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Comment by Crito | Hacker News Reader

> I have not heard about a west coast launch pad

Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California. The first Falcon 9 v1.1 launch, for CASSIOPE, was from Vandenberg.

Here is a sign that SpaceX has at Vandenberg, implying that they intend to both launch from and land at Vandenberg: http://i.imgur.com/YW4tmkR.jpg

Vandenberg is really only useful for polar orbits, and perhaps retrograde orbits, due to it's high inclination and it's geographical relationship to the ocean.

Similarly, launches from the east coast will land back at the east coast. It will look something like this: http://i.imgur.com/NEi7qKp.jpg (related discussion: http://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/23l96t/spacex_falcon... source: http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/falcon9v1-1.html)

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Huh, somehow I always though the first stage would orbit the earth once and then land. I never considered that it doesn't have enought speed or fuel to do so even if forced.

If the 1st stage could make orbit, it would constitute an SSTO craft. You have to have higher ISP than kerosene and higher fuel mass fraction than aluminum can provide to do that.

Not strictly true. The Saturn V first stage could have been used as an SSTO, and it used kerosene and aluminum. The payload would be extremely small, though, so it's not worth it.

Okay, then change that to "would constitute a practical SSTO."

The engineering of the Saturn V just continues to amaze me!

Are you familiar with Apollo 13's pogo oscillation? Money quote:

"The engine shutdown was determined to be caused by severe pogo oscillations measured at a strength of 68 g and a frequency of 16 hertz, flexing the thrust frame by 3 inches (76 mm)."

It was this close to ripping the whole rocket apart, but it managed to withstand some incredible shaking until the engine shut down.

Are you familiar with Apollo 13's pogo oscillation?

One of my friends in Houston was dealing with pogo in rockets specifically. So yes, I am familiar with pogo in general, and I had heard of it during the Apollo program.

Neat. Apollo 13's is one of my favorite little-known facts, so I thought I would mention it. They came so close to being famous for a completely different (and equally, perhaps more, catastrophic) reason.

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