SpaceX Falcon 9 historic landing thread (1st landing attempt & most recent missions)

Lots of rain here in the Tpa Bay area so far tonight- just rolling in and headed east..........

SCRUBBED! Upper level winds too high.

Next attempt, likely early Thursday , the 16th.

Will post a launch time later.

From SpaceFlightNow:

If SpaceX decides to make another attempt at launching the Falcon 9 rocket Thursday, there is a 90 percent chance of favorable conditions.

Mostly clear skies are predicted Thursday morning, with northerly winds of 15 to 20 mph and a temperature at launch time around 53 degrees Fahrenheit.

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good to know, thank you George. I can go back to work now!

I'm glad it got scrubbed. I had to go to bed early last night.
I have a date early this morning with a PT for my Attorney for SSDI case coming up in May.

georgegassaway said:

Keep in mind that the fees have all been for expendable flights. The successful landings have been a "bonus". And SpaceX builds their rockets so inexpensively (making as much as they can in-house, including the tanks and engines), that their total cost is far below anyone else's rockets for the same performance (payload mass to various orbit categories). The first stage is reportedly about $30 million, that may be 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of other first stage boosters (at least for US-built launch vehicles). So, if the re-use never worked out, they'd still be at a big price advantage over all the other US launch vehicle makers. Though they do need to avoid any more accidents and more big schedule delays.

The current version of F9, 1.2 FT (Block 4?), did at least three GTO flights last year, all risky landings since they did not have enough fuel to do a re-entry burn to help reduce re-entry heating. First try ran out of fuel above the ASDS barge and crashed into it, big hole in deck took 6-8 weeks before it could be used again (fortunately the flight schedule did not need it). Two others worked, but they got scorched. No official word but it seems like those two will never fly again. But they may have learned key things from those on what needed to be improved the most for the next version (block 5) to be able to be reflown more (Touted as a key upgrade of Bock 5). It is sounding like even the ones that had "gentle" re-entries and safe landings may not fly but 2 or 3 times (1 or 2 reflights), Block 5 is supposed to last for several more.

So, as to this booster being expended for a GTO launch, maybe a year ago they would have gone for it. Since the "hot" re-entries seemed to damage the boosters enough not to be practical to re-fly, little point in trying to land it and get it back. As well, they have changed the fuel loading process since then, due to the Atmos-6 Pad explosion, they cannot load it as full of superchilled propellants as before, so the vehicle is not at 100% of the capability it was before the change. Also they would be risking the ASDS barge a lot, with a big backlog of missions.



Oh, that's outrageously silly.



No such thing could ever happen.



Ever.



Well.....



Whoops.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOAA-19

At least that happened due to a massive procedural mistake, not hardware design.

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To be fair, that satellite was repaired and is currently on orbit.

NAR29996 said:

To be fair, that satellite was repaired and is currently on orbit.

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At the cost of 135 million dollars and for Lockheed, a 30 million charge as well as no profit. (From the Wikipedia page and with questionable interpretation skills.)

To be fair, that satellite was repaired and is currently on orbit.

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An probably leaning ever so slightly to one side...

Hey, knock it off!



Soooo, next attempt 1:35 AM EDT Thursday. Or as most of us think of it, "Late" Wednesday night.

Weather is 90% chance of GO.

Will post Webcast links when they are up. They didn't post the ones for the scrubbed launch until about 14 hours before launch time so I don't expect them to post today.

BTW - there was some confusion last night. I was checking SpaceFlightNow's live text updates, when they posted that it was scrubbed. So, I repeated that here. Then was checking elsewhere for more info 20 minutes later...... and here was a question as to whether it had really been scrubbed, or just delayed for an attempt later. Oh, crap, I'd already posted here that it had been scrubbed! So if it had bene delayed and launched an hour or two later.... some of you would have missed it since I posted it had been scrubbed. It was 40 minutes before SpaceX officially announced the scrub. But then that was about 25 minutes after the SpaceX Webcasts were to have started, but they never did. Only a black screen counting down to the launch window opening

It is SO frustrating at times how poorly they communicate. They don't get an "out" on this just because they are a private company, because they ARE publicizing the launches and the status of the launch (delay or scrub) isn't some big secret that makes any sense hiding, it's going to become obvious once T-0 comes and goes that it's at least a delay, and eventually a scrub. Clearly the word had leaked out unofficially (and accurately) that it was scrub, not a delay.

It's Bad Public Relations. Of course they've been thru more heads of Public Affairs than Spinal Tap went thru drummers, and last I checked (some time ago), they'd had nobody for over a year. I mean really, they have people already paid and in place to be doing the webcasts, how much trouble for one person to type white text on the black background of the webcast counting down to the already canceled launch to say "Launch Scrubbed for today" ???? I could figure the person in charge of the webcast text on screen might actually want to do that very thing, but would be scared about being fired if they did so, as would the webcast director.

He did end up with Halle Berry. Not too shabby.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Never travel with Tom Hanks! He goes to the moon --- Houston we have a problem. He flies a jetliner --- ends up in the Hudson River. Passenger on a cargo jet --- ends up a castaway on a remote island talking to a volley ball.

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Halle Berry, nice body, not all that cute in the face.
At least for me.

Woody's Workshop said:

Halle Berry, nice body, not all that cute in the face.
At least for me.

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I really like her as an actress. She was underused in the X-men movies for sure. She also was with Hugh Jackman in the movie Swordfish which was excellent. Sure, she was topless, but I thought she just did a great job as Ginger, the girlfriend of John Travolta's character. That character went through a couple of twists, reveals, whatever, and she pulls it off. Great movie.

Wow. This dude's got STANDARDS.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

cvanc said:

Wow. This dude's got STANDARDS.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

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I wouldn't advertise yourself as not having the chance to be...(Just Joking)

Launch is GO for tonight, 1:35 AM EDT (Early Thursday for Eastern & Central) .

Hosted webcast:

[video=youtube;lZmqbL-hz7U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZmqbL-hz7U[/video]


Technical Webcast (edited link to a good one, original Youtube Technical webcast by SpaceX was bad):

[video=youtube;dM2Dp1Adlag]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM2Dp1Adlag[/video]

George - I heard on local radio that the boosters weren't going to land but rather just fall back into ocean. Something about not enough fuel for a landing. Any idea why that is for this mission?

Posted that more than once. Including message #1734 on March 11th:

And a reminder that due to the mass of this satellite, launched to GTO, it's going to need too much fuel to have enough left over for the booster to try an ASDS ocean landing. So, it does not have any of the landing equipment attached (no legs, no grid fins, etc).

The booster will crash into the ocean.

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Launch time moved to 2 AM EDT.

Via SpaceFlightNow:

The SpaceX launch conductor is instructing the team to reset this morning's target launch time for 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT).

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Suggest those who want to follow along until the Webcasts begin, to use this link to SFN's live text updates:

Web link: https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/03/13/echostar-23-mission-status-center/

The webcasts usually start about 20 mins before launch, so those probably won't start till 1:40 AM EDT.

Another SFN Update, at 12:50 AM EDT:

T-minus 70 minutes and counting. The countdown auto sequence has officially started, kicking off the first steps to begin pumping propellants into the 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 at launch pad 39A.

RP-1 kerosene will be pumped into the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket first, followed by liquid oxygen chilled to near minus 340 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 206 degrees Celsius) at T-minus 45 minutes.

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I don't plan to post every SFN update. Just thought that was worth including. Use the link above to follow their updates.

Launch in about 4 minutes.

Liftoff!

Pretty.

Farewell, first stage, and we thank you.

Stage 2 firing good.

Second stage burnout. Good trajectory. Second burn in about 16 minutes.

Second burn of the 2nd stage underway.

And... shutdown.

Echostar-23 will separate in a few minutes and use its own thrusters to eventually get into Geostationary Orbit.

Satellite separation, with sun also in view. anyone who missed seeing it, check out the webcast.

update - the Technical Webcast link was bad. Here's one that works. I have not looked at it all yet, but it seems there were some great interior views of the stage 2 Lox tank.

[video=youtube;dM2Dp1Adlag]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM2Dp1Adlag[/video]

Highly recommend watching the webcast if you missed it. No landing of course, but the shots of Echostar separation with the sun in the shot were definitely worth seeing.

Thanks again for your dedication to this thread George.

New News, and old news with new news.

Old news' new news first....

Earlier today, CRS-10's Dragon spacecraft (Launched February 19th) undocked from ISS.



It de-orbited and landed in the Pacific, off the coast of California.

Article: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/03/crs-10-dragon-returning-home-iss-mission/

No video, but a photo of it shortly before landing. Photo presumably taken from the recovery ship (privately contracted by SpaceX, not US Navy), if there is any video later it would likely be from someone on the ship with a handheld camera. But IIRC the only CRS landing video released was CRS-1 (handheld camera aboard ship), so I don't expect video.

And, the new news....still is rooted in old news. CRS-8 launched April 8th last year, and its booster landed safely.


(someone else created that nice montage)

Old news.

New News, the SES-10 communications Satellite.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SES-10

It will be launched on a Falcon-9 rocket.... in maybe 8 days from now, March 27th. SpaceX has set a NET data of March 27th, but that was before the 2-day launch delay of Echostar-23. They would have to do a record-setting turnaround to have the pad refurbished/repaired in order to not only launch on the 27th, but to be able to have repairs done days earlier than that to interface the rocket to it's TE (Transporter Erector) inside the hangar building. The TE gets toasted every launch and has to be repaired/refurbished too. And they need to be able to roll it out to the pad days earlier to do the static test firing. Scheduling of test firing is complicated by another launch set for the 24th, and the range is not available that day for a static test, even though it's not a launch. The Atmos-6 pad explosion showed one dramatic reason why the range crew need to be available even for a static firing. Emergency personnel to respond not only to fight the fire but also to find, assist, and evacuate anyone who might have been injured (fortunately, nobody was, but that was not known at the time).

Still, SpaceX has officially requested the range for March 27th, so they may be serious about expecting to be ready by then and working their way around scheduling the static firing. Perhaps when they modified 39A for Falcon launches they learned some lessons from LC-40 and the Vandenberg pad as to what could be done to require less work to repair/prepare pads for the next launch. For example, the Pad 39A TE pivots 30 to 45 degrees away as the Falcon takes off, reducing its heat exposure to the exhaust. Still requires repair/refurb work to the TE, but damage is less severe.

Even so, still likely it will shift to a later date. April 1st would be an interesting date. And April 12 would be a doubly historic space date* to do this (making it triple historic).... but not worth waiting that long.

So for those who did not already know, or did not figure it out, here's where the new news of SES-10 and old news of CRS-8 merge, and why it will be historic.

FIRST REFLOWN BOOSTER! Yes, F9 booster #23 which launched CRS-8, will be reflown to fly SES-10. The launch window, if it flies on the 27th, will be in late afternoon (beginning 4:58 PM EDT), so the landing will be in daylight. The satellite is heavy and I think it is going to use the same GTO type launch profile which require a lot of fuel, leaving barely enough to try to land. The plan IS TO RECOVER IT, with a landing on the ASDS barge named "Of Course I Still Love You" (OCISLY). However, it is going to be another one of those "hot" re-entries with no boostback burn, very LITTLE re-entry burn, and a 3-engine "Suicide burn" for the landing. So, it may not land safely, but they'll try.

If it does land safely, that may be its last flight. The two previously flown boosters that had similar "hot" re-entries, were pretty toasted. Those two may never make a second flight due to the heat damage (though that is not a certainty or official). So if it turned out to be true for a booster that only made one hot re-entry , to not fly again due to heat damage, hard to expect for a booster that made two flights including a hot re-entry to fly again. To get say 5 flights out of a booster they'd prefer to use missions with less demanding re-entries, to allow for a normal re-entry burn, such as the ISS resupply CRS flights.

The next upgrade of Falcon-9, "Block 5" planned to fly near the end of this year, is supposed to have some design/hardware changes to make the block-5 easier to refurbish and to be able to fly more times, I think I read at least 5 times. Of course long term they want to refly more than that. And they had said 2-3 years ago they expected 10 flights out of the current Falcon but it seems the current Falcon may not be up to such re-use. Certainly not with the "hot" re-entry flights that the heavy GTO satellite are requiring. Of course, before the F9 "Full Thrust" became available in late 2015, all such heavy GTO satellites would have to be expendable flights. With the block-5 coming online later, Echostar-23 might have been the last intentional expendable F9 flight. Of course some company inevitably might want to fly an even heavier satellite, or more demanding orbit, though in theory FH would take those. And some of the heaviest payloads with very demanding orbital requirements on Falcon Heavy flights will end up requiring the center core to be expendable (The lunar joyride might, and probably the "Red Dragon" to Mars flight which is now delayed from 2018 to 2020).


* = Vostok-1 launch April 12, 1961 and Shuttle STS-1 launch April 12, 1981

Awesome updates George. Thanks so much for keeping this thread going! I look for your updates every time I log onto TRF.

Marc

Thanks, Marc.

Here's a pic of CRS-10's Dragon spacecraft after recovery, on its way back to port.



And this video I ran across the other day, by Tim Dodd, the "Everyday Astronaut". A pretty good basic simple explanation why SpaceX uses rocket thrust for landings and not parachutes. Also the "hoverslam" aspect of the landings, among other things.

[video=youtube;TfNrHXwQ3SM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfNrHXwQ3SM[/video]

Before you make fun of the guy, he is a very talented creative photographer, and space enthusiast, and not some nutjob in a space suit. This short video explains why he started the Everyday Astronaut. Fun neat stuff, not dumb stuff. Check out his other videos too.

[video=youtube;5G36PEK4qj4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G36PEK4qj4[/video]

His website: https://timdoddphotography.com/

Great information George.
It's priceless to me for keeping up on this Thread.

I also want to chime in and give George a hearty thank you for his efforts to keep us in the know. Well done, sir, and much appreciated.

Thanks, again.

Not a surprise.... the NET for SES-10 launch has slipped to the 29th, week from Wednesday.

Launch window opening at 4:59 PM EDT

Static Fire planned for March 26.

Mission Patch:

George, I'm not sure what your connection is to SpaceX and I admittedly have not read everything you've posted here but I just want to extend a big thank you for posting all of the pictures, information and videos. Every time I see the thread has been updated I always check it out. This is a nice service for the rocketry community. Thanks.

-Dave

Crap! I go in for my back procedure on the 29th.
The anesthesia usually keeps me out that day and that night.
ERRRR

I sure am hoping by some miracle that there's a SpaceX launch on Wed, April 26th. I'm going to be in Orlando that entire week and will have that Wednesday free, so I'm driving out to Kennedy Space Center for the day. It would be SO great to catch a launch from nearby.

If you look closely at the Mission Patch the first stage is a slight grey color to indicate the reused booster.