A successful launch but unfortunately they were unable to land the first stage on the floating platform again.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

From Space.com
SpaceX Narrowly Misses Rocket Landing After Dragon Spaceship Launch Success

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the company's Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station today, then turned around and nearly pulled off a soft landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Photos: SpaceX's Rocket Landing Test and 6th Dragon Cargo Flight

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I wonder why the links that are supposed to lead to photos of the failed landing attempt run one in circles back to the launch but never show any pictures of the landing attempt.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

I wonder why the links that are supposed to lead to photos of the failed landing attempt run one in circles back to the launch but never show any pictures of the landing attempt.

This link appears to have a short video showing the attempted landing:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/14/us/spacex-rocket-launch/index.html

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

don't want to give CNN undeserved web traffic. the original, publicly released video is posted on SpaceX's own YouTube channel here at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMSzC1crr0

the explanation for the imperfect landing, according to Musk, is that the throttle valve for the engines was "sticky," so there was a tiny lag in response time. combined with the gimballing of the engine nozzle for thrust vectoring, the computer overreacted to compensate with the delay, which caused the rocket to wobble as seen on the video. i don't think Musk has said what changes will be made but i'm going to guess they'll update either the valve itself and/or the software. if that's the main problem, then maybe the next attempt at CRS-7 will succeed.

the question i have is why is this landing designed with a suicide burn? the minimum thrust to weight ratio of a single engine is more than 1, so the 1st stage cannot hover, unlike the F9R test rocket seen in other SpaceX videos. so the 1st stage burns with the intent of touching down at the exact moment that the rocket decelerates to 0 m/s. that's why it appears to come down at such a high velocity. i read that the engine can only be throttled down to 40% of maximum, but that other rockets in use can go much further down. couldn't SpaceX make the next iteration of the Merlin engine have a much smaller minimum throttle? there's probably some explanation for them not doing that, since they obviously have been working on ways to land the 1st stage for years.

wishing SpaceX luck for next attempt. CRS-7 is scheduled for June 22.

They needed Neil Armstrong at the controls. But unfortunately he is no longer with us.

Frankly I am surprised they did as well as they did. On the one hand the rocket needs enough power to get the second stage to the right altitude and speed. Without that the rest is pointless. Then they need to use some combination of the ascent engines and the remaining fuel supply to achieve a safe landing. Adding more fuel or extra rocket motors adds weight, then they need more power to get to the target speed to release the second stage. Or they have to cut payload weight. If it were easy Lockheed/Martin or Boeing would have already done it.

Maybe a solution would be to use parachutes for part of the descent and then power up the rocket for the final few miles.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

i'm with you Bob...it's amazing that they did so much!

but in my humble oppinion they would have to straighten the rocket before it makes the decceleration...with small thrusters, fix it that it falls vertical on target & then just small correction...
those over-corrections 'cause of the high speed rocket lateral movements...those are the ones that keep project from success! ;)

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non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

More on the same oops.
An unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft that would carry equipment to the International Space Station is about to plunge toward the Earth.
http://www.dn.se/webb-tv/klipp/nyheter/har-stortar-rymdskeppet/

Nobody's perfect, even the Russians.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.