Subdeacon Joe Posted March 18 Posted March 18 I'm sitting here giddy as a schoolboy watching the reentry, splash down, and recovery. About 5 minutes from splash to the small fast boats made it to Dragon. And another 5 for the recovery vessel to get there. The memories of the long waits, aircraft carrier divisions, helicopters with swimmers jumping out of them flooding back. The sense of awe, wonder, amazement, and joy are never going to go away. In fact, seem even greater now because of the comparisons I'm able to make. OOOOoooo.. DOLPHINS playing maybe 20 yards from Dragon! How COOL! WHAT A MARVELOUS TIME TO BE ALIVE! 4 3 1 Quote
Rye Miles #13621 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 Just now, Subdeacon Joe said: I'm sitting here giddy as a schoolboy watching the reentry, splash down, and recovery. About 5 minutes from splash to the small fast boats made it to Dragon. And another 5 for the recovery vessel to get there. The memories of the long waits, aircraft carrier divisions, helicopters with swimmers jumping out of them flooding back. The sense of awe, wonder, amazement, and joy are never going to go away. In fact, seem even greater now because of the comparisons I'm able to make. OOOOoooo.. DOLPHINS playing maybe 20 yards from Dragon! How COOL! WHAT A MARVELOUS TIME TO BE ALIVE! Me too!, just awesome!😎 1 1 Quote
Trailrider #896 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 As many "landings" and recoveries of manned and unmanned spacecraft I have seen, I'm always thrilled to see a successful recovery. Fascinating to watch the drogue chutes come out (reefed, unlike the Shuttle booster drogues, then disreefing, followed by four reefed mains, and watching them open up fully), and a neat splashdown! (I still have a fired reefing line cutter we used on a Space Shuttle solid rocket booster main parachute that I worked on.) Now who was responsible for coordinating the dolphin escorts? Great show! Do the dolphins get an extra ration of fish? 4 2 Quote
Stump Water Posted March 18 Posted March 18 (edited) 1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said: I'm sitting here giddy as a schoolboy watching the reentry, splash down, and recovery. About 5 minutes from splash to the small fast boats made it to Dragon. And another 5 for the recovery vessel to get there. The memories of the long waits, aircraft carrier divisions, helicopters with swimmers jumping out of them flooding back. The sense of awe, wonder, amazement, and joy are never going to go away. In fact, seem even greater now because of the comparisons I'm able to make. OOOOoooo.. DOLPHINS playing maybe 20 yards from Dragon! How COOL! WHAT A MARVELOUS TIME TO BE ALIVE! Agreed. Meanwhile... Quote SpaceX launched yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida this afternoon (March 18). ... just another day at the office for SpaceX . . Edited March 18 by Stump Water 1 Quote
Rye Miles #13621 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 I forgot that Suni Williams grew up in my town. She’s a Euclid girl! Welcome home Suni! 👍🏻🇺🇸 1 1 Quote
Chief Rick Posted March 19 Posted March 19 Can someone please tell me where the "coast of Tallahassee" is? Tallahassee is ~20 direct miles from the coast. It was driving me nuts hearing them repeat that over and over and over. 1 3 Quote
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted March 19 Posted March 19 3 hours ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said: A nice in your face Boeing! ….And back atcha Space X. They ain’t deep enough in orbit to take pics like this from the X-37, much less land on a runway with no humans aboard. Good on both companies. 🇺🇸 1 Quote
watab kid Posted March 19 Posted March 19 im not at all sure where the coast of Tallahassee is but i will say this came off in textbook fashion , everything went smooth [ok , maybe getting it in that cradle was a bit of a struggle[ but everything else went smooth , i remember the Apollo events and we held our breath way too long in those recovery's 2 Quote
Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life Posted March 19 Posted March 19 As a 40 year aerospace worker (started on the Apollo/Saturn Program until retirement in 2000), I never fail to get excited about a space event. Space X & Boeing have taken advantage of the huge leaps in technology made possible by the early programs for sure! About the time I retired Space X was starting and using our facility in El Segundo before they bought a site from our company. One of my old directors on the Shuttle Program was in charge of the early manufacturing effort and offered me a job on their first rocket program. I was retiring soon and almost took it, but decided to go ahead and relocate out of California. What might have been, I'll never know! LOL 3 1 Quote
Rye Miles #13621 Posted March 19 Posted March 19 Tallahassee is the closest city to that part of the ocean is my guess. It’s about 20 miles from the water from what I can see. https://www.nileguide.com/ocean/Tallahassee Quote
Dr. Zook Posted March 19 Posted March 19 (edited) 18 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said: I'm sitting here giddy as a schoolboy watching the reentry, splash down, and recovery. About 5 minutes from splash to the small fast boats made it to Dragon. And another 5 for the recovery vessel to get there. The memories of the long waits, aircraft carrier divisions, helicopters with swimmers jumping out of them flooding back. The sense of awe, wonder, amazement, and joy are never going to go away. In fact, seem even greater now because of the comparisons I'm able to make. OOOOoooo.. DOLPHINS playing maybe 20 yards from Dragon! How COOL! WHAT A MARVELOUS TIME TO BE ALIVE! Loved seeing the Dolphins swim around the capsule -- We were watching the splashdown live from the station & watching the thermal imaging camera track, then switching to colored video of the spacecraft during/after re-entry thru drogue and main's deployment, everything looked like images of the Apollo returns (obviously better video etc). But when the spacecraft got closer to splashdown (<100ft) the mains looked more like CGI not live action - almost like a video card would generate & not even a ripple when they went into the water after collapsing... thoughts? @Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life, @Trailrider #896 --- what do you guys think from being in the industry? Edited March 19 by Dr. Zook 1 Quote
Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life Posted March 19 Posted March 19 I am amazed at the recovery process of the boosters! I know how accurate our GPS system is because I use it all the time, but to translate that data into a landing system as accurate as they have done is amazing. Reusable boosters are not new as we used it on the Shuttle, but the propulsion system is totally different on Space X's boosters. The Shuttle's SRB boosters landed in the saltwater and had to be washed down with freshwater and broken down into segments so they could be reused. I don't know the whole process SpaceX goes thru to refurbish and reuse their, but it is probably not as complex as they don't have to deal with the corrosive salt water. It doesn't look like the crew capsule is totally different. They still use an ablative heats shield and it is shaped similar to the Apollo. What really impressed me was how "clean" the inside looks, no switches and readout gauges all over the walls inside, just big screens with touch screen selections. Their suits are really simple looking too. 2 Quote
Dr. Zook Posted March 19 Posted March 19 3 hours ago, Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life said: As a 40 year aerospace worker (started on the Apollo/Saturn Program until retirement in 2000), I never fail to get excited about a space event. Space X & Boeing have taken advantage of the huge leaps in technology made possible by the early programs for sure! Did you get to meet Von Braun and Guenter Wendt? 1 Quote
watab kid Posted March 19 Posted March 19 6 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said: Tallahassee is the closest city to that part of the ocean is my guess. It’s about 20 miles from the water from what I can see. https://www.nileguide.com/ocean/Tallahassee OK , i guess that makes sense to a degree , 1 Quote
Chief Rick Posted March 20 Posted March 20 8 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said: Tallahassee is the closest city to that part of the ocean is my guess. It’s about 20 miles from the water from what I can see. https://www.nileguide.com/ocean/Tallahassee So by that train of thought - Houston also has a coast. I don't think so. Quote
Rye Miles #13621 Posted March 20 Posted March 20 1 minute ago, Chief Rick said: So by that train of thought - Houston also has a coast. I don't think so. Yea but the Dragon spacecraft didn’t land near Houston it landed 23 miles from Tallahassee. It’s just giving people an estimate of the location of the landing. No big deal! 1 Quote
Chief Rick Posted March 21 Posted March 21 On 3/19/2025 at 7:52 PM, Rye Miles #13621 said: Yea but the Dragon spacecraft didn’t land near Houston it landed 23 miles from Tallahassee. It’s just giving people an estimate of the location of the landing. No big deal! Let's agree to disagree. Next time you want to go somewhere and end up ~20 miles off because the landmark given is just an estimate of your final destination just remember, it's "no big deal". Sorry, but as a former sailor I have some pretty set ideas of what a coast is. The American society doesn't need to be dumbed down any more than it already is. 1 Quote
Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 Posted March 22 Posted March 22 Sailors' superstition: Dolphins are the reincarnated souls of sailors drowned at sea. This explains accounts of dolphins boosting drowning men to the surface, or even to shore. When my wife and I saw the dolphins circling the capsule, we looked at one another and speculated that they were celebrating with us. Saltwater sailors' souls, from the age of canvas, circling in celebration, circling in salute ... 4 2 Quote
Rye Miles #13621 Posted March 22 Posted March 22 15 hours ago, Chief Rick said: Let's agree to disagree. Next time you want to go somewhere and end up ~20 miles off because the landmark given is just an estimate of your final destination just remember, it's "no big deal". Sorry, but as a former sailor I have some pretty set ideas of what a coast is. The American society doesn't need to be dumbed down any more than it already is. Okay we’ll agree to disagree because I think it’s really a dumb argument anyway! Big deal! The important thing is the astronauts returned safely, that’s really all that counts here!🙄 Quote
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