More than five months after flying its inaugural mission, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster B1029 is preparing for a second mission. The rocket will deliver the BulgariaSat-1 communications satellite into Geostationary Transfer Orbit on June 17.
B1029 first flew into space on the Iridium NEXT Flight 1 mission out of Vandenberg Air Force Base January 14. Following its landing on Just Read the Instructions, the booster traveled to Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40 for refurbishment and preparations for reflight. This will be the first Falcon 9 to land on both droneships as the BulgariaSat-1 launch profile calls for a landing on Of Course I Still Love You eight minutes after liftoff. BulgariaSat-1 is SpaceX’s eighth launch of 2017 and only the second to use a previously-flown “flight proven” first stage.
B1029 arrived at LC-39A’s HIF just hours after the CRS-11 mission blasted off from the pad June 3. Provided the launch campaign schedule holds, the mission’s static fire is planned for June 13 with a launch four days later on June 17.
In a historical coincidence, SpaceX has reused the 76-wheeted Orbiter Transporter System to transport their recovered Falcon 9 boosters around Cape Canaveral. The 106-foot long yellow transporter is seen underneath the Falcon 9′s support cradle.
P/c: SpaceX.