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Comment by mrfusion | Hacker News Reader

I don't think they can completely give up on the barge though. As I understand it they'll always need barge landings for the Falcon Heavy core?

Maybe they're just itching to get a success on their pelt.

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Why will they always need the barge for the Falcon Heavy core? I think they would be more likely to need it for a second stage than the Heavy's core, because SSECO occurs very far down range, and at such a high speed that the rocket cannot make it back to the launch pad without a great deal of fuel.

Alternatively, they could be planning to launch from Texas, and recover some stage(s) in Florida.

*edit: in another comment on this discussion, kllrohg mentioned that SpaceX's stated intent has been to land all stages back at the launch site.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9388762

http://www.space.com/13140-spacex-private-reusable-rocket-el....

Falcon Heavy boosters will be able to boost back and land at the pad. Falcon Heavy cores will be too far down range, and will have to land on a barge pretty significantly out to sea.

I agree, as others have said the dynamics of a barge is a necessary challenge to prove the technology. But they need some more positive press, maybe a gif that doesn't end in an explosion hehe.

On a side note the colloquialism 'success on their pelt' is totally new to me, I've always heard it as 'success under their belt'.

I think he meant 'success under their belt'. If you google for both phrases, the belt wins has far more results and they're actually relevant.

I don't believe there is any such idiom. The idiom is "under one's belt", meaning to succeed at something. I have never heard, nor can I locate via Google, any similar idiom using the word "pelt".

Yeah I suspected it was a typo or something, but I kind of like it...

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