Fingers crossed for the first SpaceX Landing Leg Test!
The primary mission (cargo to station) appears on track, and roll control of the booster has been achieved. From Elon: “Last known state for rocket boost stage is 360 m/s, Mach 1.1, 8.5 km altitude and roll rate close to zero (v important!)”
During today’s CRS-3 launch to station, SpaceX will attempt to recover Falcon 9’s booster, by executing a reentry burn and then a landing burn over the Atlantic Ocean. If all goes well, these huge landing legs will deploy partway into the landing burn.
Though success is unlikely with this test (30-40% by SpaceX estimate), it represents an exciting effort toward someday developing a reusable rocket, that returns to land near the launch pad.
Here are my photos of the carbon fiber legs, pre-paint: https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=44124348109@N01&q=spacex%20legs and the Launch video from today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65zDaDSvIww&lhd=1
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