I learned that they originally tried parachutes. Lots of problems but maneuvering was the big one. Cannot control and steer it back to a launch pad with parachutes and you still have to engage a rocket to bring the velocity to zero at touchdown.
From: Eric Kuhnke Sent: Monday, December 21, 2015 8:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT SpaceX Parachutes large enough to slow the speed down sufficiently, and landing legs robust enough to handle a 2 meter/second landing would probably be heavier and cause more drag than keeping some residual fuel for the powered landing. On Mon, Dec 21, 2015 at 6:46 PM, Jay Weekley <[email protected]> wrote: Seems like that's a waste of fuel when you can use parachutes. On December 21, 2015 8:11:18 PM CST, Chuck McCown <[email protected]> wrote: Pretty cool. Launched, delivered goods to orbit. Landed first stage vertically back at the launch site. First time ever for that complete chain of events. Too bad it was a night launch. The landing video is not very good. -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
