How can I not feature SpaceX today? Simply from an American perspective, it’s great to see our astronauts not having to hitch a ride on Russian hardware anymore. Even better is seeing it be done by a private company. It’s tough to call SpaceX an underdog, given that they’ve quickly become a major player in the space launch market, but it’s equally clear that they have been very much the outsider in comparison to what the NASA culture wanted. But where multiple NASA-supported projects have been cancelled (Constellation), or delayed (SLS/Orion), SpaceX just kept on pushing forward until there was simply no way to ignore them.
Here’s a replay of Saturday’s launch.
And secondly, because this video still gives me chills, simultaneous booster landings.
I can’t get enough of this video. Rockets returning to their base and landing vertically on deployable landing legs is the science fiction future I was promised.
Finally, I love that SpaceX has a sense of humor about their trials and tribulations. That’s something else that seems sorely missing from the modern bureaucratic, staid, risk-averse NASA. (Not from the astronauts themselves, just the government bureaucracy which supports them.)
Oh, and just to put another little exclamation point on Space X’s accomplishments, last night they had another launch. “Just” a regular satellite launch, which saw them successfully launch and land the same booster for a record 5th time!