Have we been able to land a rocket upright?

AI Thread Summary
Humans have successfully landed rockets with the nose up and thrusters down, notably during the Apollo missions, specifically Apollo 11-17, which achieved this with only one failure not related to landing. The discussion highlights the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) as an example, which took off from Earth and landed on the Moon in the same orientation. There is some debate about whether the Moon qualifies as "ground" for this context. Additionally, the conversation touches on vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) rockets, suggesting that many examples exist in this category. Overall, the thread emphasizes the achievements of human engineering in rocket technology.
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just an odd question that passed through my mind when i was watching a SpaceX youtube vid have we (as in humans)ever gotten a rocket to land on the ground with the nose up and the thrusters down (the same position the rocket took of in)?
 
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... wasn't that the vid you just watched? How about this one:
 
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This Wikipedia article is worth a read on the topic of vertical takeoff & landing rockets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VTVL
 
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Simon Bridge said:
... wasn't that the vid you just watched? How about this one:

the one i watched was a little older and it was animated so i was not share that they had done it or not
 
hsdrop said:
just an odd question that passed through my mind when i was watching a SpaceX youtube vid have we (as in humans)ever gotten a rocket to land on the ground with the nose up and the thrusters down (the same position the rocket took of in)?
Apollo 11-17 did that with only one failure...
 
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Carrock said:
Apollo 11-17 did that with only one failure...
...and the failure was not in the landing attempt.
 
i was not share that they had done it or not
Perhaps if you refined your question? It is unclear how you could be unaware/unsure of this:

(Off the question as asked...)
Apollo LLRV, probably doesn't count since it had no rocket engines (?)
Apollo LM landed rockets down, nose up - took off from the ground the same way.
Does the surface of the Moon count as "ground" here?
It landed and then took off ... does that count, or does it have to be take-off first?​

Apollo LLTV did have rockets, landed the same way it took off, and the take-off was first.

Also: search for vtol and vtvl rockets will get you lots of examples...
 
i was just making sure that we were keeping a head of this guy!
marvin riding rocket.gif

I was also in awe of the beaut that humans have been able to sculpt their dreams into reality
 
Those humans huh? All that creativity, and tasty too...
Pretty soon we'll have accidents where the rocket sinks into the launch platform because the pilot had it in reverse...
 
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Simon Bridge said:
Those humans huh? All that creativity, and tasty too...
Pretty soon we'll have accidents where the rocket sinks into the launch platform because the pilot had it in reverse...
HAY MEN SOME ONE TOLD ME "R" WAS FOR RACE
 
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And, I bet you believed them and crashed into someones house too, didn't you? :doh:
 
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Simon Bridge said:
(Off the question as asked...)
Apollo LLRV, probably doesn't count since it had no rocket engines (?)
Apollo LM landed rockets down, nose up - took off from the ground the same way.
Does the surface of the Moon count as "ground" here?
It landed and then took off ... does that count, or does it have to be take-off first?​
How is my post "Off the question as asked...?"

I neglected to mention the LM took off from Earth before it landed on the moon. No requirement in the OP for the engine to be running during take off.

Several mentions of [lunar] ground in APOLLO OVER THE MOON: A VIEW FROM ORBIT (NASA SP-362) so ground seems the right term.
 
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