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• Cultural ref (Who’s on First)(Yeah, I know, but a whippersnapper might see this)
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (Falcon9 Starlink)
Textbook Night Launch
The awesome is now routine
We’ll look back on these as the Falcon9’s glory days
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (Falcon9 Starlink from Vandenberg)
First Falcon9 launch since yesterday
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (Falcon9 GPS)
It’s like they know what they’re doing
For satellite deployment, skip ahead to ~T+1h29m
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (Falcon Heavy, USSF Classified P/L)
Awww maaaan!
Super-nifty vid of the twin side-boosters’ boost-back burns (~T+2m50s)
(full-screen mandatory for full-awe mode)
Stuff That’s Fun to Watch
Sped-up version
Short enough to watch multiple times, full-screen,
paying attention to different things each time
Onboard view from Falcon 9’s flight to space and back during smallsat rideshare mission pic.twitter.com/V5PyKxTlWD
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 5, 2023
This view is from near the top of Stg-1 looking aft.
Notice how the engine plume gets wider as it gets higher due to the drop in the surrounding air pressure. The plume’s colors also change.
If the cold-gas attitude-control thrusters don’t seem to synch-up with the pitch/yaw motion, remember that the more obvious of the thrusters are high on the body, above the center of gravity.
Also notice that after the re-entry burn, when the atmosphere gets dense enough, the trusters go quiet; and the grid fins take the helm. Gimballing engines do the steering when they’re firing.
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• Previously
Here’s a good, detailed description of what’s goin’ on
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (Falcon9 rideshares)
This Stg-1’s fifteenth launch
Routine, cool video