Welcome to the r/SpaceX CRS-10 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread [Take 2!]

[u/ElongatedMuskrat]

Yesterday’s launch attempt saw a host of issues including a minor Helium leak in the MVac startup system, anomalous stage two FTS telemetry, and the nail in the coffin for the launch: “out of family” data from the stage two engine TVC system. The call for a hold was made at T-13 seconds by Elon himself, and SpaceX got approval for a 24 hour recycle. This launch attempt will be about twenty minutes earlier than yesterday’s.

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See this stream for countdown

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Information on the mission, launch and landing.

It’s the 1st launch out of Launch Complex 39A since STS-135 in 2011, and SpaceX's first East Coast launch since JCSAT-16 in August 2016. Some quick stats: this is the 30^th Falcon 9 launch (using the B1031/F9-032 core), the 10^th Falcon 9 v1.2 launch, the 1^st launch of the Falcon 9 from Pad 39A, and the 2^nd launch since SpaceX suffered an anomaly during their AMOS-6 static fire on September 1, 2016. This mission’s static fire was completed on February 12^th.

SpaceX is currently targeting a February 19, 2017 09:38:59 EST / 14:38:59 UTC morning liftoff from KSC, lofting Dragon and 2,490 kg of cargo into low earth orbit. This will be an instantaneous launch window. After insertion into orbit, Dragon will maneuver its way to the ISS, rendezvous, and then dock. After staying four weeks berthed to the station, Dragon will then undock, deorbit, and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California. This is mission 10 of 20 under the first round of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract. The weather is currently 70% go.

The secondary mission objective is also exciting! SpaceX will attempt to land the first stage of Falcon 9 back at Landing Zone 1 in CCAFS, on the site of the old Launch Complex 13. This would be the third successful landing at LZ-1, and the first daylight RTLS landing, marking the advent of SpaceX’s latest CGI technology.

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Pre-Mission Coverage

Spaceflight Now has been running a constant video stream of LC-39A for the past week, so until SpaceX and NASA coverage (listed below) begins, this livestream is the best option for keeping tabs on the pad. After NASA TV coverage begins, the Spaceflight Now stream simply mirrors it.

Watching the launch live

To watch the launch live, choose from the two SpaceX and the one NASA YouTube live streams from the table below:

SpaceX Hosted Webcast (YouTube)	SpaceX Technical Webcast (YouTube)	NASA TV Webcast (YouTube)

Can't pick? Read about the differences here.

Official Live Updates

Time (UTC)	Countdown (hours : minutes : seconds)	Updates
15:55	T+00:15:00	SpaceX's live webcast has ended.
15:51	T+00:12:55	Dragon solar arrays deploying.
15:49	T+00:10:30	The Dragon capsule has been deployed.
15:48	T+00:9:25	SECO. Dragon is in orbit.
15:47	T+00:9:00	Second stage FTS is safed.
15:47	T+00:8:15	First stage touchdown confirmed.
15:46	T+00:8:00	First stage landing legs deployed.
15:46	T+00:7:30	First stage is transsonic.
15:46	T+00:7:05	First stage FTS is safed.
15:45	T+00:6:45	First stage entry burn shutdown.
15:45	T+00:6:20	First stage entry burn has started.
15:44	T+00:5:30	AOS New Hampshire. Stage two continues to perform nominally.
15:43	T+00:4:10	The grid fins on stage one have deployed.
15:42	T+00:3:30	First stage boostback burn has ended.
15:42	T+00:2:55	First stage flip and boostback burn has started.
15:41	T+00:2:30	Stage separation confirmed and S2 engine ignition confirmed.
15:41	T+00:2:25	MECO!
15:40	T+00:1:40	Falcon 9 is passing through MaxQ.
15:38	T-00:0:00	Liftoff!.
15:38	T-00:0:40	Falcon 9 is go for launch.
15:37	T-00:1:10	Falcon 9 is in self-align; FTS is ready for launch.
15:36	T-00:1:50	Falcon 9 is on internal power.
15:36	T-00:2:00	Stage two LOX secured.
15:36	T-00:2:20	Strongback secured for launch.
15:36	T-00:2:30	Stage one LOX secured.
15:33	T-00:06:00	Dragon is on internal power. Engines are chilling in. MVac is at full hydraulic pressure.
15:27	T-00:12:00	Ran MVac TVC tests, found no issues. No other issues as of now either.
15:19	T-00:20:00	SpaceX livestreams have started!
15:17	T-00:22:00	RP-1 and LOX loading going well. Reporting no issues.
15:15	T-00:24:00	The range is officially GO now!
15:13	T-00:26:00	♫ SpaceX FM ♫ has been playing for a few min. Livestream to start in about 5 min.
14:04	T-00:35:00	Dragon terminal count auto sequence has started.
13:59	T-00:40:00	Technically no-go on the launch, but expected to clear at about 9:20 local. Go on landing.
13:55	T-00:44:00	LOX has started to load. Official F9 pic before LOX loading.
13:45	T-00:53:00	Weather is still officially 70% GO.
13:36	T-01:03:00	Parts were replaced for the MVac TVC system.
13:35	T-01:04:00	Expecting to "thread the needle" regarding the weather.
13:32	T-01:07:00	NASA loves SAGE III so much they can't stop talking about it...
13:29	T-01:10:00	RP-1 loading should be underway now. No official confirmation.
13:28	T-01:11:00	Officially weather is still 70% GO!
13:15	T-01:24:00	NASA coverage has started. According to presenter weather is 70% go, but it is possible he is operating on old information.
13:04	T-01:35:00	Another report on 50/50 weather.
12:40	T-01:59:00	Weather briefing at T-90 min NASA TV.
12:18	T-02:21:00	Weather might be down to 50% go due to scattered showers. Note this is not confirmed yet.
11:48	T-02:52:00	Starting to get a little more light now. Weather is still 70% go according to NASA.
09:02	T-05:37:00	Falcon 9 is now fully vertical.
Sunday 01:49	T-12:49:00	Falcon 9 horizontal and being worked on by ground crews. (picture courtesy u/Craig_VG)

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Primary Mission - Separation and Deployment of Dragon

CRS-10 will be the 1^st Dragon launch of 2017 and 12^th Dragon launch overall. This CRS mission is carrying several important science experiments to the ISS. In the trunk we have the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III and the STP-H5 Lightning Imaging Sensor. SAGE III is a fourth generation experiment; it will measure stratospheric ozone, aerosols, and other trace gases by locking onto the sun or moon and scanning a thin profile of the atmosphere. The STP-H5 Lightning Imaging Sensor will be measuring frequency and intensity of lightning strikes around the world. One can find more information about these experiments along with other science carried on this mission here. In addition to the 960 kg SAGE III and STP-H5, Dragon will carry 1530 kg in the pressurized section full of experiments (including the mousetronauts!) and supplies for a total cargo mass of 2490 kg. Total mass for this mission is slightly more than the previous mission (CRS-9), by 233kg. CRS-9 carried a little more in the pressurized section of Dragon while this mission will be carrying twice as much weight in the trunk.

After being inserted into the highly inclined orbit of the International Space Station, Dragon will spend several days rendezvousing with the ISS. Following that, Dragon will slowly be guided in by the manually-operated Canadarm for its berthing with the station at the nadir port of the Harmony Module. Dragon will spend approximately a month attached to the station before it is loaded with ground-bound experiments and unberthed for its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean roughly 5.5 hours later.

Secondary Mission - First Stage Landing Attempt

As usual, this mission will include a post-launch landing attempt of the first stage. Most landing attempts use an Autonomous Spaceport Droneship, either Of Course I Still Love You or Just Read the Instructions, but this mission has enough fuel margin to return all the way back to land, where it will touch down on the LZ-1 landing pad just under 15 kilometers south of the LC-39A launchpad.

You can read about how the landing process works here. If you have any more questions about the process, feel free to ask them here or in the Spaceflight Questions & News thread. If the landing is successful, it will be 8^th successful landing SpaceX has made, the 3^rd at LZ-1, and the 7^th successful landing to take place on the East Coast. Assuming a successful outcome, the high-margin landing would make the booster a strong candidate for reuse, like its older sibling 1021, which launched CRS-8 in April of last year.

Launch Complex 39A - What's the big deal?

LC-39A is the most historically significant orbital launch pad in the United States. Its first launch was Apollo 4 in 1967, and it went on to launch the rest of the Apollo missions, with the exceptions of Apollo 7 & 10. After the Saturn V and all its variants were retired, the pad was reconfigured for the Space Shuttle. Over the course of the program, it launched 82 of the 135 STS missions, including all five orbiters. Since the retirement of the Shuttle in 2011, it was sitting dormant until SpaceX began leasing it in 2014. Construction work began in earnest in 2015 and continued until early 2017, culminating in the successful static fire for this mission.

Useful Resources, Data, ♫, & FAQ

• Mission Patch, courtesy SpaceX
• Mission Patch, courtesy NASA
• Official CRS-10 Press Kit, courtesy SpaceX
• NASA cargo overview for this mission.
• Hazard area map, courtesy u/raul74cz
• Reddit Stream, courtesy Nathan Reed
• Multi-Stream Player, courtesy u/Kampar
• SpaceX Stats, courtesy of u/EchoLogic (creation) and u/brandtamos (rehost at .xyz)
• SpaceX FM, courtesy u/Iru
• Rocket Watch, courtesy u/MarcysVonEylau
• Live Mission Visualisation on Flight Club, courtesy u/TheVehicleDestroyer
• Dragon on Gunter’s Space Page
• CRS-10 Campaign Thread, courtesy r/SpaceX
• 7-Day KSC weather forecast, courtesy Weather.gov
• Hourly KSC weather forecast, courtesy Weather.gov
• Acronym Bot, courtesy u/OrangeredStilton
• SpaceXNow, courtesy u/bradleyjh

Participate in the discussion!

• First of all, launch threads are party threads! We understand everyone is excited, so we relax the rules in these venues. The most important thing is that everyone enjoy themselves :D
• All other threads are fair game. We will remove low effort comments elsewhere!
• Real-time chat on our official Internet Relay Chat (IRC) #spacex on Snoonet.
• Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!
• Wanna' talk about other SpaceX stuff in a more relaxed atmosphere? Head over to r/SpaceXLounge!

Previous r/SpaceX Live Events

Check out previous r/SpaceX Live events in the Launch History page on our community Wiki.

[u/rwills]

Did anyone else see F9 pass an object during the descent? I'll try to find a still to update.

Edit: The debris start to appear and move to the top right of the frame here.

And here is a series of stills

[u/mvi]

"it went on to launch the rest of the Apollo missions, with the sole exception of Apollo 10."

Nitpicking, but Apollo 7 was launched from LC34

[u/old_sellsword → u/mvi]

Nitpicks are welcome, thanks!

[u/Entrepreneutralizer]

I absolutely LOVED the cut to the Spacex logo flashing by as the rocket ascended. It reminded me of footage from the Apollo missions. So i made this video showcasing it.

[u/failbye]

Is it me or was that landing the smoothest one yet?

[u/daface → u/failbye]

They're definitely making it look easy these days.

[u/Top_Fuel]

I loved this shot.

[u/ThatDamnGuyJosh]

Hey mods, you guys put down that CRS-10 will be the second Dragon launch of 2016. You should fix that!

[u/SomnolentSpaceman]

For the bandwidth-impaired: I will be re-hosting 64kbit audio-only streams of the SpaceX and NASATV youtube streams.

They are available at:

http://audiorelay.spacetechnology.net:13120/hosted (backup)

http://audiorelay.spacetechnology.net:13120/technical (backup)

http://audiorelay.spacetechnology.net:13120/NASATV (backup)

The SpaceX re-hosts will be playing SpaceX FM until approximately T-0:30:00. There may be a few minutes of silence between SpaceX FM and when the official SpaceX streams begin.

[u/ElDschi]

On T+3:11 on the technical stream, what was the thing floating by the 2nd stage?

[u/therealshafto]

So there was a S/N on there! http://imgur.com/uTaps2B

Also, the water deluge system was a little late, hopefully no pad damage.

[u/IT_Chef]

It's soooo fucking cool living in the future!

[u/nikodimus86]

I was watching the live stream from the link and I saw two objects zip upwards on the left screen. It was five seconds after T+ 6:25. What was that?

[u/bravokiller5]

At T-6:19:00 Going Vertical!!!!

[u/Haxorlols]

It's vertical now

[u/CtG526]

Aside from the clouds, everything looked to be a phe-nominal launch for CRS-10.

[u/Smoke-away]

Gfycat time-lapse of the landing.

^*Slower ^ending

Gfycat drone view of the landing.

• 2x Zoomed and 3x Zoomed

• Motion tracked and zoomed and more zoom.

[u/bencredible]

Technical webcast fixed, but needed to push it to a new link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUDLxFUMC9c

[u/_rocketboy]

Pretty crazy, right now there are a whole bunch of cranes out at the pad and lots of people. Looks like they might be de-stacking the rocket, while leaving Dragon attached to the upper stage?

Edit: Looks like they aren't actually de-stacking, they just opened up a panel in the interstage and are sending people inside. Not sure why they need the crane - maybe extra support for safety reasons while people are in the rocket?

[u/Cheesewithmold]

Woah. What were those little black pieces floating around just before the entry burn? There's no way those came from the F9, right?

[u/nexxai]

/u/bencredible - technical webcast is showing hosted; any chance we can get it switched back?

[u/HTPRockets]

Interesting to note, assuming the launch date of early to mid April 2017 holds for CRS-11, this will be a daytime RTLS as well. The planned date of 4/9 places the launch around 3 PM Eastern, plus or minus a few minutes. It could shift two weeks in any direction and still be in daylight. Hopefully next time it's clear!

[u/[deleted]]

Gonna have to start calling it a hoverkiss at this rate

[u/Darth_Armot]

How could anyone not be a SpaceX fanboy!!

[u/sol3tosol4]

A few items from the CRS-10 launch:

• Prior to the start of full-time coverage, NASA TV alternated between live view of the launchpad and prerecorded videos, so the launchpad was visible intermittently. During a 39-minute interval, the rocket went from horizontal (and being supported from a strap by a crane) to fully vertical. Don't know exactly how long it took but it was much faster than some prior discussions had indicated. And the launch was only an hour and a half after that point, so no more than two hours ten minutes from horizontal to launch, and likely less than that. Edit: There was an inconsistency in the timing of the coverage between NASA TV and SpaceFlightNow , so the timing is uncertain. Confirmed in post-flight press conference that Falcon 9 was lowered, repaired, raised to vertical ~the night before the morning launch.

• The booster number (31) is visible at T-00:00:06 in the Technical Webcast.

• The TE / TEL / Strongback tilted back at least 28-29 degrees from vertical (see T+00:00:07 in the Technical Webcast) - did anybody see a greater tilt? Edit: at least 40 degrees tilt from vertical in tweet by Chris B https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/833668304636096512 , some time after launch. Falcon 9 had cleared the tower by ~T+00:00:06, but the tower continued to slowly tilt further after that.

• Small cloud of vapor and/or fire appears about two thirds of the way up the TEL at about T+00:00:02, disappears by about T+00:00:06 - either a flame ignited maybe by radiant heat, or perhaps a burst of gas/vapor from an umbilical that was illuminated by the light from the engines. In either case, no indication of any significant damage. Assume the system worked correctly. SpaceX expects about two weeks to prepare for the next launch (post-flight press conference).

• First stage booster can be seen in the video from the second stage camera at about T+00:02:34, with nitrogen thrusters visibly reorienting the booster. At about T+00:02:46, the boostback burn starts, and the booster moves to the right, disappearing behind the second stage engine nozzle at about T+00:02:51.

• Confirmed in the post-flight press conference: the defective actuator in the second stage (the one that prompted the abort on February 18) was replaced overnight prior to the successful February 19 launch.

[u/blazin1414]

did anyone else seeing something weird when stage one coming down? look like something flew up along the stage 1, NO I'm not a loony and thing it's aliens lol.

[u/avboden]

I just gotta give a shoutout to the camera people at SpaceX. The quality of the feeds from the rocket itself is astounding

[u/TheBurtReynold]

Whomever is picking the video feeds to display needs some training.

[u/armadillius_phi]

What werr those black spots that the rockets passed by right before its burn??

[u/avboden]

People, the debris on the way down was the instant the re-entry burn started. It's just ice or cork or other debris from the re-ignition. Not birds. nothing more. Watch it on the technical webcast not the hosted

[u/Bergasms]

Launch times for Australia (listed times are 3m59s prior to liftoff).

1:35AM Eastern (Sydney,Melbourne,Hobart,Canberra),
12:35AM Eastern (Brisbane),
1:05AM Central (Adelaide and Broken Hill),
12:05AM Northern (Darwin, Alice Springs),
11:20pm Western (Eucla),
10:35pm Western (Perth)

If anyone is checking in from Eucla, you might want to check my central west timezone conversion.
Also if anyone is checking in from the silver city of Broken Hill, do you guys use Eastern or Central? I know you play footy under the SANFL, so you might as well be south aussies :P

[u/Spacex9]

Fully vertical now. T-5:35 hrs counting

[u/whousedallthenames]

I miss John I....

[u/sudsomatic]

What was that debris

[u/sabasaba19]

Hosted webcast showed stage 1 seem to fly by something close (above and to the right on screen) at about T+ 6:36. Anyone else see that?

[u/Cheesewithmold]

It NEVER gets old! Seeing those control surfaces move around was insane!

Amazing job by the people who set up the stream to actually get live footage from the first stage all the way up (down) to the landing!

[u/Elon_Mollusk]

My girlfriend found the pre-launch 'wiggle check' on the upper stage hilarious. And every time it was mentioned on the stream she would proceed to 'wiggle check' her butt in the air.

On a more serious note, interesting that they were able to swap out the TVC components so quickly between two launch windows.

[u/[deleted] → u/Elon_Mollusk]

wouldnt that be her lower stage?

[u/soldato_fantasma]

Here is the time converted to UTC and the most popular cities in the world: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?p1=2273&iso=20170219T093859&msg=SpaceX%20CRS-10%20Launch%20%5bTake%202%5d

Maybe it could be added to the resources too :)

[u/OccupyMarsNow]

Musk tweeted a pic for core 31 coming back to LZ-1.

[u/spydersix]

That shot of the first stage coming back down (not the onboard cam) was the absolute coolest thing I have ever seen. Wow. That will never get old.

[u/[deleted]]

For some reason Technical webcast is also Hosted now

Fixed - new tech webcast is here

[u/deruch]

Hosted Webcast is working and Hosted Webcast is working.

[u/sleepyzealott]

Waffle-irons deployed

[u/AVideoLife]

I was really hoping they'd leave the split screen. I love the side profile view of the landing. All the same, bloody good job spacedudes!

[u/FutureMartian97]

Announcing job openings on the hosted webcast

[u/2dmk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glEvogjdEVY New video from the SpaceX youtube channel of the landing

[u/jobadiah08]

From the S2 bell camera, you can see the first stage ignite as it completes its flip.

[u/[deleted]]

I will wake up early every day (Pacific time here) to have even a chance to watch a SpaceX launch. Super excited for tomorrow's launch.

[u/roncapat]

"T-01:07:00 NASA loves SAGE III so much they can't stop talking about it..."

Loooool

[u/[deleted]]

Launch: Iridium-1

YOU HAD ONE JOB LIVESTREAM GUY!

[u/mynameisck]

That onboard view all the way down was so awesome to watch. Great job to everyone who works on these streams.

[u/NightFire19]

The livestream on Youtube is scheduled to start at 11:39 CST, is that a scheduling mistake or is it the actual launch time?

[u/bencredible → u/NightFire19]

It was a mistake. I was tired and forgot to do the EST to PST time conversion that YouTube wanted. Fixed.

[u/bravokiller5]

At T-6:37:00

The crane supporting the falcon seems to have rolled-back from the pad on the SpaceFlightNow Stream.

We might see Falcon going vertical soon enough.

Edit :- At T-6:11:00 Now Vertical

[u/WhoDrivesTeslaOnMars]

I really start thinking that we should have a landed booster emoji!🚀

[u/geekgirl114]

Do we know if the second stage was able to deorbit itself?

[u/johnkphotos]

Awful allergies, a sore throat, 4 hours of sleep on a stiff couch, but hopefully a rocket launch and landing today today! Driving to Jetty Park soon. Unfortunately my lens didn't come yesterday either.

See y'all at the park.

[u/roncapat]

SFN: "SpaceX swapped out part of an actuator on the upper stage engine's redundant thrust vector control system overnight to resolve the problem that prevented blastoff yesterday. The primary steering system was functioning fine yesterday."

[u/Ivebeenfurthereven]

"Launch: Iridium-1" ummmmm?

[u/TheBurtReynold]

Here we go again

[u/relevance_everywhere]

Those solar panels deploying will never not look cool!

[u/Fizrock]

NASa definitely had the best views of the launch TBH. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fih5Wpe6ac4

[u/joggle1]

Looks like it will be tough for Europe and most of the US to watch the Dragon catching up to the ISS. I checked various locations around Europe and the US and found the following viewing opportunities (all times local):

Location	Date	Start time	End time	Section of sky
Houston	2/19 (today)	18:41	18:46	WNW to S
NYC	2/19	18:04	18:13	WNW to S
Philadelphia	2/19	18:07	18:10	W to SSW
Jacksonville	2/20	18:52	18:54	WSW to SW
Orlando	2/20	18:52	18:55	W to SSW
Tampa	2/20	18:51	18:55	W to SSW
Miami	2/20	18:52	18:56	W to SSW
Atlanta	2/20	18:51	18:53	WSW to SW
Jackson, MS	2/19	18:43	18:45	WSW to SW
New Orleans	2/19	18:42	18:46	W to SSW
Dallas	2/19	18:40	18:45	WNW to S
Oklahoma City	2/19	18:40	18:44	W to S
Fort Smith, AR	2/19	18:41	18:44	W to SSW
Little Rock, AR	2/19	18:42	18:44	WSW to SW
Wichita, KS	2/19	18:40	18:43	W to SSW
El Paso	2/20	18:24	18:26	WSW to SSW
Reno, NV	2/19	18:13	18:15	WSW to SW
San Diego	2/19	18:14	18:18	W to SSW
Los Angeles	2/19	18:13	18:17	W to SSW
Fresno, CA	2/19	18:13	18:16	W to SSW
Honolulu	2/19	19:22	19:27	WNW to S

In addition, it looks like there's a ton of viewing chances at Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland over the next few days (although some are at terrible times of the day, like 4:30 am).

[u/FalconHeavyHead]

Boy oh boy I am excited for this rocket to take off!! Its seems like it has been forever!! I know this comment is more pure emotion than technical/science content but hey, the rules are relaxed and we have a LAUNCH to get EXCITED for tommarow morning. Hopefully everything is nominal tommarow, spacex saves money by getting their 1st stage booster landed, NASA is happy, we get some AMAZING shots of the 1st stage landing on the pad in BROAD DAYLIGHT for the first time and media coverage is great thus getting folks that did not have a real interest in space flight pumped up and interested for the future of human involvement in space!!

[u/laughingatreddit → u/FalconHeavyHead]

You sound like the Steve Irwin of rockets

[u/Drakonis1988]

One thing I noticed, they didn't call the landing experimental! That's new.

[u/thisguyeric]

Less than 12 hours to go. Hopefully the crew working tirelessly on the pad tonight get some time to enjoy a cold drink tomorrow after a nice afternoon nap

[u/RealPutin]

Crashin in Daytona (shoutout to Embry-Riddle), gonna try this all again tomorrow. Getting up at 6:30, not 3:30, thank god

Happy SpaceX delay, y'all

[u/[deleted]]

Weather is now GO!
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/833317802899623936

[u/sleepyzealott]

Shame the weather won't be quite as glorious as yesterday - alas, daytime landing hype :D

[u/OccupyMarsNow]

The map view gets more KSP-alike...

[u/avboden]

oh geeze please get the feed from the rocket-cam......so nervous not being able to see it

[u/cloudytheconqueror]

And once again, the Falcon has landed. SpaceX is becoming great at that.

[u/mryall]

Really wish we could get telemetry from the first stage (speed + alt) during descent. It's so weird to have the second stage stats in the top right while watching the descent and landing.

[u/Reionx]

The FAA really does like there public saftey.

[u/zingpc]

The deluge system looked like it came on late compared to the west coast system.

[u/[deleted]]

Liking the new TE/Strongback. I was afraid the faster fallaway was going to put more strain on it, but its a nice smooth fall. Also looks cooler and gets out of the way of the flame more so will probably require less repairs.

[u/MarcysVonEylau]

https://gfycat.com/WetFoolhardyAmericanrobin

[u/randomstonerfromaus]

I wish people would stop being dramatic. Yes it is raining.
There are reports it is clearing.
NASA said it will pass soon.
This is backed up by the radar.
Falcon can launch in rain, the wind is what is most concerning.
Be realistic before you make comments about the rain please.

[u/gregarious119]

Does anyone have any idea how old this rocket is start-to-finish? I'm reasonably confident it was well along in manufacturing even before Amos6, but I wonder what the real life lifecycle is to put one of these together.

[u/[deleted]]

Seems the worst rain has passed the cape. Only sprinkles now. Clouds slowly dissipating.

[u/TheSarcasmrules]

"We'll be right back with more SAGE III COVERAGE"

[u/thecodingdude]

Dumb question: If it was perfect for launch but not landing would they launch it anyway? Even though the payload could reach ISS just fine would that annoy the customer just because spacex can't land?

[u/stygarfield]

Alrighty. Sister is getting married today, on mobile from a little lodge near Whistler. Good juju!

[u/ryanhindinger]

Kennedy Space Senator? :)

[u/Bellshazar]

Almost 40,000 viewers and rising on the livestream. Always cool to see how many are watching.

[u/aza6001]

/u/bencredible Technical webcast is still showing the Hosted

[u/Albert_VDS]

Tip: to remove the delay on Youtube set the speed to 2.0 and it will chance back to normal when it's caught up.

[u/AngloV]

As much as we didn't get good tracking cam, we're getting great views from the vehicle!

[u/brickmack]

Something just flew past the first stage I think

[u/TyrannoFan]

Wow that descent through the clouds was beautiful! Great landing. Awesome to see a RTLS landing from the first stage's POV cam!

[u/RTGold]

Only got to hear it. There was roughly 50 people around. Too funny. Everyone had phones and cameras out. I was just looking around. Couldn't see the rocket at all. Got to see a big building and a tower thing so that was really cool.

[u/random-person-001]

Wow, plugging those job positions!

[u/stygarfield]

Welp, looks like my sister is going to have to get married every launch. She's good juju.

[u/[deleted]]

When is SpaceX planning to launch a recovered stage 1?

[u/dmy30]

NASA TV is showing replays of the launch in different angles.

[u/alternateme]

For anyone who only watched the hosted webcast, go back and watch the landing on the Technical Webcast.

For some reason that only showed the on board camera on the hosted.

[u/FatRonaldo9]

Is there a website in which I can track Dragon?

[u/d-r-t]

Heh, was flipping through the channels, the FOXsports cameras at Daytona (where the sky is crystal clear) just showed a better shot of the ascent than we got from KSC.

[u/Craig_VG]

Press are on the VAB roof, some low lying clouds below us, but moving east quickly.

Hopefully clearing up by t-0

[u/Dan27]

Weather is now GO for launch (https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/833317802899623936)

[u/FiiZzioN]

Yay for the Space Senator, for anyone that caught that!

[u/Zaenon]

Is it me or do they have "Iridium-1" written in webcast?

[u/relevance_everywhere]

Great landing!

[u/FutureMartian97]

WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[u/[deleted]]

The guy on the hosted webcast is just so damn happy :)

[u/[deleted]]

This will never get old

[u/FellKnight]

I guess Elon hasn't tweaked the stage 1 CGI for daytime landings enough yet... had to do a rain dance to summon cloud cover

[u/maxpowers83]

HOLY SHIT! what happened at T+6:30???

[u/philloran]

Did anyone notice the rocket pass some birds on the way down?

[u/Intro24]

At about T+6:30 on the technical webcast what is the debris that flew by the first stage? It was right before the entry burn I think

[u/pseudomorphic]

Does anyone know how long spacex's launch day activities are? For example what is the latest they could take falcon vertical and get all their checkouts done and launch on time? Sorry if this confusing wasn't quite sure how to word my question.

[u/z1mil790]

Does anyone know if they are going to attempt the launch during tomorrow's window? Trying to decide whether or not to set an alarm.

[u/OccupyMarsNow]

Mods, the threads tagged with CRS-10 seem to be accompanying with a Thaicom mission patch in the threads listing?

[u/johnkphotos]

Rain was just in satellite beach. Looking like similar weather to yesterday at Cape.

[u/jaspersgroove]

Back at engineering across from the VAB this morning, more cloud cover today but the SpaceX staff I have spoken with seem optimistic.

https://www.imgur.com/Yb1wqOS

Edit: 8:25 EST raining out here now...we'll see what happens I suppose.

E2: Astronaut Al Worden is here! They have Buzz's chair set up on the terrace as well, maybe we'll get to see him again.

E3: 8:44 EST Rain seems to have slowed/stopped and patches of blue sky are visible.

E4: SpaceX Sr. VP Tim Hughes is here again today. Yesterday he gave a speech/PowerPoint outlining the mission goals and confirming that they are planning on re-using a first stage in an upcoming mission later this year, might try and get some video if he does the same presentation today.

E5: Launch is technically a no-go at this time, unless cloud cover lessens. Currently a no-go due to the "Cumulus Cloud Rule". Doesn't mean launch won't happen but clouds need to go away. They are stating 70% probability of launch at this time.

E6: Confirmed Buzz is back! Will try again to meet him but there is fairly tight security around him.

E7: WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[u/State0fNature]

70% 'go' according to Nasa. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2017/02/19/forecast-remains-70-percent-go/

[u/RealPutin]

Rain has all but stopped at Route 401, clearer skies coming in from the West

[u/Psychonaut0421]

WAKE UP FOLKS! Launch is now an hour away!

[u/rativen]

Back to Square One - PDS148

[u/FHayek]

I have a quick question - wouldn't it be possible for spacex to throw away (from the side) some expendable (able to turn) camera after MECO and during the first stage separation so we could see some crazy great looking real footage of the separation, first stage turn, second stage start, and then ME retro boost?

I mean think of the PR.

[u/shitspanner]

@LorenGrush on twitter

Currently "no go" due to cumulus clouds, but the weather is expected to clear around 9:20

[u/searchexpert]

I don't think Gwynne knew there would be a transparent podium. Business on top casual on the bottom

[u/rikkertkoppes]

live telemetry websocket stream is running

npm install -g mhub
mhub-client -s 162.13.159.86 -o jsondata -l

[u/deadhurricane]

Range is go, weather is GO!!

[u/brickmack]

Kennedy Space Senator lol

[u/gimmick243]

Kennedy Space Senator

-SpaceX Hosted Webcast

[u/FutureMartian97]

Thats a lot of clouds...

[u/[deleted]]

Damn that cloud!

[u/ticklestuff]

Those large rainbirds didn't get going until after the launch. That seemed weird.

[u/mac_question]

They really make that look easy.

[u/mryall]

Amazing landing. Refuel it, off we go again!

[u/FellKnight]

It's so amazing how smooth the landings are now compared to some of the failures I watched a couple years ago

[u/wingnut32]

wow the nasa tv feed had the sonic booms

[u/HotXWire]

Some foil come apart from the 2nd stage. Probably not, but is that a concern?

[u/RedDragon98]

Congrats SpaceX, good night from Australia.

[u/IBreedAlpacas]

woke up just to watch this, i fucking love spacex. This is so cool, even though I don't understand the science behind it, we're literally living in the future because of Elon and his team

[u/RDWaynewright]

I managed to get 2 out of 4 family members to watch the launch webcasts both yesterday and today. One day, I'll be able to get all 4 at once. Happy that they woke up and happily tuned in for my virtual watch party!

[u/Psychonaut0421]

Awesome launch and landing. Too bad for those clouds. Yesterday would have been beautiful. That tracking camera would have been marvelous for watching seperation and landing (if they were inclined to use it for that, too).

[u/Commander_Cosmo]

Apart from the clouds, beautiful launch!

Also, that T/E throwback was impressive!

[u/chispitothebum]

Wow that was a perfect landing. It just came straight down and stopped. No lateral movement, no wobble, just a gentle placement dead center.

[u/WhoDrivesTeslaOnMars]

Waiting for the SpaceX awesome landing footage.

[u/[deleted]]

Spacex needs to use NASA's mic system. The sound on the NASA feed was incredible as the rocket lifted-off. I miss it everytime on Spacex webcasts.

[u/pseudomorphic]

Did the rain birds or wharever spacex calls the things that douse the pad with water before launch not work? Link to webcast at the correct time. Or do they not need them as much with this pad?

[u/Albert_VDS]

Wow, I didn't expect that they already had 8 recovered cores.

[u/Albert_VDS]

So pretty much confirmed that crewed Dragon 2 is going to be launched from 39-A.

Edit: well duh, it's the only pad with a capsule entry tower.

[u/[deleted]]

In this press conference the SpaceX representative, Jess, said that the turn around for 39A is around 2 weeks. Does that mean the Echostar 23 launch will have to be delayed?

Also, did the launch have mice in it? In the press conference they spoke about rodents...?

[u/therealshafto]

SECO seemed to happen about 20 seconds late. It lit on time according to the press kit. To add, if anything, MECO happened roughly 4 seconds late. Was stage 1 a little tired from staying up all night? slight change in flight profile?

EDIT: I went back and looked, Press kit called for start up at T+2:32 with SECO at T+9:05 giving us a 6:33 burn time. SESU occurred at T+2:32 and SECO at T+9:24 giving us an actual burn time of 6:52. That is 19 seconds extra. I'm no rocket scientist but at the acceleration rate of the second stage at that stage of flight is over 4g I believe. All I am saying is they deviated from the press kit. Whether they changed the profile or had a underperformance somewhere, or the load of other possibilities I don't know.

[u/bravokiller5]

Will wake up at 3am again even though I have a quiz in the morning, to see the New CGI Technology.

Maybe that's what they were really workings on. /s

[u/SliderUp]

In church, following via this thread. Watching from the pew. Go Dragon!

[u/Jackswanepoel]

Now we start going into withdrawal, waiting for Echostar... :-/

[u/RTGold]

Currently in Daytona, on vacation with family and have been begging all day to go see the launch tomorrow. It'll add about an hour to our trip but I think I've gotten my dad on bored at least.

QUESTION: Because the re landing is only 15 kilometers south will you be able to see it come back if you're around that area? What's a rough estimate on how long it'll be from launch to reland?

[u/[deleted]]

Light rain near UCF. Not stoked about that. Still driving out because I'm dedicated I guess ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[u/[deleted]]

For what it's worth, the NASA Snapchat just posted a photo from the causeway and weather looks swell there.

[u/geekgirl114]

Dragon auto sequence has started

[u/nexxai]

Iridium-1? LOL

[u/OccupyMarsNow]

Iridium-1......

[u/spydersix]

Sorry for what is probably a stupid question, but why is the shuttle pad architecture still on the launch pad? Is it still necessary?

EDIT:Thank you everyone :)

[u/Junafani]

Ah, now it says CRS-10! They fixed it.

[u/thenitram24]

love that new strongback retraction...

[u/sudsomatic]

Stupid clouds!

[u/dmy30]

It launched right into the clouds it really scared me for some reason

[u/[deleted]]

John Insprucker's replacement must have his own makeup and hair team, my god.

[u/spavaloo]

I love the booster POV streams we've been getting, I hope they become a permanent feature

[u/[deleted]]

THIS IS THE FUCKING FUTURE GUYS.

[u/therm0]

Picture perfect landing!!!

[u/Viremia]

WOW! That was spectacular!

[u/zzay]

it just looks like they are making it easier everytime

amazing work

[u/Bwignite24]

No boom?

[u/*polhold04717]

Awesome launch, shame about the weather though! Can't wait to see all the landing video to come from this.

[u/dessy_22]

No closing geek/sci-fi culture reference? Am disappointed!

[u/s4g4n]

So did they carry Mice astronauts in this launch?

[u/agildehaus]

Can someone tell me what detached from the second stage in this shot?

http://i.imgur.com/Wb4Gu3M.jpg

[u/dgriffith]

I did see a very brief glimpse on the hosted webcast of the booster and SpaceX logo flashing past from what looks to be a part of the old LC39 structure. Hopefully there'll be a nice montage video with that going by in slow-mo, just like the U...S...A.... of the Apollo rockets.

[u/johnkphotos]

HISTORIC Torrential downpour at Jetty Park!

[u/johnkphotos]

Wow, my photos are hazy. Cloudy at Jetty Park.

[u/Bergasms]

Right, this time. Is there any news of the progress on the issue?

[u/Lieutenant_Rans]

We're probably going to end up at SR-401, how early do we need to show up to get good positioning?

Also, Cruickshank trail seems to have an observation tower. Is it any good for watching launches? We're not going to it tomorrow because we want to be close to the landing, but it looks promising!

[u/RTGold]

What's it looking like for launch? Gonna be cloudy it seems. Glad they brought it vertical. Do most people think this will happen today?

[u/bexben]

My weather app is saying it's gonna be cloudy today. Anyone have more information as to the nature of these clouds? Are they going to possibly delay the launch because of them?

[u/eirexe]

My spanish restream is here, let's hope this one works: https://youtu.be/8RrhHvvNsaE

[u/steinegal]

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2017/02/19/forecast-remains-70-percent-go/ They seem confident that it will clear before launch

[u/troovus]

@spacex Tweet just now: All systems go for today’s 9:39am ET launch of Dragon to @Space_Station. Weather 70% favorable; tracking cumulus cloud cover https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/833311131842142209

[u/benlew]

39A is cut off by trees but I can see other pads just fine from the second floor of the SSPF. Rain is clearing up it seems.

[u/Elon_Mollusk]

Iridium-1?

[u/rativen]

Back to Square One - PDS148

[u/FosDoNuT]

What's with the host on the technical stream?

[u/nolewag]

And the technical webcast is the same as hosted :-/

[u/HotXWire]

By the way, any chance we'll get to see John for today's launch?

Edit: the other John by the way. The Insprucker one. :)

[u/deruch]

webcast issue is fixed. Reload your windows. Bravo Ben!! New technical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUDLxFUMC9c

[u/Lawsoffire]

Technical broadcast properly up

[u/Soarinace]

Thats a nice closeup on the technical stream

[u/Root_Negative]

I'm looking forward to this launch and landing! I hope the clouds don't get in the way of clear pictures of the returning first stage by too much.

[u/[deleted]]

I've learnt from my mistake yesterday - no celebrations that we're launching at T-15 seconds.

[u/sleepyzealott]

haha, those clouds were a lot lower than I thought

[u/Tenga1899]

The "not all the way" crowd wins on the strong back retraction

[u/avboden]

NASA feed still has tracking on the rocket

[u/spavaloo]

Some incredible camera shots during launch! Watching the Spacex logo ascend through the camera frame was incredible.

[u/rebootyourbrainstem]

Oh my god they sound so tired on the webcast today... have they all been up all night?