Rocket Staging
Well, the past week has been pretty eventful; we sold our 650-square-foot condo and have bought a 1400-square-foot townhouse in Richmond, BC. And we’re moving in just over 3 weeks, so the craziness is like to continue.
I’ve even been too busy to note last Saturday’s SpaceX launch and subsequent failure of their 3rd Falcon 1 rocket. Turns out that the new engine they were testing burned a little longer than they expected after shutdown, and the first stage bumped into the second stage after they separated. Which is disappointing, but an easy fix — just separate a bit later after main engine cutoff.
There’s even a video, which is pretty darn cool.
SpaceX say that they might launch another rocket in a month or so. I’m a huge space geek, so of course I’m hoping that the fourth time will be the charm.
What a great video clip! They weren’t kidding when they said the first stage bumped into the second stage. Makes figuring out what went wrong that much easier.
I especially liked the brief glimpse at the end of the second stage whirling round and round while the fairing separated.