# Space X



## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Anybody else watching? Looks like a probable weather delay for the day but still pretty wild moment in history.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

tune in again on the 30th.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Will do, thanks for update. Turned it off about 10 minutes after they called it.


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

It's cool to see what private innovation can bring to our space program. Also strange that after all this time we can send men to space but not if its raining or cloudy.

Sent from my SM-N976U using Tapatalk


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

KineKilla said:


> It's cool to see what private innovation can bring to our space program. Also strange that after all this time we can send men to space but not if its raining or cloudy.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N976U using Tapatalk


I was thinking the same thing! I'm not a rocket scientist, just a brain surgeon is all but, I'd think space is worse than a rain storm.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Lightning and atmospheric electric currents are no joke. It's been a long time since I was a full throttle NASA dork but each of the post take off maneuvers (assuming the Dragon has to do something similar) are extremely precise at a vulnerable time so even an indirect pulse that affects the panels could be devastating. And I can't imagine what a direct hit from lightning would mean for one of those craft. Being strapped to a rocket has it's risks.

NASA doesn't mess around with those protocols and I can't imagine SpaceX has any interest in that risk. Not to mention, I'm not sure what another disaster would do to the American manned space programs in general. 

These space station missions are rough that way too. Sounds like they had a clear window after the takeoff time but the space station would have traveled too far in that twenty minute timeframe. Hard to imagine operating at that level of precision and accuracy. Nor can I imagine sitting in those chairs as crew having to be prepped for takeoff but then having the opportunity disappear for three days. Such a wild, fickle career.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Space travel may still be affected by lightning but we are getting closer to transformers taking over the planet at least. I think we skipped a few promised steps like hovercraft skateboards.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Already live but launch is a few hours away.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

past t-30 and good enough weather. pretty cool.

still struggling to get out of "sts" mindset I grew up on. Dragon is so different.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

pretty amazing.

Can't believe we get to watch them "live" even with split screen of landing stage 1. 

Stunning ingenuity.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I remember sitting in school during the first launch of the Mercury capsule and watching it on a TV that they brought into the classroom. It was just as intriguing today as it was way back then.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Space is cool. 

Exploration is cool. 

This is cool.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

When my grandfather was a boy he hauled gravel from Lehi into the Salt lake valley by horse and wagon. He was always fun to be around when the space launches started.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

middlefork said:


> When my grandfather was a boy he hauled gravel from Lehi into the Salt lake valley by horse and wagon. He was always fun to be around when the space launches started.


I can only imagine. My parents told me the same about my great grandmother, from horse and buggy in the Midwest to space travel. That's a paradigm shift.

I'm still grasping the change from the STS to the newer modules. I was lucky enough to "intern" in high school at NASA Langley for a full year. I had forgotten how visceral some of the experiences were until Hidden Figures came out and could remember unusual details about the wind tunnels there. But we were learning design with newer technology called "CAD" (what iteration are they on now?) but nobody was talking about returning to rocket based capsules back then. Granted the Space X cargo pods are light-years ahead and I don't think anybody was remotely considering landing rockets on re-entry either.

Always happy to see how many people think outside the box and are driving innovation. I hope a newer generation gets as excited about the US returning to launched as I was as a kid. Now if I could just come up with a couple million to buy my way onto a commercial spot in the future.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

backcountry said:


> still struggling to get out of "sts" mindset I grew up on. Dragon is so different.


Just wait until we get to "SLS". That's going to be awesome!!:O||:


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