Month: January 2021

Enlarge / SpaceX's seventeenth batch of Starlink satellites and eighth flight of this Falcon 9 first stage (B1051.8) ascending through the upper atmosphere headed to space later landing successfully on the 'Just Read The Instructions' droneship. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

8:15am ET Wednesday update: The Falcon 9 rocket took off on schedule on Wednesday morning, lofting its payload of 60 Starlink Internet satellites toward orbit. Then came something of a challenge for this first stage—sticking the landing. According to SpaceX engineer Jessie Anderson, winds at the surface near the landing site were stronger than what Falcon 9 rockets have experienced on previous flights.

This landing attempt would therefore "test the wind limits," she said, and be an "envelope expansion" flight. Although the video feed from Just Read the Instructions was briefly lost as the booster neared the droneship, when the video returned, the Falcon 9 first stage was there, venting in the chill ocean air, very nearly in the middle of its landing pad. And so this booster will now have a chance to go for nine flights.

Envelope, expanded. pic.twitter.com/b59aex5eDG

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) January 20, 2021

Original post: SpaceX is continuing to make strides as it pushes the boundaries of reusing the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket.

You’ve heard Kerry Muzzey’s work (Bandcamp, Spotify), even if you haven’t heard of him. The 50-year-old classical music composer from Joliet, Illinois, who now lives in Los Angeles, produces haunting orchestral scores that soundtrack some of the most poignant moments in film and television. When Finn Hudson kissed Rachel Berry for the first time on TV’s Glee, it was Muzzey’s stripped-back piano playing in the background. Some of his works have been choreographed and performed on So You Think You Can Dance?, too.

The use of Muzzey’s music across pop culture has no doubt brought the veteran composer some success and acclaim. And around 2012, he decided to see for himself, searching for his name on YouTube. Muzzey recalls the site’s algorithm surfaced 20 or 40 videos. The majority were fan compilations that teenagers obsessed with Glee had painstakingly put together to memorialize their two favorite characters' love story—and they were all soundtracked to the full version of Muzzey’s music.

“It was really kind of cool and validating, especially for someone who was a complete independent, to have a kid finding a piece of instrumental music, which is the most uncool kind of music for a kid to find, and to make a tribute montage using it,” he explains. “It was stuff nobody would have a problem with.”