the Vacuum of Space to prevent your internal liquids and gases from simply expanding outwards until your organs burst... and you die as the result.

Thank you - this is what I was thinking about, in a roundabout way. Pressurization. Appreciate the detailed reply.
I know it won't crush now, as SpaceX is (was) still livestreaming content of the 'cargo' (more on this below.)

My wife and I watched it. It was Awesome!! But wasn't that Tesla a roadster?

It was, and I grabbed a screencap at what was just about the right time, IMO. I'm going to make it into desktop wallpaper. For reference...
1518020262977.png
 

mrrsm

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If you would like to see the current Live Views of 'Starman" sitting in the Tesla while on an elliptical orbit around the Earth... Visit space.com and view their "Updates" to access the article and video about the progress of the FH Mission...or ...you can see the video now on Youtube:

 

Capote

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I missed that launch because I was at work, but I re-watched the stream when I got home. I loved every minute of it. The footage of the boosters guiding themselves back to earth and landing almost in sync was absolutely astounding. Saw other videos of people filming a few miles away of the boosters landing and them breaking the sound barrier upon returning
I had a feeling the "lost video feed to center core" was odd and didn't make any sense at all, later come to find out feed was cut to the public, but visible in the background still streaming behind the hosts and the rest of the control room:
Even if center core didn't land properly why would they be embarrassed or avoid showing that when it happened? This kind of thing is just bound to happen, there's been countless issues with spacecraft/rockets launches and returns for decades. This was an extremely successful launch and another milestone in space exploration.
SpaceX was okay to compilate their tests flights leading up to this launch:
 
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mrrsm

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Nice find on the Dual Landing video from that distant oblique angle... Way Cool. As for the reason the Spacex Staff seemed reticent to announce that the Modified FH Core failed to land... It is possible nobody prepared them for that eventuality; even though the TV Team alluded to the possibility "ipso facto". What was probably underlying the matter was the idea that these young people had just taken part in one of the most rapid and significant improvements in the technological advancement of a Multi-Planetary Orbital-Space Delivery System since The Russian Scientist Tsiolkovsky conceived the very idea of "Space Travel" while eating Borscht and drawing out diagrams of Celestial Mechanics on his wife's dinner table linen cloth back in the 1800s.

THIS ...is a VERY BIG DEAL in more ways than we can even understand right now... We are talking about using a Modular Rocket Ship System that is capable of delivering either all and/or sundry objects into Outer Space that can weigh as much as 140,000 Pounds ...and then come back to their points of origin and after being refueled... turn right around and repeat this process. Just consider that one Fully Fueled Falcon 9 First and Second Stage pair with 9 Merlin M1D Rocket Engines and 1 Merlin MVAC Engine costs $60,000.000.00 to build, fresh off the Spacex Factory Floor. But after being successfully used and then being flown back to their launch pads... it only costs about $250,000.00 to Re-Up on LOX (Liquid Oxygen) and RP-1 Refined Kerosene... and THAT essentially makes them equivalent to modern 747 Aircraft on some level.... and so it all comes down to making The Business of Space Flights, Deliveries and Travel ...Affordable.

If you want to see why Elon Musk finally got the nod to be able to play in this High Stakes and Very Dangerous Game... just have a second look at the video I posted above covering that Senatorial Hearing where the Money Numbers and excuses ULA was touting were being uses as reasons why Elon and Spacex should not be allowed to do this business with the United States Air Force just Do Not Add Up. It is astonishing! These guys were getting $1,000,000,000.00 per year just in Tax Payer Subsidies alone...NOT including their Over Blown Coats Per Launch for doing essentially... nothing. Musk, on the other hand was not sitting there in front of those Senators asking for any in-kind Government Hand-Out because back then... Spacex was already a very successful company and was doing NASA's bidding and Getting the Jobs Done for a Whole Lot Less Jingle. He told them... "We Don't Need ANY Subsidies...and we could save the USA $11,000,000,000.00 per year. After seeing the first "All Up" performance of the Falcon Heavy Rocket System... I believe him!

The other aspect of all of this is the fact that when Spacex first came into Elon's imagination... He would literally become a Real World Tony Stark... conceiving everything from the revolutionary PayPal Company... Then The Spacex Company... Then The Tesla Electric Car Company... Then The Solarex Solar Power and Battery Company... and very soon now... he will be pioneering Subterranean Vacuum Tube Train System with trams that can move people along at speeds of up to 700 MPH to revolutionize terrestrial Mass Transit. So you cannot really blame him if One of the Candles on the Falcon Heavy Inaugural Birthday Cake ...Fell Over just as he was blowing them out in celebration of so much incredible success on Februaury 6th, 2018. With his out-of-pocket R&D Costs happening to the tune of over One Half Billion Dollars... you cannot blame him for managing the entire message and wanting to "Put On The Dog and have Starman showing what the Fastest Roadster ever imagined looks like... at around 18,000 MPH. :>)
 
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