back to article SpaceX dodges lightning while storms keep Japan earthbound

Grim weather at Cape Canaveral almost caused a scrub of this morning's Falcon 9 launch as heavy cloud and lightning storms blanketed the region. Rocket fans remember all too well the fun and games that happened in 1969 when Apollo 12's Saturn V fired through the clouds. A lightning strike left engineers and astronauts …

  1. TimR

    The boffins continued to eat through their four-hour launch window

    How many other people read that as "lunch"?

    1. Aladdin Sane
      Pint

      Re: The boffins continued to eat through their four-hour launch window

      They deserve it.

      And this ------>

  2. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    Pretty pictures here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSSjcFJsYpA

  3. MiguelC Silver badge

    It's almost unbelievable...

    ...How fast we got used to seeing news about SpaceX's launches and first-stage recoveries as a kind of "not news"

    I think there can be no greater compliment to their achievements than that!

    1. Anonymous Custard
      Headmaster

      Re: It's almost unbelievable...

      Although the warning from history about when the original manned launches went the same way (hint - Apollo 13) may be a timely reminder here to be careful what you wish for.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's almost unbelievable...

      Agreed.

      My only concern now is now that rocket science is easy, what are we going to use to explain how much easier something else is.

      It's not...? (Answers on a postcard to the usual address.)

      1. Aladdin Sane

        Re: It's almost unbelievable...

        Convincing people on the internet of your point of view.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        It's not...?

        It's not like dealing with users.

        1. steelpillow Silver badge

          Re: It's not...?

          It's not like teaching infosec to politicians.

          1. MAF
            Happy

            Re: It's not...?

            It's not like teaching ANYTHING to politicians. FTFY

      3. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
        Happy

        Re: It's almost unbelievable...

        It's not like assembling flat-pack furniture...

        1. Spherical Cow Silver badge

          Re: It's almost unbelievable...

          It's not like getting FAA approval for a ballocket launch.

  4. Elmer Phud

    Muskie

    "delighting the SpaceX fanboys with yet another successful touchdown, this time aboard the drone-ship "Of Course I Still Love You", stationed out in the Atlantic."

    This is the problem, every time Musk is a twat, the naming thing is such a plus point.

    And I feel that there are many at The Reg who also have this issue - being huge Banks fans.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: drone ship

      There is no truth in the rumour that Musk will soon rename this to "Of course I still think you're a ...."

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

        Re: drone ship

        Because I'm not all that interested in Tesla, I've mostly missed Musk being an idiot. So have been able to enjoy the exploits of SpaceX in blissful ignorance.

        But I was closely following the rescue in Malaysia - and couldn't ignore his rampant arseholery. The fact that he's gone all Trump and doubled-down on his bollocks since, rather than shutting up or apologising, is extra depressing. He's even made quite specific claims, suggesting he's done some research on the guy, only for journos to check them out and find them to be bollocks. It sort of takes the gloss of reading about SpaceX being successful at the moment, which is a shame.

        1. Jellied Eel Silver badge

          Re: drone ship

          And I feel that there are many at The Reg who also have this issue - being huge Banks fans.

          I also think that if Musk wants to be taken seriously in the manned space flight business, all his vehicles should be infra-black.

          (That's not a Shadows reference, but another band..)

          More seriously, I guess there's a lot of truth in Musk's comments about taking Tesla private. So every quarter, we get to pick over Tesla's financial details, and then gamblers can play the higher/lower games. With SpaceX being private, we can ignore all that and just geek out in front of the launches.

          (and never mind flamethrowers.. develop a mechanism that lets us eperience the full infrasound from a launch via the 'net. Neighbours may complain, but it's progress baby!)

          1. John Sager

            Re: drone ship

            Very large speakers at the end of a seriously long exponential horn. That would be a lethal weapon too.

            As for recovery, I suspect that it's pretty much impossible from a GTO. Much easier from LEO.

          2. Kernel

            Re: drone ship

            "I also think that if Musk wants to be taken seriously in the manned space flight business, all his vehicles should be infra-black."

            But should such a vehicle crash and burn it would be very hard to find the wreckage in the disaster area.

          3. steelpillow Silver badge

            Re: drone ship

            (That's not a Shadows reference, but another band..)

            "Set the controls to the heart of the sun" - yet a third band but a hint to the second nonetheless.

            1. Spherical Cow Silver badge

              Re: drone ship

              His ideas are getting progressively weirder.

              1. Make cool electric cars: that's a great idea.

              2. Make reusable space rockets: risky, but luckily it's going well.

              3. High speed trains inside vacuum tubes! That's just loopy.

              4. Dig loads of tunnels and put all the cars underground: he's reached a new low with this one.

        2. This post has been deleted by its author

          1. Kernel

            Re: drone ship

            "@I ain't Spartacus, exactly how close were you following that rescue in Malaysia (sic)?!"

            About as closely as you've been following the twat's tweets would be my guess - you appear to be unaware of last week's outpourings on the same subject.

            I've yet to see any news of apologies and remorse for his latest allegations.

        3. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge
          Headmaster

          Re: drone ship

          Malaysia? It was Thailand.

  5. Gene Cash Silver badge

    HTV-7

    The real problem is that

    1. the spacewalking astronauts are scheduled to come back down on Soyuz on Oct 4, so there's kind of a hard deadline there and time's getting tight.

    2. The ground needs to use the robot arm to pre-position the batteries for the spacewalk, which takes 3 or 4 days. That's bumping up against the time left too. If the flight docks by the 16th, which is the earliest possible now... then they've got 4 days. Tight.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: HTV-7

      As astronaut repair crews have been saying since time immemorial, "Weeeeelll, you can't get the parts guv. I mean I've spoken to the depot til I'm blue in the face, but do they listen? They just fob you off with rubbish about typhoons in Guam. I mean! I ask you! And then you've got your labour, and your wear-and-tear, space ice cream... I don't know, people are just so impatient nowadays. Everything's rush-rush-rush. Look, I'm not promising nothing, but I can probably fit you in next Tuesday. And what cowboy put this thing in anyway?"

  6. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    Glove box?

    You mean the ISS hasn't even got a glove box? Next you'll be telling there's no cup holders either!

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