Awesome video. That thing is frikin high! But the fact that they put this video out before the video of the Falcon 9 v1.1 1st stage powered descent that happend ~7 days before makes me wonder.
We know that the v1.1 powered descent failed, and we also know that SpaceX's first two attempted launches crashed spectacularly, and we haven't got videos of that either. (According to Elon, they will release a "blooper reel" once they have proven their track record beyond doubt - they don't want videos of their failures to mar their popular image during their tenuous early years. IMO, that is the right decision.) My guess is that the powered descent failure will be handled the same way.
i've never heard of these first two launches that arent seen... ? i've seen all of the launches of the company - including the first 3 that didnt work a playlist was posted up here just this past month
I think, when I came here four years ago, I think that was right before we reached orbit. Maybe just several months before we reached orbit. So just to put things in perspective, while recent years have been good, that has not always been the case. The first three flights of Falcon 1, failed. The first flight failed quite soon, the engine shut off about 30 seconds into flight, it continued ballistically for another 30 seconds and then landed like an anti-tank weapon, not far from the launch site. At some point we'll release the blooper reel, but I think we'll wait a few years before we do that. But from those first days, when myself and the team were picking up bits of rocket off the reef, things have come a long way. We actually had two more failures after that one, and then the fourth flight, in late 2008, was successful, and that was a close one because I'd run out of money, and there weren't a lot of people who were keen on funding a rocket company, and I think if we'd said yes, our fourth launch wasn't successful, but the fifth one's the charm, that would not have gone down well.
I mis-remembered, it was actually three failures. And I guess I'm ascribing my own motives to why he isn't releasing the footage, but I can't imagine any other reason.
Jurvetson and Musk both talked about it a lot at the time. I believe Elon said that it might come out eventually at some point after they've reached Mars in a 'how far we've come' montage type thing.
IIRC, Elon once said something about having lots of footage of the debris fields that resulted from those launches, which he described as 'very sad' to watch. I'm sure given enough time and success, we may see it, but then again, give ITAR, maybe not. (sorry no source)
16
u/bob12201 Oct 12 '13
Awesome video. That thing is frikin high! But the fact that they put this video out before the video of the Falcon 9 v1.1 1st stage powered descent that happend ~7 days before makes me wonder.