New droneship under construction for SpaceX rocket recovery

"Of Course I Still Love You" positioned in the Atlantic
Photo // SpaceX

To this date, SpaceX currently has 2 droneships to land their first stage rockets on. Their first ever droneship, names "Just Read The Instructions" (JRTI) is currently located on the West coast for launches from Vandenberg in California. It was originally positioned on the East coast for launches from Florida, but was moved because they'd finished their second droneship - "Of Course I Still Love You" (OCISLY). "Of Course I Still Love You" is currently active on the East coast for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches from Historic LC-39A and from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40).

Falcon Heavy side boosters landing at LZ-1 & LZ-2
Photo // SpaceX

Elon Musk stated on Twitter this morning, that "Side boosters landing on droneships & center expended is only ~10% performance penalty vs fully expended.", which means that if there were to be a mission with an expended core stage, SpaceX would need 2 droneships for each of the boosters. Musk then went on to say that "A third is under construction" and would be completed with the name of "A Shortfall of Gravitas". This third droneship would be positioned on the East coast to support the high launch rates of their Falcon 9 and to support the duel ocean landings for the Falcon Heavy side boosters.

Crew Dragon recovery trainer spotted in Port Canaveral

SpaceX Crew Dragon recovery trainer on Go Searcher
Photo // Ryan Bale

Yesterday, February 9th, an object shaped similarly to SpaceX's Crew Dragon recovery trainer was seen in Port Canaveral. The mock-up was lifted by crane around 1pm and was lowered into "Go Searcher", a support ship used for SpaceX's recovery ops for first stage booster returns on the droneship.

This full-scale mock-up of the spacecraft is made to practice safely getting astronauts out of the spacecraft after splashdown from the International Space Station (ISS). Doing these practices give the astronauts and support teams time to refine the processes during critical steps in safely rescuing the crew if needed. Different procedures are practiced for every situation from good to bad to ensure complete safety for the returning astronauts.

Multiple sources are stating that SpaceX, NASA, and Air Force personnel are going to be practicing on the recovery trainer this weekend.

Falcon Heavy shakes Florida's Space Coast after a picture perfect launch

Falcon Heavy roars to life
Photo // Ryan Bale - Spaceflight News

 On Tuesday, February 6th, SpaceX launched their long awaited Falcon Heavy rocket and made history once again. After igniting the side boosters and then the core booster shortly thereafter, the rocket was released from the pad and began to roar to life and rumbled over the entire space coast.

Falcon Heavy side boosters falling toward LZ-1 and LZ-2
Photo: Ryan Bale // Spaceflight News

The Falcon Heavy rocket is comprised of 3 Falcon 9 cores strapped together. It isn't as simple as that - the core stage had to be redesigned to withstand the extreme forces being put onto it during flight from the side cores. The side cores have the new titanium grid fins which help the boosters steer down to the landing site at Cape Canaveral. The three cores total 27 Merlin engines and produce approximately 5 Million pounds of thrust at liftoff. The side cores on Falcon Heavy are both flight-proven boosters previously supporting the CRS-9 and Thaicom 8 missions. 

After a day full of delays due to upper level wind sheers and "clock

Falcon Heavy punching through the clouds
Photo // Ryan Bale - Spaceflight News

management", Falcon Heavy finally launched, pushing toward the end of the launch window. After clearing the pad, Falcon Heavy soared into the party cloudy Florida skies and shook the ground. It successfully passed through Max-Q, the highest aerodynamic stresses on the vehicle, and made it through booster separation without any issues. The side boosters flipped around and boosted back toward the 2 landing zones at Cape Canaveral. The 2 boosters landed back at Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at almost the exact same time. The core booster did not have such a fortunate fate, the 2 outer engines, that are supposed to ignite with the center engine, failed to ignite due to a lack of TEA-TEB, which is used to startup the Merlin engines. The core stage then slammed into the water next to the droneship at approximately 300mph, taking out 2 of the engines on the droneship.

"Starman" in orbit around Earth in a Tesla roadster
Photo // SpaceX

Currently, the Tesla roadster, the payload of the first Falcon Heavy launch, has been pushed toward the asteroid belt after the second stage reignited after a 6-hour coast phase. SpaceX has been broadcasting the shots of the mannequin in their official spacesuit "Starman" sitting inside the Tesla as it orbited Earth and the views are stellar. 

SpaceX's maiden launch of Falcon Heavy remains go for tomorrow afternoon

Tomorrow afternoon at 1:30pm EST, SpaceX plans to launch their long-awaited Falcon Heavy rocket from Historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). The 3-hour launch window extends from 1:30pm-4:30pm EST with a backup window on Wednesday. 
At liftoff, Falcon Heavy will become the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of 2, being able to lift twice the payload than the Delta IV Heavy. Only the Saturn V rocket, the one that brought astronauts to the Moon, delivered more payload into orbit around the Earth. 
The Falcon Heavy is comprised of 3 Falcon 9 cores strapped together. It isn't as simple as that - the core stage had to be redesigned to withstand the extreme forces being put onto it during flight from the side cores. The side cores have the new titanium grid fins which help the boosters steer down to the landing site at Cape Canaveral. The three cores total 27 Merlin engines and produce approximately 5 Million pounds of thrust at liftoff.

The side cores on Falcon Heavy are both flight-proven boosters previously supporting the CRS-9 and Thaicom 8 missions. The 2 boosters will be attempting a landing at the 2 landing zones (LZ-1 & LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral about 8 minutes after liftoff. The core booster will attempt a landing at sea on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You".

Falcon Heavy will launch Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster as a mass simulator. The destination of the Tesla is an Earth-Mars elliptical orbit around the Sun. It will be playing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" as it travels endlessly through space. SpaceX didn't want to just launch something boring such as water ballasts or steel, so they decided to launch something exciting that would grab people's attention. 

Falcon 9 launches satellite successfully - Unexpectedly lands first stage in the water intact

Falcon 9 first stage floating in the Atlantic
Photo // SpaceX

Today at 4:25pm EST, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket took to the skies carrying the GovSat-1 satellite. The Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida off of Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40). The first stage of the Falcon 9 included recovery hardware, but would not be attempting a recovery. They would follow the regular landing procedures without landing on the droneship and it was planned to fall over into the water and explode due to the highly pressurized tanks rupturing. The first stage landed in the water and fell over - without exploding. Elon Musk tweeted, "...amazingly it has survived. We will try to tow it back to shore" and possibly have parts salvaged from it, but not official. 

Falcon 9 launching GovSat-1
Photo // SpaceX

The GovSat-1 satellite is the first of its kind and has been manufactured by Orbital ATK and is partnered with SES. The satellite is designed to address governmental and institutional security user needs and enables secure communication links between tactical operations for maritime missions. It is equipped with anti-jamming features and has encrypted telemetry connections. It'll be positioned over the equator supporting communications within Europe, the middle east, and Africa, as well as over the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

SpaceX will be launching the GovSat-1 satellite on a flight-proven booster

Falcon 9 GovSat-1 sitting on the launch pad before yesterday's
launch attempt
Photo // SpaceX

Later this afternoon at 4:25pm EST (21:25UTC), SpaceX will launch the GovSat-1 satellite with their Falcon 9 rocket. The Falcon 9 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) to carry the satellite into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). The first stage of this Falcon 9 previously supported the NROL-76 mission back in May 2017 and SpaceX will not attempt a recovery of this booster. Still equipped with recovery hardware, we can assume they will still attempt a soft landing in the ocean for additional data to study and improve landings in the future.

GovSat-1 satellite
Photo // OrbitalATK

The GovSat-1 satellite is the first of its kind and has been manufactured by Orbital ATK and is partnered with SES. The satellite is designed to address governmental and institutional security user needs and enables secure communication links between tactical operations for maritime missions. It is equipped with anti-jamming features and has encrypted telemetry connections. It'll be positioned over the equator supporting communications within Europe, the middle east, and Africa, as well as over the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Falcon Heavy fires up its 27 engines for the very first time

Falcon Heavy firing at LC-39A
Photo // SpaceX

Today around 12:30pm EST, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket ignited its 27 Merlin engines for the very first time as a complete launch vehicle. For the static fire, they followed normal launch procedures with the fueling of the 3 cores and the upper stage and then igniting the engines in a staggered pattern to reduce the torque forces on the octowebs. The rocket fired all the engines for around 7-11 seconds and generated quite a bit of steam as the huge plume grew away from the launch pad. Elon Musk confirmed a good static fire and said that Falcon Heavy would "launch in a week or so". 

A picture perfect launch of Electron by Rocket Lab

Electron "Still Testing" launching
Photo // Rocket Lab

After many scrubs and a delay, Rocket lab launches their Electron rocket into the sky above the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The carbon-composite launch vehicle ignited its 9 Rutherford engines and launched off the pad about 2 seconds after engine ignition. The rocket climbed through the atmosphere and the first stage cutoff and separated about 2.5 minutes after launch. The second stage carried the 3 satellites into Low Earth Orbit. Electron launched an Earth-imaging Dove satellite for Planet labs and two Lemur-2 satellites for Spire that allows gathering data for weather and ship tracking.

Engineers working on Electron
Photo // Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket is a fully carbon-composite rocket with engines that have 3D printed components. These are the worlds first for a high-performance liquid-fueled rocket engine and the propellants are fed into them by electric turbo-pumps. These are designed to reduce mass for higher performance of the launch vehicle. Electrons design is focused around production to allow the launch vehicles to be built and launched at unprecedented frequency.

Atlas V launch scrubbed due to ground issue

Tonight's launch of the Atlas V carrying the SBIRS GEO-4 satellite has been scrubbed for the day due to a ground issue associated with the booster liquid oxygen system. The next launch attempt will occur tomorrow, January 19th, from SLC-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The weather forecast shows a 90% chance of favorable weather conditions. The Atlas V will lift off the launch pad at 7:48PM EST.

An Atlas V will light up the night sky tonight around Cape Canaveral, FL

The Atlas V at SLC-40 during sunset
Photo // ULA

Tonight at 7:52pm EST, United Launch Alliance will be launching their Atlas V rocket in the 411 configuration. The Atlas V will be carrying the SBIRS GEO Flight 4 satellite for Lockheed Martin. The encapsulation of the payload occurred on Tuesday, January 9th at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. Prior to encapsulation, the satellite went under a lot of testing to ensure that the payload was ready to undergo the stresses during launch. The Atlas V trekked its way to Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) yesterday with the SBIRS GEO-4 satellite mated to the upper centaur stage.

Atlas V rolled onto SLC-41
Photo // ULA

The Atlas V for this mission is in the 411 configuration, which means the rocket has a 4-meter payload fairing while using 1 Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) with one engine on the second stage. The reason for the single SRB is to get the payload up to its desired orbit while having fuel left over to de-orbit the upper stage after mission completion. The 2 RD-180 main engines used on the first stage use their large gimbal range to be able to compensate for the thrust from the SRB.

The Atlas V rolling out to the pad
Photo // ULA

SBIRS GEO-4 is manufactured by Lockheed Martin and will join the three SBIRS GEO satellites that have been launched since 2011. These satellites will provide an early warning of missile launches that are headed for the US, including launched nuclear weapons. Two additional satellites have been ordered by Lockheed Martin and will be launched in the early 2020s. These SBIRS GEO satellites can also register emissions from wildfires, meteors, satellite reentries, and nuclear detonations.

Welcome home, Dragon! SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft returns to Earth after almost a month at the ISS

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere carrying approximately 4,100 pounds of scientific research and hardware for NASA. Dragon successfully splashed down and was recovered in the Pacific Ocean by the SpaceX team a bit off the coast of California. Dragon will be brought back into port and will be transported to their HQ in Hawthrone, CA for unloading of the cargo and inspection of the spacecraft. This was the second time that this Dragon has been flown to space back.

Flight-proven Falcon 9 launching the
CRS-13 mission from SLC-40
Photo // SpaceX

Dragon launched on a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket back on December 15th, 2017 from Space Launch Complex 40 by SpaceX. This mission was the first time that NASA had agreed to use a flight-proven Falcon 9 booster, which previously supported the CRS-11 mission back on June 3rd, 2017. The first stage conducted a "Return To Launch Site" (RTLS) recovery where it flipped around and fired its engines back toward Cape Canaveral where it landed softly at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1). The Dragon spacecraft was also flight-proven and had previously launched the CRS-6 mission which launched April 14th, 2015.

The CRS-13 Dragon Spacecraft after recovery by SpaceX
Photo // SpaceX

The Dragon Spacecraft launched approximately a total of 4,861 pound of more than 250 science experiments and research investigations to the International Space Station (ISS). These experiments are going to be conducted during Expeditions 53, 54, and 55. This is the 13th of the 20 missions that SpaceX is contracted to send to the station under NASA's Commercial Resupply System (CRS). This contract was awarded to SpaceX to send resupply missions to the ISS through 2024 under the second CRS contract which was announced back in January of 2016.