Oct 9, 2017
Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. successfully launched its 14th Falcon 9 rocket of the year, bringing the company a step closer to the 20 to 24 total missions it has targeted for 2017.
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Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. successfully launched its 14th Falcon 9 rocket of the year, bringing the company a step closer to the 20 to 24 total missions it has targeted for 2017.
Backlit by the sun, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket completes its first-ever west coast droneship landing after the Iridium-1 mission January 14. Just Read the Instructions, with the Falcon 9 secured to its deck, arrived at the port of Los Angeles early Tuesday morning, the first time an intact rocket has done so. P/C: SpaceX.
Falcon 9 makes first-ever west coast droneship landing.
SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket on the droneship Just Read The Instructions, eight minutes after launching the IridiumNEXT mission. This is the first time a Falcon rocket has successfully landed following a launch from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base.
IridiumNEXT is SpaceX’s first launch since the Amos-6 mishap grounded all flights since September, 2016. Deployment of the 10 Iridium satellites is expected to occur roughly an hour after liftoff, at 10:53am PST. P/C:SpaceX
Just Read the Instructions, SpaceX’s west coast Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, arrived in the Port of Los Angeles late last night (Monday, January 18.) On the barge’s surface are the remains of the JASON-3 Falcon 9 first stage, which landed roughly 10 minutes after Sunday’s launch. However, prelaunch fog caused ice to build up, causing one of the rocket’s landing legs not to lock in place following deployment. This made the vehicle topple over and explode. However, unlike the previous vehicle tip over that CRS-6 experienced in April 2014, there was less fuel on board the returned stage, and the resulting explosion as not as damaging. Therefore, more of the vehicle survived, such as the aft Octaweb segment of nine merlin 1D engines and some of the landing struts.
SpaceX will take these pieces to an inspection area where analysis of both the engines and the failed landing struts will be taken.
Falcon 9 goes weak at the knees during landing following successful launch. The JASON-3 Falcon 9 first stage is seen on the deck of Just Read the Instructions. Following today’s successful 1:42pm EST launch, the rocket attempted to land on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship downrange in the Pacific Ocean. The booster’s engine section is facing the camera, with one of four triangular landing struts visible on the right. According to SpaceX, the rocket landed successfully, but landing leg #3 did not lock properly, causing the vehicle to loose balance and topple over. This was the third time SpaceX has tried to land a first stage booster on an ASDS; all three have ended in failure, with the only successful landing occurring on shore at Cape Canaveral’s Landing Zone-1. While on shore landings at both Vandenberg Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral are preferable, some missions which require higher velocities will require more first-stage burn time. This will propel the stage faster than 6,000 kilometers per hours, the cut-off for a return-to-launch-site landing.
Just Read The Instructions is in place downrange in the Pacific Ocean to capture the Falcon 9′s first stage. Landing should occur roughly 10 minutes after a 1:42 pm EST launch.
▲ noona