Sorry if I wasn't clear. The rocket was supposed to flip 180, separate, then the booster would go do "it's thing" for touchdown. I didn't mean the booster was going to stop and reverse it's already well established velocity. Inertia's a bitch.
If SpaceX has outlined their plans, I haven't read them. I'm just reading into what I saw and my rudimentary understanding of physics. I'd guess the booster was supposed to get clear, then slow itself down using the main engines so it'd descend back into atmosphere on a lower trajectory, then use the last of it's fuel to allow it to touchdown in a controlled fashion.
I was also reading the sounds of the folks at SpaceX. You could hear them in the video. Everybody got reaaaaaaaaal quiet when it flipped then didn't stop. I took that to mean "oh crap, that wasn't supposed to happen." About 6 somersaults later, one guy finally said "obviously, this isn't nominal."
Lastly, it looks now (that we have pictures), that the launch pad got proper ****ed and a quick retry with the second rocket isn't happening soon.
I'm not detracting BTW, this is how it goes. Stuff's gonna get wrecked, mistakes will be made, and lessons will be learned. Keep going SpaceX. And thank the stars that it isn't NASA doing this with my tax money.
If SpaceX has outlined their plans, I haven't read them. I'm just reading into what I saw and my rudimentary understanding of physics. I'd guess the booster was supposed to get clear, then slow itself down using the main engines so it'd descend back into atmosphere on a lower trajectory, then use the last of it's fuel to allow it to touchdown in a controlled fashion.
I was also reading the sounds of the folks at SpaceX. You could hear them in the video. Everybody got reaaaaaaaaal quiet when it flipped then didn't stop. I took that to mean "oh crap, that wasn't supposed to happen." About 6 somersaults later, one guy finally said "obviously, this isn't nominal."
Lastly, it looks now (that we have pictures), that the launch pad got proper ****ed and a quick retry with the second rocket isn't happening soon.
I'm not detracting BTW, this is how it goes. Stuff's gonna get wrecked, mistakes will be made, and lessons will be learned. Keep going SpaceX. And thank the stars that it isn't NASA doing this with my tax money.