SpaceX Returns To Flight

Update January 8, 2017: Given the massive winter rain storm looming in Southern California's forecast, it's not surprising that SpaceX's Iridium-1 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base has been  postponed to Saturday, January 14, 2017, at 9:54 a.m. PST (6:54 a.m. EST; 18:54 CET). Launch details below.

Following completion of a successful static-fire test yesterday, Iridium Corporation announced that it will target Monday, January 9, 2017 to launch the first ten of its Iridium Next satellites into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Southern California's Vandenberg Airforce Base. Launch time is set for 10:22 a.m. PST (1:22 p.m. EST; 19:22 CET).

Iridium has contracted with SpaceX to deliver its second generation global satellite constellation into orbit, over the course of seven missions, including the current one. The new 3-billion-dollar satellite array will replace Iridium's existing satellite network dating to the 1990s and 2000s and provide satellite and cell phone services.

Yesterday the Federal Aviation Administration also accepted Space X's accident report on last September's on-pad explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket and its payload during a pre-launch static fire test. SpaceX traced the failure to one of three composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs). More info here.

Thursday's test fire of the rocket that will launch Iridium's satellites was performed without the payload atop the rocket. It will be installed at Vandenberg over the weekend for a Monday morning launch window.

This mission will include a landing attempt of the rocket's first stage on a barge in the Pacific downrange from VAFB. If you are anywhere in Southern California with an unobstructed ocean view at launch time, you may well be able to see the launch and perhaps the burns by the returning rocket as it maneuvers itself to touch down on an ocean-going barge. The weather, however, may not cooperate. Southern California is expecting a winter storm with potentially heavy rain that is forecast to linger through Monday. Still, it's great news to know that SpaceX is back on track and back on the pad, preparing to return to flight.

 

SpaceX Just Landed A Second Rocket On A Drone Ship - At Night!

Friday, May 6, 2016 was National Space Day, a great annual day of celebration and acknowledgment of our human future in space. My Twitter feed was abuzz with info from space companies, including NASA, hosting special events and exhibits for the day. This inspired my following tweet, and brings us to the topic of this blog post:

While all the *other* space co.s do their pre-chewed stuff for #NationalSpaceDay, @elonmusk & @SpaceX only landed a rocket on water, again.

— Claudia Taake (@ct_la) May 6, 2016

Yes, SpaceX landed another spent rocket stage on an ocean-going barge, the "Of Course I Still Love You", during high waves and wind, with the rocket coming in faster and hotter than it did last month. This time, SpaceX was tasked with delivering a Japanese satellite, the JCsat-14, into high geo-stationary transfer orbit at about 25,000 mi (36,000 km) above Earth's surface. Compare this to last month's successful launch and landing mission, when Falcon traveled into low-earth orbit (LEO) "only", ca. 250 mi (400 km) above our planet, to re-supply the International Space Station. Consequently, last Friday, Falcon was traveling many thousands kilometers faster on ascent than it did last month and also had less fuel available for those critical pre-landing burns upon its return. And yet, Falcon 9 landed perfectly, under harsh conditions, standing proud and tall on its landing barge, still breathing fire. And you know what? I'm starting to feel less and less nostalgic about the Space Shuttle.

Image credit: SpaceX

Falcon 9 with its JCsat-14 satellite payload on the pad at Cape Canaveral, awaiting launch. The rocket stands 229 ft (70m) tall.

Image credit: SpaceX

Mission patch for the JCsat-14 mission

Image credit: SpaceX
LIFTOFF of Falcon 9 with its JCsat-14 payload!

Image credit: SpaceX

Trajectory of Falcon 9 and its payload en route to 36,000 km above Earth

While last month's barge landing happened during the day time and was filmed by nearby quad copters from the air, no such footage exists for last week's night landing. The only transmitting cameras were mounted on the barge itself. This led to temporary "white out" conditions as the brightness of the landing burn briefly overloaded the cameras. Those were nail-biting seconds. Did Falcon land? Did it break apart? Did it fall into the ocean? It wasn't until the brightness had receded that the barge's camera revealed Falcon 9's landing legs intact, and with that, another upright, beautiful landing of historic significance. 

Congratulations to Elon Musk and the entire team at SpaceX!

Image credit: SpaceX

View of landed Falcon 9 upper stage - still breathing fire - on the drone ship

Image credit: SpaceX

Recovered Falcon 9 on SpaceX's drone ship the next morning in all its - albeit a bit scorched - glory. (Let's see you travel 36,000 km out and then back into the atmosphere in a matter of minutes :)

Elon Musk, as per usual, inserted his own particular brand of wry humor into the twitter discussion once it had become clear that Falcon was safely on the barge, and would be tested for reuse, along with the booster recovered last month:

May need to increase size of rocket storage hangar

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2016

Here's a video of the launch and landing details only:

The entire hour-long webcast from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA is worth a look as well, if only to experience the jubilant atmosphere that prevailed among SpaceX employees as their rocket performed flawlessly, including sticking a precarious landing on an ocean-borne barge, for the second time in a month.

Launch Alert: Go SpaceX and SES-9!

Update - February 28, 2016: 

Today's launch attempt was scrubbed after two tries. One involved technical issues, while the other hold was called due to an unauthorized vessel in waters off the coast of Cape Canaveral. It is routine to declare certain ocean stretches off-limits for brief periods while rocket launches occur. Alas, sometimes not everybody gets the message. It happened before and it happened again today. A launch is scrubbed when a vessel is present in the "off-limits" zone, where it could be hit by debris as a result of a launch accident. To paraphrase a tweet from Elon Musk: The important thing is that both vehicle and spacecraft are healthy
A new launch date has not yet been announced. I will post updates here.

Original Post:

In about an hour, SpaceX is scheduled to launch an SES-9 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral. SES is based in Luxembourg and among the world's leading satellite manufacturers. Today's launch is the third attempt to launch the satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. 

Previous launches last week have been scrubbed due to fueling issues. According to a SpaceX statement, these steps were taken out of an abundance of caution.

Let's hope today's launch will proceed as planned; it should be spectacular, set against a colorful sunset on the Space Coast. 

Launch time:
6:46 pm EST
3:46 pm PST 
23:46 CET

The launch window lasts well over an hour and closes at about 8:23 pm EST (5:23 PST, 04:46 CET).

Tracking towards a 6:46pm ET launch attempt today; watching upper-level winds closely. pic.twitter.com/8HqAtnyDKt

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 28, 2016

The launch includes a Falcon 9 upper stage landing attempt on an ocean-faring autonomous landing barge, whimsically named "Of Course I Still Love You", after Iain M. Banks' (fictional) sentient starships.

 Photo credit: SpaceX

SpaceX has previously attempted landings on ocean-based barges. While it has nailed landing a Falcon 9 upper stage on land, it has yet to stick a rocket landing on an ocean-faring barge. Previous attempts have resulted in RUDs on the barge ships - Rapid Unscheduled Disassemblies. Let's hope today's landing attempt will yield a more positive result!

Live launch - and possibly landing - footage is available here: http://www.spacex.com/webcast