Zero to Mach 1 in less than 60 seconds, before Max Q.
I'm assuming that object in your photos is one of the Falcon 9 fairing halves. The fairings, which protect the payload during launch, are equipped with thrusters and parachutes to guide them back to Earth where they can be retrieved from the ocean. Here's a photo of one from an earlier launch:
![[Image: 2R4eCWc.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/2R4eCWc.jpg)
The first stage booster which burns for less than 3 minutes and is ejected. It returns to Earth for a vertical landing about eight minutes after liftoff, if all goes according to plan. The launch from last night touched down on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You", which was stationed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
I'm assuming that object in your photos is one of the Falcon 9 fairing halves. The fairings, which protect the payload during launch, are equipped with thrusters and parachutes to guide them back to Earth where they can be retrieved from the ocean. Here's a photo of one from an earlier launch:
The first stage booster which burns for less than 3 minutes and is ejected. It returns to Earth for a vertical landing about eight minutes after liftoff, if all goes according to plan. The launch from last night touched down on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You", which was stationed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." – Thomas Sowell