Rest in peace, Doc.
This is a good obit, but it’s a little strange that the only video they have of someone dubbed the father of flat picking is Deep River Blues, which he finger picks.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s a good example of his flatpicking, with Black Mountain Rag. Notice the key change midway through. This is also a good example of my long-standing thesis that this is a form of jazz.
OK, back in the office after over a week of travel to DC and the Bay area.
Over in this comment thread, the question arises of the disposition of the first-stage from last week’s launch. I was wondering too, so at the gala banquet at the Air and Space Museum on Friday night to honor John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, I asked Stephanie Badnarek, director of government relations for SpaceX. As I suspected, she told me that they’re not worrying about recovery of the first stage right now, and probably won’t until they start to attempt to fly it back, pending results of the Grasshopper flights. That wouldn’t surprise me — I don’t think they’ve come even close to an intact entry, and the recovery systems are just parasitic weight at this point.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Clark Lindsey has some notes from the SpaceX press conference on the mission so far, and plans for Dragon entry tomorrow.
SpaceX has signed on their first commercial customer for Falcon Heavy:
Washington, DC / Hawthorne, CA May 29, 2012 – Today, Intelsat, the world’s leading provider of satellite services, and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the world’s fastest growing space launch company, announced the first commercial contract for the Falcon Heavy rocket.
“SpaceX is very proud to have the confidence of Intelsat, a leader in the satellite communication services industry,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer. “The Falcon Heavy has more than twice the power of the next largest rocket in the world. With this new vehicle, SpaceX launch systems now cover the entire spectrum of the launch needs for commercial, civil and national security customers.”
“Timely access to space is an essential element of our commercial supply chain,” said Thierry Guillemin, Intelsat CTO. “As a global leader in the satellite sector, our support of successful new entrants to the commercial launch industry reduces risk in our business model. Intelsat has exacting technical standards and requirements for proven flight heritage for our satellite launches. We will work closely with SpaceX as the Falcon Heavy completes rigorous flight tests prior to our future launch requirements.”
This is the first commercial contract for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. Under the agreement, an Intelsat satellite will be launched into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).
I’m guessing that last week’s successful Falcon 9 flight sealed the deal.
There isn’t much of one, and never was:
…in essence, the media — by creating all this “notoriety” via false storylines not supported by the evidence — have hurt Zimmerman’s chances for fair treatment in court. Nice work, folks.
He should sue, starting with NBC, for defamation.
I’m about to watch fireworks over the Golden Gate. #75thAnniversary #OnePercenter
I’m on the Acela from Union Station to BWI. Free wi-fi, but it’s too short a trip (twenty minutes) to justify getting out the laptop. I’m just going to look out the window and enjoy the fastest train ride I’ve been on since I was in Europe.
[update a few minutes later]
This is the slowest high-speed rail I’ve ever seen. Just north of DC the train came to a complete halt for a couple minutes. It then proceeded at a pace sufficiently leisurely that we were passed by the Orange Line to New Carrolton.
OK, I’m now officially screwed. They just announced that they have an engine problem and are backing up into DC.
Whoops. Now saying that they’ve fixed it. We’re finally accelerating. But we’ve lost several minutes. It’s already nine minutes past scheduled arrival time. I still may not make it.
[update a few minutes later]
On the bus to the airport. It will be tight.
[10:15 EDT update]
I made the flight, with checked luggage. Next stop, Dallas.
I’m at ISDC, but it’s not blogger friendly. No tables or power for laptops, poor bandwidth. I didn’t even bother to bring my laptop today because the utility/hassle ratio is too low. I’m posting this from my phone.
And tomorrow I’ll be flying back to CA. But hey, it’s a holiday weekend. Why are you reading this blog anyway? Go out and do something fun, and remember those who sacrificed to make it possible, on Monday.
Apparently, SpaceX got permission to approach, and are just outside the Keep-Out Zone, a few hundred feet away. The grab may occur within an hour or so.
At GLEX, I just asked Mike Griffin from the floor what the payload was which demanded to be sent up in a single launch that demanded a Saturn-class vehicle. He responded by saying that this wasn’t the place to debate it, and then with a straw man about sending things up screw by screw. Buzz had previously softened him up with a comment about the need for more innovation and fewer jobs programs for the launch vehicles. He initiated the discussion with a slam at propellant depots.
[Update later evening]
I typed that from my phone. Here’s a fuller story. Mike (without prompting) stated that heavy-lift is the highest priority for space exploration, and that depots would be useful, but not immediately so. Ian Pryke agreed with him. Buzz responded (from the second row) as noted above. I then asked the panel (not Mike specifically) from the back of the (full) room the question above. His response (from memory, not an exact quote):
Rand, we’ve been arguing about this for years and this isn’t the place to debate it. It’s possible to break a vehicle down to individual nuts and bolts, and launch it that way. But there is a reason that we deliver crude oil in large tanker ships and [several more examples of large vehicles delivering stuff]. I don’t understand why space transportation is different than any other kind of transportation. We can argue about this forever, but at some point we just have to rely on common sense.
My response (here): Note that he didn’t answer the question, nor did he explain why a quarter of a million pounds was the right answer. The nuts and bolts thing is a strawman. Surely there is some optimimum, some happy medium between one fastener at a time, and a Saturn V delivering everything at once, fully fueled.
The reason that space transportation is different (at this time) than other kinds is because it is a new industry with a limited market, and there is insufficient traffic to amortize the development of such a large vehicle that will fly so rarely. It makes sense to build dozens of oil tankers to carry millions of tons of oil. For a vehicle that will deliver a hundred-plus tons once or twice a year, not so much. The first practical airplane, from an airline standpoint, was a DC-3, not a 747. There are other reasons it is different, but that one by itself should suffice.
Briefly, I refuse to concede to Mike’s condescending (and insulting) claim that he has a monopoly on common sense. And I understand that it wasn’t the right place for a debate. In his mind, there is no right place for a debate because a) he thinks there is no need for a debate and b) he knows that if he were ever to have one with me, he’d get creamed (at least judging by the last round between Space News and Competitive Space). Plus, he would never dare legitimize me or my arguments by debating me, just as Michael Mann and Briffa and Jones and Hansen refuse to come to the Heartland conference to debate.
[Bumped]