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.