for those that have read the excellent
waitbutwhy elon musk series, you know the deal here.
for those that haven't this is a huge deal for spacex and human space travel in general. being able to reuse the first stage would make space launches up to 90% cheaper than they currently are.
according to waitbutwhy:
Quote:
what you have here are four possible outcomes:
1) The terrible outcome: A mission failure—everyone at SpaceX will be massively devastated. I’ll wish I had a remote control I could press that would make me teletransport to anywhere other than where I am.
2) The fine/whatevs outcome: A mission success (meaning the satellites are successfully deployed) but they’re unable to land the first stage—SpaceX will be relieved and generally pleased but secretly disappointed because the historic thing didn’t happen.
3) The spectacularly great outcome: A mission success in orbit and a successful first stage landing back on Earth—SpaceX employees will go ape**** like their team just won the Superbowl on a last second Hail Mary.
4) The super awkward outcome: The launch goes normally, the first stage separates and lands successfully and SpaceX makes history! But then something goes wrong with the deployment of the satellites and the mission itself is a failure. A crestfallen client watches as SpaceX’s employees scream and celebrate. I frantically try to figure out what demeanor to have on. This is like your team winning the Superbowl on a last second Hail Mary but the person you’re in the room watching the game with had bet his life savings on the game and that last touchdown loses him the bet.
you can watch either on the
waitbutwhy ********** or on
the spacex website
launch is tentatively scheduled for 8:33pm eastern tonight
