DailyDirt: 3, 2, 1... Liftoff

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Re-usable spacecraft sound like a good idea -- if they actually saved any costs and refurbishing them was economical. There are only a few examples of re-usable space vehicles so far, and NASA retired its space shuttle program in 2011, narrowing the field a bit. SpaceX seems to be getting closer to demonstrating a re-usable rocket system, but it still needs to re-launch one of its rockets (and it currently only has one rocket for such an attempt). After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: balloons, re-usable rockets, rockets, spacecraft, suborbital, x-37b
Companies: boeing, nasa, spacex


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  • identicon
    Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 24 May 2016 @ 7:58pm

    For The ESA, It Is “3, 2, 1 ... Ignition”

    Time T (as in “T minus time”) is defined differently by NASA versus the ESA: the former defines it as the moment of liftoff, the latter as the moment of engine ignition. So liftoff happens at T plus a few seconds.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Roger Strong (profile), 24 May 2016 @ 8:28pm

      Re: For The ESA, It Is “3, 2, 1 ... Ignition”

      I wonder how the ESA would have handled the Space Shuttle.

      First the Shuttle main engines ignite, get up to speed, and get checked out. Only then do the solids ignite. (And THAT's when liftoff happens, ready or not.)

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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