Blue Origin Beats SpaceX to First Launch Vehicle Landing

[JohnQPublic]

https://youtu.be/9pillaOxGCo

[JohnQPublic]

Elon Musk was quick to point out that SpaceX did this (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/669199392231063552?ref_src=twsrc^tfw):


https://youtu.be/2t15vP1PyoA

Not quite as impressive, but the Falcoln 9 is a much bigger rocket (though this one barely took off then landed).

[Glass]

I really like to know how they were able to stabilize it so well.

I wonder how high they will be aiming to shoot? Less than 600Kms? ~400 miles? or higher?

[JohnQPublic]

I really like to know how they were able to stabilize it so well.

I wonder how high they will be aiming to shoot? Less than 600Kms? ~400 miles? or higher?

The Blue Origin went 100.5 km. I do not think it will go too much higher.

SpaceX is shooting for (no pun intended, or was it?) LEO and smaller payloads into GTO (geosynchronous transfer orbit). I think quite a bit further than the Blue Origin.

[vacuum]

It's the difference between getting into space and getting into orbit. Here's an example which Musk tweeted to show the difference:

https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/

[Glass]

It's the difference between getting into space and getting into orbit. Here's an example which Musk tweeted to show the difference:

https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/


I thought this was very interesting.


Gravity in low Earth orbit is almost as strong as gravity on the surface. The Space Station hasn't escaped Earth's gravity at all; it's experiencing about 90% the pull that we feel on the surface.

So you only need to lose 10% of the gravitational pull of the earth to achieve weightlessness.

Very interesting indeed.

Of course no human has escaped the earths gravity. We know that the moon is held in place by gravity and as man has only gone to the moon and no where else, he has never been outside the influence of earths gravity. The only thing that is different is the strength.

Of course when on the moon, the astronauts continually fell to the ground just like on earth, except slower. However when you are on the international Space Station you don't fall to the ground or the ceiling or the walls, which ever is on the closest side to the earth. Which would be where the gravitational pull is coming from.

It seems for some reason, you are weightless in the ISS but not on the moon. and one is 384,000 kms' further away that the other. At 400kms you are weightless but at 384,000 kms you are not.

It's very curious.

Edit
What I wrote above is kind of nonsensical if you think about it. The astronauts are pulled by the moons gravity to the moon. It is not earths gravity pulling them to the moon. However there is still kind of an angle there..... but not as curious as first thought.

[vacuum]

Glass,

The reason they are "weightless" in the space station is because they are spinning around the earth so fast. The centrifugal force they experience from spinning around the earth is perfectly balanced by the gravitational pull of earth. The two forces cancel out so they feel no force. This balance is required to maintain a stable orbit.

Theoretically, you could experience the same weightlessness on the surface of the earth which is 100% gravity if you were going fast enough around the earth. The only thing preventing this is the atmosphere which would cause air resistance/drag.