Just Watched the Falcon 9 ZUMA Launch From My House // Mission Was a FAIL // Space X Claiming Success // WTF is Going On ? (news)

submitted ago by Oh_Well_ian

Seen them countless times because I live 14 miles from the Cape. The booster returned but the second stage did not burn. It was LIGHTS OUT at separation. The rocket took a very steep trajectory, at least 20 degrees to vertical from normal. Rocket went dark at the end of first stage and the booster could be seen. Sonic boom confirmed on booster re-entry, but no way satellite could have been deployed. A very bizarre phenomenon when compared to all prior launches.

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PepeFarmRemembers ago

2nd stage burn was visible from the 1st stage feed. Usual black out at separation for a classified payload. SpaceX confirmed good fairing deploy.

Screen shots of Zuma vs CRS-13. You can see the 2nd stage plume in both shots from Zuma. CRS-13 shows the relation between 1st and 2nd stage at the same point in flight (1st stage boost back 2nd stage boost to orbit).

https://kek.gg/i/7Z759b.png

Oh_Well_ian ago

thanks... the second frame grab is right before second stage when dark ( it never did burn, just a dull reddish glow for about 10 seconds ) Also, sound reverberations were very short, only about 40% of normal time.

o0shad0o ago

Interesting. Military payload, might've been using a different chemistry in the engine from the typical commercial payloads. Also might've been a low-orbiting satellite, maybe below even ISS, which would mean it wouldn't require as much energy to move to orbit.