Originally Posted by jeffyjeep

I prefer the term "Tested".

Case in point: back when when I was on attack subs, our weapon of choice was the MK48 torpedo--a 60+ mph, wire-guided, internal combustion engine powered, salami of death that carried enough HE to bust the keel of anything afloat.

ALL warshot MK48's had been previously shot once as an exercise round--to test the engine, electronics, and guidance systems. The exercise MK48 could do everything the warshot could do except blow up.

After they were shot as an exercise round they would shut down and ascend to the surface and were found and recovered by a torpedo retriever boat--usually the USS Diamond. They were then reconditioned, refueled, armed, and would be returned to the sub fleet as a warshot.

Originally Posted by jeffyjeep

1988 and I'm sure a lot has changed and a lot has been introduced since then.

Originally Posted by BEC

My wife and I watched both the technical and hosted webcasts (one on my iPad, hooked to the TV, the other on my Mac).....lots of good stuff. Absolutely amazing to witness history like this.

Don't say "used", say "flight proven" (or at least I think that's what I read somewhere....). That first stage got cooked pretty well on the way back down this time, since it was a geosynchronous transfer orbit launch of a pretty heavy satellite. I'll be really interested to see what becomes of this one now that they have it back again.

Originally Posted by DeanHFox

Apparently, SpaceX also recovered the fairing --- so all that was "lost" was the second stage hardware.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...1124#msg1661124

Awesome!