News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again). Parent comment

Re:SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again) by eganist on Friday May 27, 2016 @06:38PM (#11789567)
> Nope, wrong. It took as much damage as any returning stage could be expected to, but is still reusable.

Edited my comment with source tweet from Elon.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648

It's very likely not going to fly again.

Edit 2: per user mikeash, it's definitely flyable (i.e. I'm wrong), but it'll still be grounded to aid with testing efforts. Thanks for the kind correction, Mike! https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/734274360588926976

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again) by mikeash on Friday May 27, 2016 @06:47PM (#11789608)
"Max damage" doesn't imply unflyable. A later tweet clarified that it's capable of flying again. They'd rather keep it for extensive testing, though, as an example of the most extreme conditions. It won't fly again, but not because it's too busted.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again) by eganist on Friday May 27, 2016 @06:53PM (#11789629)
Edit: disregard per Mike's comment below.

I would think if damage was within tolerances (even at the maximum of such), they'd be willing to relaunch. Implications from the tweet and subsequent conversations are that the damage exceeded thresholds to guarantee safe future flight, which is why they'd use it for testing on the ground.

I'd still read his tweet as meaning it's "too busted" to fly, but I suppose it's up to each person's own interpretation. Your point is well received.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again) by mikeash on Friday May 27, 2016 @06:56PM (#11789641)
No need look for implications, there was a clear statement that it's flyable:

https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/73427436058892697...

It's being recruited as the testing leader because it represents the extreme, not because it's grounded.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again) by eganist on Friday May 27, 2016 @07:52PM (#11789902)
Nice catch; I went digging through his tweets and must've missed it. Thanks!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again) by mikeash on Friday May 27, 2016 @08:31PM (#11790042)
Some of this info can be hard to dig up, for sure. Of course, most companies are much tighter with their information, so I can't really complain!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again) by InclinedPlane on Friday May 27, 2016 @07:24PM (#11789778)
https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/73427436058892697...

Check your sources. Max damage meant upper limit of the range of expected damage.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage has landed (again) by eganist on Friday May 27, 2016 @07:55PM (#11789915)
Yup, user mikeash linked this soon after and clarified it for me, so I expressed my gratitude for his far more graceful and generally polite correction of the error in my comment. heh
[ Parent | on HN ]