APOD: West Coast Launch and Landing (2018 Oct 11)

[APOD Robot]

West Coast Launch and Landing

Explanation: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch dazzled viewers along the U.S. west coast after sunset on October 7. Rising from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, planet Earth, the Falcon 9's first stage then returned to a landing zone some 400 meters from the launch site less than 8 minutes after liftoff. Both launch and first stage landing (left) are captured in the frame of this two image stack, recorded by a stationary, sound-activated camera set up on a nearby hill. This Falcon 9 rocket delivered its payload, an Earth-observing satellite developed by Argentina's national space agency, to low Earth orbit. Of course, the Falcon 9 first stage had flown before. Following a launch from Vandenberg on July 25 it was recovered after landing on the autonomous drone ship Just Read the Instructions.

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[ta152h0]

Caramba !

[JohnD]

I did not know, and who would have thought, that hard-nosed businessman Elon Musk is a fan of Iain M. Banks', "The Culture"!

That he has named his, so-far three, drone landingships,
"Just Read The Instructions"
"Of Course I still Love You"
and
"A Shortfall of Gravitas", all names of AI Minds that run Culture spaceships in the books, is IMHO an enormous compliment to Banks, who as a lover of the dram and the craic, would have enjoyed it very much!

John

[heehaw]

Wow!