How SpaceX lands the Falcon 9: Grid Fins, Thrusters and Engines!

Have you ever wondered how SpaceX controls the first stage of their Falcon 9 to nail a bullseye from 70 miles in altitude and after traveling up to 5,000 mph?

SpaceX has three main systems that help steer the first stage of their impressive Falcon 9 rocket. They are grid fins, nitrogen thrusters and the merlin engines themselves. We show you how these systems interact and then try and land a first stage ourselves in Kerbal Space Program!

[tevvya]

Hardware is only a part of the means by which the booster is landed. Navigation algorithms being used in the onboard computer are, IMHO, *much* more significant because really, deciding when/how to tilt fins and when/which thrusters to fire is really at the core of this fully-automated maneuver. It would be great if you could sometime talk about the mathematics of navigation used in landing the rocket. Note that, unlike in simulations, the rocket has to come down in a *moving* sea of air which means it needs to adjust constantly (and not in a way that could be known ahead of time) to stay on track.

Make that visual and you've accomplished a lot!

[alexanderleeart]

watching this guy wearing a spacesuit in his living room reminds me to be serious about pursuing my dreams

[Ethan_Roberts]

Landing falcon 9s is routine for me on KSP.

[space-ho]

thank you for making alot of helpful videos.
thank you everyday astronaut 🧑‍🚀

[CreeperIan]

Nice video, detailed and layman-friendly and not too silly

[tbyte]

Can you use metrics ? I though it's a science show :P

[Deanorama]

beautiful. lol i try to do this every time I launch in KSP, it saves a ton of money in career mode. thanks for taking the time to explain all this. excellent editing too!

[maddmikemu]

Shout out to your channel. Keep up the good work. Your production value is really great as well as your content, graphics, and you! Really impressed and want to encourage you to keep it up. These are exciting times for space!

[BruceThomson]

Great fun, thanks. Thrilling to see this marvellous reuse technology - and shown so effectively by your video. Bruce Thomson in New Zealand.

[PeterArnold]

Thanks for another great video, Tim. Great use of KSP to explain it all, and it sounds like you did your research well. Looking forward to hopefully seeing you make a guest appearance or two on TMRO real soon. Take care, mate, and cheers from Sydney, Australia.

[MrIcehole]

My favorite part of the main stage rocket landing back to Earth is that to me it feels like another species is sending a lander to us, like we are the martians. :-) Excellent explanation & illustration on how SpaceX lands their first stage rocket.

[fairwinds]

That suit looks more like a U-2 flight-suit from the 1950s. I had an SR-71 full-pressure helmet that didn't look much different. Excellent channel!

[stonewall]

Can someone tell me why the video feed seems to cut off when the first stage is just about to land on the drone ship?
It doesn't always cut out, but it happens fairly often...

[KishoreRajendra]

I liked the broomstick manoeuvre at 3:27 :D

[justinwallace]

Thank you for this quality content stick to it this channel has a potential to get big :)

[thebittersweetmyke]

125 dislikes. I guess the flat earthers are about. They are afraid of being educated.

[MrBmnmtfk]

Great video and great tunes as always!

[andreashilmersson]

Nice spacesuit dude! It looks extremely authentic actually :)

[kirbsyde]

FANTASTIC! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO. 🚀👍✌️

[totomilo]

Your videos are really awesome! I just had two questions. Do the nitrogen thrusters be used until landing or just when grid fins aren't useful enough? How do the rockets perform their gravity turn (which attitude control system do they use)?