CRS-5 Launch-Private Rocket Fails to Stick the Landing An unmanned rocket carrying equipment and supplies for the International Space Station reached orbit on Saturday morning, but an audacious attempt to land the rocket’s first stage on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean was unsuccessful. With a brilliant burst of flames, the Falcon 9 rocket, built and operated by Space Exploration Technologies, better known as SpaceX, roared into the predawn sky from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. “Orbit is nominal,” George Diller, the launch commentator, said on NASA Television about 15 minutes later. “Nothing is amiss.” It was the fifth mission under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. The cargo capsule on top of the rocket, with more than 5,000 pounds of payload, is to arrive at the space station on Monday. But Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX, wrote on Twitter that the attempt to land the first stage on a platform in the ocean, in the hope that it could be used again, failed. “Close, but no cigar this time,” Mr. Musk wrote. After the first stage separated, its engines fired again to turn it around and bring it into a controlled descent. SpaceX had tried similar maneuvers on three earlier flights and twice had slowed the 14-story-tall rocket stage to hover over the ocean before it toppled over and broke apart. This time, SpaceX placed a platform in the ocean. The company also added “grid fins” to the side of the rocket to steer it precisely to the 300-foot-by-170-foot platform, about 200 miles east of Jacksonville, Fla. Mr. Musk had guessed that the chance of success on the first try would be 50-50 at best. SpaceX staff members observed the landing attempt from a safe distance away on a second ship. In subsequnt tweets, Mr. Musk reported that some equipment on the deck would have to be replaced but that the ship itself was fine. In the early morning darkness, SpaceX did not get a good video recording of the landing attempt, Mr. Musk said. “Will piece it together from telemetry and ... actual pieces,” Mr. Musk wrote. If recovering the first stages of rockets like the Falcon 9 proves viable, the cost of future launches could be greatly reduced. The cargo capsule is scheduled to arrive at the space station on Monday around 6 a.m. The station’s robotic arm will then grab onto the capsule and swing it to a docking port. The launch had been scheduled for Dec. 19, but was postponed to Jan. 6 after a test firing of the rocket engines was cut short. The Jan. 6 attempt was called off with less than 90 seconds left in the countdown because of a problem with the steering mechanism on the second stage. On Saturday, the launch appeared flawless. The cargo includes the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System, an instrument that is to measure the distribution of clouds, dust, smoke and other particles in the atmosphere. The information will aid computer models of the planet’s changing climate. The capsule is also carrying passengers — flatworms and fruit flies. The two species are well-studied organisms on Earth, and scientists are hoping to understand how the biological processes change in the absence of gravity. Also aboard are student experiments to replace those that were destroyed when a cargo rocket built by the Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., exploded in October. NASA hired SpaceX and Orbital to ferry supplies to the space station, part of an effort to reduce costs and spur the private space industry. Until Orbital can resume flights — it plans to launch the next two missions using a competitor’s rocket, the Atlas 5, from the United Launch Alliance — NASA will have to rely on SpaceX. The Russians continue to launch Progress cargo ships to the space station. After a month at the space station, the SpaceX capsule will return to Earth, parachuting to the Pacific Ocean with experiments, equipment and trash. CRS-5 Launch-After five successful missions to the International Space Station, including four official resupply missions for NASA, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon sp... * ~☣ ~ ☣ * ☣ ~ ☣ ~* please, #Sharetheword: share this story with your friends! {♛#Israel♛#Jews♛#Jewish♛} ☣follow*[Mooch/ #moooch]*for more news Join us~The Associated Press~ on #Flika_Li_Milki Facebook*☣watch☣enjoy☣* Tell us what you the think, please, copy all~paste~ I beg you, please share. [https://youtube/watch?v=p7x-SumbynI]
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 16:02:26 +0000
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