I can't put into words how excited I am for this launch today.<p>I remember back in 2012 where spacex was still a laughingstock. The idea of landing a rocket from a private company was a joke.<p>But SpaceX always did one thing right, they made many care about space again. They broadcast their launches, made a bit of a show of it, and they weren't ashamed of their failures.<p>Then they started breaking milestones. They increased their launch cadence in what felt like overnight. They were actually trying (and failing) to land rockets, but they were still broadcasting them! Then they landed the first one on land, then the first one on a barge, then they re-launched rockets (and re-landed them!). Now it's weird when a rocket is launched in "expendable mode"!<p>I wanted to start this comment saying this is the most excited I've been of any launch in a long time, but when I really thought about it, it's not. There have been half a dozen launches in the past few years from SpaceX that were just as exciting, and that's amazing.<p>I hope today's launch goes well, and I hope this is the start of the "new normal"!
Falcon Heavy is just a toe in the door of super heavy launch. BFR will have 31 engines at liftoff compared to Falcon Heavy's 27. BFR will be about twice the thrust of Falcon Heavy, and most importantly BFR is not just a launch vehicle (which gives SpaceX a big edge in deploying megaconstellations of low-latency internet satellites), but the upper stage part will be a spacecraft capable of reentering the Earth's atmosphere with a payload and crew like Shuttle but also capable of being refueled and landing on (and taking off from) distant worlds. Falcon Heavy really helps provide this necessary interim step, and will help build a manifest of large payloads that BFR will be able to take over.<p>SpaceX is increasingly serious about BFR, their next-gen rocket which is like an enormous, fully reusable hybrid of Shuttle and Falcon 9 using soot-free and higher performing methane (which can also be made on Mars in a fairly straightforward process) instead of kerosene.<p>Musk mentioned BFR multiple times in the pre-launch press conference yesterday:
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/geekwire/elon-musk-discusses-the-launch-and-flight-of-the-falcon-heavy-rocket" rel="nofollow">https://soundcloud.com/geekwire/elon-musk-discusses-the-laun...</a><p>They're cancelling lunar Dragon+FH to focus on BFR which is making more progress than they expected. They plan to start flight testing the upper stage/spaceship portion of it by next year according to Elon in the prelaunch press conference.<p>Falcon Heavy was originally supposed to fly about as often as Falcon 9, but they upgraded Falcon 9 so much that now they barely need Falcon Heavy, as amazing as Falcon Heavy is.<p>Super excited about all this.
Here's a to-scale graph of the launch:<p><a href="https://imgur.com/a/XvPXG" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/XvPXG</a>
I'm not american or connected in any form or shape to the aerospace industry and yet I feel so excited for watching this. It has been absolutely mind-blowing watching all those rockets landing perfectly.
was planning on buying tickets but they sold out before I could get arrangements made with work and family. I grew up in Port Orange FL and could see the shuttle launch from New Smyrna Beach, there's nothing like seeing a launch in person. My colleagues are a little annoyed how excited I am but I can't help it hah.<p>Weather looks good so here's hoping for no delays!
Remember that Elon is saying there's even odds the rocket explodes. 2 failures in the first 10 launches is par for the course for new rockets. You can do better by being paranoid like ULA but that slows down innovation which is not the tradeoff SpaceX is going to take.
The linked chart is also very informative: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/science/spacex-falcon-launch.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/science/spacex-falc...</a><p>I only wished it showed successful landings as well.
I can't wait -- this is one of the most exciting and inspirational events of the year.<p>Best of luck to the spacex team -- we'll be watching!
Oh man, I didn't realize this was going to go into a solar orbit! I thought it was just going to stay in LEO and then eventually burn up on re-entry.
There was a media event yesterday at the launch site. Look how tiny those people are in this picture: <a href="https://i.redd.it/pq77omcrwge01.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://i.redd.it/pq77omcrwge01.jpg</a>
4 hours to go... I'm on the wrong continent :( I would have definitely gone there to view the launch, it's a real milestone and I so hope that it will work.
A thought I've had about SpaceX, Crazy Horse Memorial, and 9/11...<p>They were all once the kind of things that only nation-states could accomplish... Putting up massive payloads into space, building huge monuments, and killing thousands of people.<p>We've made all kinds of things easier to do - some good, some bad.<p>I hope we continue to grow into our capabilities a bit more smoothly than we seem to be, right now...
The webcast now says it is going live at "February 6, 14:50 EST". Any official word on a delay? I know the window was from 13:30 EST to I believe 16:00 EST.<p>Edit:
Looks like delayed due to upper level winds.<p><a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/960920426485399552" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/960920426485399552</a>