3 Commando Brigade

I'm really eagerly looking forward to the BFR/S (Big f**k Rocket/Spaceship) that they've started building out. That rocket is designed to be fully reusable (both the booster and the spaceship mounted above it), and to take humanity to anywhere in the solarsystem - initially to Mars.

For comparison, some quick numbers and a picture. Sketchy estimates/unconfirmed marked with ~

Vehicle	Mass (tonnes)	Expendable to LEO (tonnes)	Reusable to LEO (tonnes)	Price to LEO ($/kg)	Notes
Falcon 9	550	22.8	18.2	~2,700	While already a market leader, the price is set to drop as more cores are reflown. Can also send 4 tonnes to Mars.
Falcon Heavy	1,420	63.8	~51	~1,400	Price is set to drop as more cores are reflown. Can also send 17 tonnes to Mars.
BFR	4,400	~250	~150	~28	Price is not a typo. As the entire vehicle is designed for "airline-like reuse", the claim is that the cost will be less than that of their first small rocket at ~$7m per launch. As a cherry on top, specifically designed for orbital refuelling, and to send 100 people to Mars (or anywhere else in the solar system) in comfortable conditions, including all their personal and industrial/survival requirements...
Saturn V	2,970	140	-	~8,300	A gorgeous piece of technology, but crude compared to its Russian contemporary: the N1.
Shuttle	2,030	-	27.5	~58,000	Only tenuously included as "reusable" and due to its iconic nature.
SLS (proposed)	?	130	-	~5,400	Unlikely to ever fly, due to US government repeatedly re-scoping their mission and withdrawing funding.
New Glenn (proposed)	?	-	~45	~55,000	Price based upon a mentioned price of $2.5b to build the rocket. Also of note is that Blue Origin have yet to actually even carry a paid payload on a sub-orbital hop, let alone produce an orbital rocket.

Shuttle
Falcon 9 (with Dragon)
Falcon 9
Falcon Heavy
New Glenn (2 stage)
New Glenn (3 stage)
Saturn V
SLS
BFR
ITS (previous concept for BFR)

Stunning!

Wow

So Falcon Heavy has left its perpetual state of "launch in 6 months" and is scheduled to launch THIS EVENING! The window is 18:30-21:30 today, but the latest report is that the NET (No Earlier Than) is now 20:15 due to upper-atmosphere wind shear.

Because Elon is a nutter, the payload for this test flight is his very own Tesla Roadster, and they've now strapped their prototype spacesuit into the driver's seat xD It'll be fired into an orbit that goes as far as Mars' orbit (although it won't end up passing close to Mars for the foreseeable future), and apparently they're going to have Space Oddity by Bowie blaring on the speakers




Oh, and it's got a pretty high chance of just going bang in spectacular fashion. Elon himself gives it a 50% chance of success, although I feel that may be a touch pessimistic


The animation released yesterday:




And the stream, for when it goes live:

The automated countdown is running, launch is scheduled for 20:45

Two cores confirmed landed successfully, and the payload successfully put in parking orbit ready for the final transfer!  The only thing we missed was confirmation of the centre core landing on the barge, still waiting to hear back on that!

I missed the launch by 90 seconds (b*llocks) but seems like the video cut off before we could see that final piece land on the drone ship. Even if that part was lost, simultaneously landing 2 out of 3 is absolutely an amazing achievement!

Anyone think it’s odd how the y just cut the video after the landing. They had like 1million people watching. Surely they could have taken questions or had some commentary ? Just seemed odd to me. “Ok thanks guys see you next time.........”

I thought it was very odd that they ended it so abruptly. I guess they were given news about the centre core in there ear but told to keep quiet. They also used the camera feed from the same booster. 

Did it fail ?