Elon Musk's BFR

[LafayetteBear]

His "Big Effin' Rocket" is poised to launch from Cape Canaveral in about 2 minutes. It is on most of the TV networks. He's got a Tesla inside, and a recording of David Bowie's Space Odyssey. Should be interesting.

Edit: The rocket launched successfully. Musk said that, due to is size and the amount of thrust involved (5 million pounds of thrust), the possibility of it detonating on the launching pad was substantial. They even had successful landings, back on earth, of the booster rockets, which they plan to reuse. And yeah, Space Oddity, not Space Odyssey. Thanks, Ned.

 

[NedFromYork]

Space Oddity I believe. Probably heard it before, but it was on Sirius XM last week and I listened to it closely and in its entirety and loved it.

 

[Gnat91]

Why the hell did he shoot a car into space?

 

[psuro]

Why the hell did he shoot a car into space?

Because he is Elon Musk.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Why the hell did he shoot a car into space?

According to a news report I heard on the radio, the Tesla is in the very nose of the capsule (in fact, the front grille of the Tesla is apparently the nose of the capsule), and it is set to go into a "permanent" orbit of the sun. Apparently this (red) Tesla was Musk's personal car.

The guy does everything in a big way..

 

[BobPSU92]

Musk said that, due to is size and the amount of thrust involved (5 million pounds of thrust), the possibility of it detonating on the launching pad was substantial.

I have the same problem.

 

[The Spin Meister]

Why the hell did he shoot a car into space?

'cause this was so risky and experimental that no one would risk putting on a payload worth hundreds of millions Bet they are surprised it worked first time off the pad.

 

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

Actually, although this is a big launch vehicle, the BFR is an entirely different vehicle yet to come.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFR_(rocket)

 

[The Song Remains the Same]

Why the hell did he shoot a car into space?

Because he can.

 

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

Pre-launch animation with music (Life on Mars).....


Live view of Starman behind the wheel...

 

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

Pre-launch animation with music (Life on Mars).....

View embedded media

Live view of Starman behind the wheel...

View embedded media

Note on the live shot: On standard missions, the payload will proceed directly on a trajectory towards target from launch. However, on this test flight, the payload is doing a six-hour coast in orbit before firing on trajectory to prove an additional capability to NASA.

 

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

 

[Nittany.Lion]

His "Big Effin' Rocket" is poised to launch from Cape Canaveral in about 2 minutes. It is on most of the TV networks. He's got a Tesla inside, and a recording of David Bowie's Space Odyssey. Should be interesting.

Edit: The rocket launched successfully. Musk said that, due to is size and the amount of thrust involved (5 million pounds of thrust), the possibility of it detonating on the launching pad was substantial. They even had successful landings, back on earth, of the booster rockets, which they plan to reuse. And yeah, Space Oddity, not Space Odyssey. Thanks, Ned.

It was mostly successful, I just read that the center rocket booster missed its landing on the drone ship by 100 meters and hit the ocean at 300 mph. Two of three engines used to slow it down failed to fire.

 

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

 

[Split_T]

Watched it from Hutchinson Island. Beaches were filled with people to witness the launch. Miss seeing the maned space shuttle flights which would draw larger crowds to the beaches.

 

[lj4heisman1]

View embedded media

Not sure what this means but this rocket ain't past mars orbit yet.....

 

[Ct. Lion]

I spend the winter in New Smyrna Beach Fl. just north of the entrance to the Canaveral National Sea Shore and the park closed access three hours before the original early launch time due to every parking lot being full already. There was a lot of interest in seeing this launch. The beaches in front of our area were very crowded.
What I found fascinating was the return of the two side boosters. A few minutes after the rocket left our view and out of the atmosphere the two rockets reappeared when they descended to a height where they started their main thrusters again. Then the two burning globes continued to descend for a bit and after that to see more you had to watch it return all the way to the ground via TV.
Regarding the Tesla vehicle, I bet we see it again in Ads for his vehicles. A great way to write off the launch as an advertising expense.
Though this launch was the best in a long time it doesn't come close to a night time Shuttle launch. It is somewhat sad that program is over now. When the Shuttle was launched at night you could read a newspaper on the beach here in NSB which is about 30 miles north of the launch pads. The noise is also deafening, even at that distance.

 

[kgilbert78]

Not sure what this means but this rocket ain't past mars orbit yet.....

Means it's going fast enough to go past Mars's orbit in its own orbit.

 

[rumble_lion]

I spend the winter in New Smyrna Beach Fl. just north of the entrance to the Canaveral National Sea Shore and the park closed access three hours before the original early launch time due to every parking lot being full already. There was a lot of interest in seeing this launch. The beaches in front of our area were very crowded.
What I found fascinating was the return of the two side boosters. A few minutes after the rocket left our view and out of the atmosphere the two rockets reappeared when they descended to a height where they started their main thrusters again. Then the two burning globes continued to descend for a bit and after that to see more you had to watch it return all the way to the ground via TV.
Regarding the Tesla vehicle, I bet we see it again in Ads for his vehicles. A great way to write off the launch as an advertising expense.
Though this launch was the best in a long time it doesn't come close to a night time Shuttle launch. It is somewhat sad that program is over now. When the Shuttle was launched at night you could read a newspaper on the beach here in NSB which is about 30 miles north of the launch pads. The noise is also deafening, even at that distance.

Then the two burning globes continued to descend for a bit and after that to see more you had to watch it return all the way to the ground via TV.
Regarding the Tesla vehicle, I bet we see it again in Ads for his vehicles. A great way to write off the launch as an advertising expense.

Well the car they launched, the Tesla Roadster hasn't been sold since 2012. Plus Tesla spends very little on advertising, I've seen numbers at about 6$ per car. Musk believes you don't need advertising if your product is superior.

 

[Ct. Lion]

Then the two burning globes continued to descend for a bit and after that to see more you had to watch it return all the way to the ground via TV.
Regarding the Tesla vehicle, I bet we see it again in Ads for his vehicles. A great way to write off the launch as an advertising expense.

Well the car they launched, the Tesla Roadster hasn't been sold since 2012. Plus Tesla spends very little on advertising, I've seen numbers at about 6$ per car. Musk believes you don't need advertising if your product is superior.

If you want to word-smith this by changing ads and advertising to publicity or something else then no need to quibble but Elon Musk doesn't do things like putting a car with an mannequin astronaut driver into space just on a whim. He will find other ways to make this event work for him financially and for visibility purposes.

 

[Cosmos]

Because he is Elon Musk.

Because he's a showboat who fancies himself as the next Nikoli Tesla.

 

[Cosmos]

If you want to word-smith this by changing ads and advertising to publicity or something else then no need to quibble but Elon Musk doesn't do things like putting a car with an mannequin astronaut driver into space just on a whim. He will find other ways to make this event work for him financially and for visibility purposes.

Exactly! One thing you can credit Musk for is stage craft. He doesn't take a dump without a plan.

 

[Cosmos]

His "Big Effin' Rocket" is poised to launch from Cape Canaveral in about 2 minutes. It is on most of the TV networks. He's got a Tesla inside, and a recording of David Bowie's Space Odyssey. Should be interesting.

Edit: The rocket launched successfully. Musk said that, due to is size and the amount of thrust involved (5 million pounds of thrust), the possibility of it detonating on the launching pad was substantial. They even had successful landings, back on earth, of the booster rockets, which they plan to reuse. And yeah, Space Oddity, not Space Odyssey. Thanks, Ned.

They should call it Elon Musk's BFD.

 

[fairfaxlion2]

If you want to word-smith this by changing ads and advertising to publicity or something else then no need to quibble but Elon Musk doesn't do things like putting a car with an mannequin astronaut driver into space just on a whim. He will find other ways to make this event work for him financially and for visibility purposes.

Elon Musk = PT Barnum.

 

[rumble_lion]

If you want to word-smith this by changing ads and advertising to publicity or something else then no need to quibble but Elon Musk doesn't do things like putting a car with an mannequin astronaut driver into space just on a whim. He will find other ways to make this event work for him financially and for visibility purposes.

hmmm, well whatever. Don't believe they need more demand for their cars right now......

Does make for a cool pic.

 

[kgilbert78]

hmmm, well whatever. Don't believe they need more demand for their cars right now......

Does make for a cool pic.

It soon will be the car with the most mileage on it in history (currently held by the Mars Rover).