** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

Wahoo more info on SpaceX Flouting platform.

The attempt could come as soon as December.

The landing platform is being built at a Louisiana shipyard and measures 300 feet by 170 feet, Musk said during a talk at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was streamed online.
It will be positioned miles out in the Atlantic Ocean, unanchored but equipped with engines and GPS sensors that will try to keep it stable.
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Musk gives it 50/50 chance on first attempt.
 
Dragon returns to Earth yesterday, carrying 3276 lbs of cargo and science samples:

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In the Pacific Ocean at 15:39 EDT (19:39 GMT), about 265 miles west of Baja California.
 
Cosimo said:
Antares launch postponed last night because of a boat down range. Another attempt tonight at 22:22 GMT (18:22 EDT). There is a 10 minute launch window.
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Yeah saw this, I was very annoyed, but not as annoyed as the staff, I imagine the boat down range will be in a lot of trouble. Any ideas what will happen to them? I would imagine a huge fine ?
 
Combat squirrel said:
Yeah saw this, I was very annoyed, but not as annoyed as the staff, I imagine the boat down range will be in a lot of trouble. Any ideas what will happen to them? I would imagine a huge fine ?
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They can be arrested and fined. I expect they got slapped wrists as the launch window was short and they didn't have much time to clear the zone.
 
Combat squirrel said:
Yeah saw this, I was very annoyed, but not as annoyed as the staff, I imagine the boat down range will be in a lot of trouble. Any ideas what will happen to them? I would imagine a huge fine ?
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Further Update:

They appear to have been in international waters so nothing:

According to various reports, there was a sailboat about 35 miles offshore in the launch hazard area that did not respond to NASA radio calls to it, nor to a NASA surveillance plane that flew over it an tipped its wings seeking to get the boat's attention. Reportedly, one person was observed by the NASA surveillance plane in the cockpit of the sailboat.

Since the sailboat was in international waters (more than 12 miles off the U.S. coastline) the boat was legally allowed to be there even though NASA had issued a Notice to Mariners warning all vessels of the danger during this launch and requesting that vessels stay away from the published hazard area during the 10 minute launch window.

It is quite possible that the sailboat crew was not even aware of the fact that they were interfering with the Antares launch.

NASA's responsibility for ensuring public safety during launches required that the launch be scrubbed due to the potential risk to that sailboat if the flight would have had a first-stage malfunction and then required a command destruct action resulting in a large debris field in the launch hazard area, or if the spent first stage would impact it with the defined launch hazard area.
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