Tuesday, July 31, 2018

NASA’s Sun Touching Parker Solar Probe Rolls to Cape Canaveral Launch Pad for Aug. 11 Blastoff: Photos


NASA’s Parker Solar Probe encapsulated in payload fairing is on the move as its rolling from Astrotech processing facility in Titusville on July 30 to Space Launch Complex-37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL for hoisting atop United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and launch targeted for Aug. 11, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   31 July 2018

TITUSVILLE, FL –  NASA’s ground breaking ‘Sun-touching’ Parker Solar Probe spacecraft departed its prelaunch processing facility in Titusville facility Monday night, July 30 encapsulated inside its humongous and protective payload fairing, rolling to her Cape Canaveral, Florida launch pad and targeting blastoff on August 11.  

Escorted by a convoy of vehicles and security forces led by rocket builder United Launch Alliance  the 63-foot-tall (19-meter) stack of the fully fueled Parker Solar Probe and payload fairing exited the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility  processing facility around 830 p.m. Monday night for a lengthy road trip on Rt 405 in Titusville, Florida that culminated with a post-midnight arrival at Space Launch Complex-37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force. 

Parker is on an unprecedented mission to fly through the sun’s outer atmosphere -- the solar corona – skimming within 4 million miles, 8.86 solar radii (6.2 million kilometers) of the suns fiercely hot surface where it will encounter brutally hot conditions reaching into the millions of degrees and extremely intense and deadly radiation.  
Check out our exclusive gallery of Space UpClose eyewitness rollout photos taken as the probe and vehicle convoy moved at a snails pace of 4 mph along the roadway at night at a time when there is less highway traffic.  
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe encapsulated in payload fairing is on the move as its rolling from Astrotech processing facility in Titusville on July 30 to Space Launch Complex-37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL for hoisting atop United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and launch targeted for Aug. 11, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Parker’s sure to be spectacular post midnight launch is slated for Aug. 11, 2018 atop the triple barrel United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, the most powerful vehicle in the firms fleet, from pad 37 on Cape Canaveral.


Liftoff is slated for the opening of a launch window that starts at 3:48 a.m. EDT (0748 GMT) and lasts for 45 minutes until 4:33 a.m. EDT (0833 GMT).
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe encapsulated in payload fairing is on the move as its rolling ffrom Astrotech processing facility in Titusville on July 30 to Space Launch Complex-37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL for hoisting atop United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and launch targeted for Aug. 11, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com



Blastoff of the car sized probe has been delayed several times to deal with a variety of spacecraft technical and payload processing issues from its originally planned July 31 liftoff date and eaten into the 3 week launch period.  

NASA and ULA only had until August 19 to get the spacecraft off the ground. So its getting close to the end of the launch period after which it will have to sit on Earth until the next opportunity for liftoff in May 2019. 

Although the departure time was not announced ahead of time for security reasons, there was a small crowd of onlookers on hand at a few locations to wish her well along the way!
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe encapsulated in payload fairing is on the move as its rolling from Astrotech processing facility in Titusville on July 30 to Space Launch Complex-37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL for hoisting atop United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and launch targeted for Aug. 11, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The vehicle stack mounted inside the white colored fairing consists of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) integrated on top of the third stage rocket motor, a Star 48BV provided by Northrop Grumman, formerly Orbital ATK.

The car-sized PSP is 3 meters tall and has a mass of 1,424-pounds (646-kilograms).


It was developed at a cost of $1.5 Billion.  
Parker Solar Probe sits inside half of its fairing. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
As part of the final prelaunch operations, technicians lifted and mated PSP onto the Star 48BV rocket motor on July 11.


The third stage Star 48 BV rocket motor was added as an essential element required to get enough thrust for PSP to leave the influence of the Earth’s gravity field and fly within very close proximity of the sun to carry out its mission to ‘Touch the Sun’. 
The stack was then encapsulated inside the bisector fairing at Astrotech on July 16, 2018.

Parker Solar Probe was encapsulated within its fairing on July 16, 2018, in preparation for its move to Space Launch Complex 37. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman


The triple stick ULA Delta IV Heavy is the worlds largest operational launch vehicle and United Launch Alliance (ULA) was selected by NASA as the launch provider several years ago.   
“The Delta IV Heavy, Parker Solar Probe will use a third stage rocket to gain the speed needed to reach the Sun, which takes 55 times more energy than reaching Mars,” says NASA.

The two stage United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launching NASA’s Parker Solar Probe stands vertical and exposed on July 7, 2018 after rollback of the Mobile Service Tower (rear) for WDR fueling test at Space Launch Complex-37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Encapsulated Parker was mounted on top on July 31 after transport to pad on July 30. Liftoff targeted for Aug. 11, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com



The PSP convoy reached pad 37 after midnight Tuesday morning, July 31.


NASA’s Parker Solar Probe encapsulated in payload fairing is on the move as its rolling from Astrotech processing facility in Titusville on July 30 to Space Launch Complex-37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL for hoisting atop United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and launch targeted for Aug. 11, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The next step was to mount the satellite stack on top of the Delta IV Heavy rocket inside the Mobile Service Tower (MST) to carry out the science mission.


Technicians then quickly got to work and hoisted the PSP payload stack and integrated it on top of the already waiting two-stage approximately 179 foot tall (55 meter tall) Delta IV Heavy stack comprising two stages.


The MST stands 330 feet (100 meter) tall and is easily visible from multiple vantage points in the Florida Space Coast region.
The two stage Delta IV Heavy stack has already completed a pair of critical Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) exercises conducted by engineers and technicians on July 2 and July 6 to ensure that the rocket will be ready for the blastoff now currently targeted for August 11 – as I reported here earlier.
Check out our exclusive Space UpClose photos of the two stage Delta IV Heavy stack on the pad after the WDRs were successfully concluded.



The two stage United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launching NASA’s Parker Solar Probe stands vertical and exposed on July 7, 2018 after rollback of the Mobile Service Tower (rear) for WDR fueling test at Space Launch Complex-37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Encapsulated Parker was mounted on top on July 31 after transport to pad on July 30. Liftoff targeted for Aug. 11, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com



“I’m very happy to say that Solar Probe is in the fairing and is on top of the Delta IV Heavy as of 12 Noon today,” said Nicky Fox, Parker Solar Probe’s project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which developed the mission for NASA, at a live media briefing held today at the University of Chicago.


“It was hoisted up this morning.”

“I think it’s fair to say that Parker Solar Probe is go for the sun.”


The key goals are to try and answer fundamental questions about the nature of the sun and development an understanding of how the sun works – such as why is the solar corona so hot. Its much hotter than the suns surface.

Scientists also want to know why the solar wind is accelerated to supersonic speeds. 

N
ASA’s Parker Solar Probe will fly ‘Where no Earth probe has gone before!’


“Throughout its seven-year mission, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will swoop through the Sun’s atmosphere 24 times, getting closer to our star than any spacecraft has gone before.”


“Parker  will be the first mission to fly through the sun’s outer atmosphere -- the solar corona -- to examine two fundamental aspects of solar physics: why the corona is so much hotter than the sun’s surface, and what accelerates the solar wind that affects Earth and our solar system. Understanding these fundamental phenomena has been a top-priority science goal for more than five decades. SPP will orbit the sun 24 times, closing to within 3.9 million miles of its surface with the help of seven Venus flybys,” says NASA.



The NASA contract award for the ULA launch services amounts to $389.1 million for a deal signed with the agency in 2015. 


NASA previously used the Delta IV Heavy to launch the Orion EFT-1 test flight.

Otherwise the Delta IV Heavy is utilized to launch the heaviest clandestine payloads for national security purposes for the USAF and NRO. 



The Parker Solar Probe is named in honor of astrophysicist Eugene Parker, S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, who predicted the existence of the solar wind in groundbreaking papers dating back to the 1958s.


“In 1958, Dr. Gene Parker developed a theory showing how the Sun’s corona is so hot that it overcomes the Sun’s gravity, forming the solar wind,” says NASA. 

It was previously known as Solar Probe Plus.


This was the first time NASA named a spacecraft for a living individual.


“This probe will journey to a region humanity has never explored before,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This mission will answer questions scientists have sought to uncover for more than six decades.”
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.



Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com



………….

Ken’s upcoming outreach events/photos for sale:

Learn more about the upcoming upcoming/recent SpaceX Merah Putih & Telstar 19 launches, NASA/ULA Parker Solar Probe, SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-15 launch to ISS,  SES-12 comsat launch, Falcon Heavy, TESS, GOES-S, Bangabandhu-1, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings:

Aug 4-6: “SpaceX Telstar 19 & Merah Putih Launches, NASA/ULA Parker Solar Probe SpaceX Dragon CRS-15 resupply launch to ISS, SpaceX Falcon Heavy & Falcon 9 launches, SpaceX SES-12 comsat. ULA Atlas USAF SBIRS GEO 4 missile warning satellite, SpaceX GovSat-1, CRS-14 resupply launches to the ISS, NRO & USAF Spysats, SLS, Orion, Boeing and SpaceX Commercial crew capsules, OSIRIS-Rex, Juno at Jupiter, InSight Mars lander, Curiosity and Opportunity explore Mars, NH at Pluto and more,” Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings. Photos for sale








Saturday, July 28, 2018

SpaceX Retracts Falcon 9 Landing Leg 1st Time on Sea Landed ‘Flight-Proven’ Booster, Achieving Milestone for Faster Turnaround: Photo/Video Gallery



Falcon 9 first stage landing leg is retracted for the first time ever in a post landing operation against the side of the recovered core on July 27, 2018 using hoisting 2 cables pulled from the top of the newly utilized square shaped cap apparatus bolted on top of the booster.  As observed from Port Canaveral, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   27 July 2018

PORT CANAVERAL, FL – SpaceX technicians have retracted the first rocket landing leg today, Friday, July 27, from a Falcon 9 booster for the first time after recovering the now ‘Flight-Proven’ first stage from this weeks launch of the Telstar 19V telecommunications satellite via a precision guided soft landing at sea – thereby achieving a major milestone towards faster rocket turnaround with the newly upgraded Block 5 version of the firms workhorse launch vehicle.  

Check out my Space UpClose eyewitness photos and video gallery documenting the entire exciting leg raising operation as seen from my perspective observing from a short distance away across the channel at Port Canaveral at the Florida Space Coast.  

Note: Story is being updated with further details and imagery.

Falcon 9 first stage landing leg is retracted for the first time ever in a post landing operation against the side of the recovered core on July 27, 2018 using hoisting 2 cables pulled from the top of the newly utilized square shaped cap apparatus bolted on top of the booster.  As observed from Port Canaveral, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The used boosters leg erection came two full days after the 15-story tall first stage booster arrived in port at sunrise Wednesday Morning. 

Read my story and imagery of the arrival as the rocket assisted landed booster was standing fully upright atop the OCISLY drone ship upon which it touched down- and was towed into the mouth of Port Canaveral at Jetty Park Pier at 7 a.m. July 25.  


Falcon 9 first stage landing leg is retracted for the first time ever in a post landing operation against the side of the recovered core on July 27, 2018 using hoisting 2 cables pulled from the top of the newly utilized square shaped cap apparatus bolted on top of the booster.  As observed from Port Canaveral, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com


The leg retraction and folding process began at about 2 p.m. EDT July 27 as the leg side leg (from my viewing location) was slowly hoisted using a pair of cables and pulleys strung down from the new type and newfangled booster cap bolted on top of the first stage and attached to the tip of the leg.






The retraction and refurling appeared to be a manually carried out operation.





In fact the leg retraction looked exactly like the leg landing deployment – but fully in reverse but with the addition of hoisting cables atop the core.



Falcon 9 first stage landing leg is retracted for the first time ever in a post landing operation against the side of the recovered core on July 27, 2018 using hoisting 2 cables pulled from the top of the newly utilized square shaped cap apparatus bolted on top of the booster.  As observed from Port Canaveral, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com


There were almost no cranes or cherry pickers with technicians visibly at work, until the end when the leg was pointing skyward about 80 degrees upright.



In all previous instances, each of the four landing legs from landed Falcon 9 first stages were painstakingly removed one by one from the core via a labor intensive process lasting many hours and even days at first with many cranes and techs moving about in a choreographed sequence.



Falcon 9 first stage landing leg is retracted for the first time ever in a post landing operation against the side of the recovered core on July 27, 2018 using hoisting 2 cables pulled from the top of the newly utilized square shaped cap apparatus bolted on top of the booster.  As observed from Port Canaveral, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Overall the single leg retraction took some 40 minutes until the leg was flush tight and upright against the booster’s.




That prior leg removal process looked like the dissection of an insect as each of the struts and landing pads were unbolted from the side of the core





SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that the starting with the Block 5 version of Falcon 9 the legs would be retracted back against the core rather then been disassembled off.






However after the first Blcok 5 launched and landed in May with the Bangabandhu-1 satellite, all 4 legs were again unbolted and removed piece by piece.




The adventure began three days earlier with the magnificent post-midnight liftoff of the massive 7.8 ton Telstar 19 VANTAGE (or Telstar 19v) Canadian commercial telecommunications satellite atop the upgraded Falcon 9 taking place right at the opening of the lengthy launch window at 1:50 a.m. EDT (0550 GMT) Sunday, July 22 from seaside Space launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. 



The launch used the newly upgraded Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 first stage – that launched on Sunday for only the second time.



The Block 5 Falcon 9 will be cheaper to produce and much easier to turnaround with minimal maintenance, says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. His goal is to relaunch a recovered Block 5 a second time within 24 hours by sometime next year.

Overall Musk’s goal is to radically slash the cost of building and launching rockets and enabling much cheaper access to space - with airline like efficiencies for science, commercial enterprises and people.

Musk want to make flying rockets as routine as flying airplanes.

SpaceX successfully recovered this new Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 booster which replaces the older, now discontinued Block 4.

The last Block 4 launched in late June for NASA on the Dragon CRS-15 resupply mission to the ISS.

This was SpaceX’s 13th launch of the year.



And as I reported on Tuesday, July 24, a large broken off mangled piece of the payload fairing was hauled into Port Canaveral on the GO Pursuit vessel.  

Check out my booster arrival, fairing arrival and launch articles and photos that accompany this story. 

The newly built two stage 229-foot tall (70-meter) SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered the Telstar 19 VANTAGE comsat to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) for for Telesat, one of the world’s leading commercial satellite operators. 


Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com


………….

Ken’s upcoming outreach events/photos for sale:

Learn more about the upcoming upcoming/recent SpaceX Merah Putih & Telstar 19 launches, NASA/ULA Parker Solar Probe, SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-15 launch to ISS,  SES-12 comsat launch, Falcon Heavy, TESS, GOES-S, Bangabandhu-1, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings:

Aug 4-6: “SpaceX Telstar 19 & Merah Putih Launches, NASA/ULA Parker Solar Probe SpaceX Dragon CRS-15 resupply launch to ISS, SpaceX Falcon Heavy & Falcon 9 launches, SpaceX SES-12 comsat. ULA Atlas USAF SBIRS GEO 4 missile warning satellite, SpaceX GovSat-1, CRS-14 resupply launches to the ISS, NRO & USAF Spysats, SLS, Orion, Boeing and SpaceX Commercial crew capsules, OSIRIS-Rex, Juno at Jupiter, InSight Mars lander, Curiosity and Opportunity explore Mars, NH at Pluto and more,” Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings. Photos for sale




Friday, July 27, 2018

Surreal Sunrise Greets Arrival of SpaceX Sea Landed Booster into Port Canaveral: Gallery


Sea landed SpaceX Falcon 9 1st stage booster arrives at sunrise into Port Canaveral, FL on July 25 passing by Jetty Park Pier. Following launch of Telstar 19v telecomsat from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station July 22, 2018: Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   25 July 2018

PORT CANAVERAL, FL – A surreal sunrise greeted Wednesday mornings arrival (July 25) of the sea landed and recovered SpaceX first stage Falcon 9 rocket booster that was towed into the mouth of Port Canaveral atop a dedicated droneship – just 3 days after successfully launching the Telstar 19v commercial telecomsat to orbit.


The Falcon 9 looked decided scorched and sooty! But also quite stunning considering the radical impact that SpaceX’s innovative and low cost recycled rockets has unleashed on the space industry.

This upgraded version of the Falcon 9 booster - known as the Block 5 - had accomplished another one of those absolutely amazing intact and upright precision guided landings on an ocean going platform just 8 minutes after launching the Telstar 19v comsat from Cape Canaveral.

Sea landed SpaceX Falcon 9 1st stage booster arrives at sunrise into Port Canaveral, FL on July 25 passing by Jetty Park Pier. Following launch of Telstar 19v telecomsat from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station July 22, 2018.   Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com


The majestic looking 15 story tall booster was towed into Port Canaveral by the SpaceX Naval fleet led by Hawk with little fanfare – as myself and a small group of interested media colleagues watched from Jetty Park Pier and Beach.



Check out the Space Upclose image gallery snapped today from various angles around the Port, Pier, Beach and Channel by myself and Julian Leek.



We caught our first glimpse of the booster in the distance several miles off shore of Cape Canaveral Beach before sunrise at around 630 a.m. EDT  – as it was sticking up improbably atop the flat barge like platform out in the ocean named "Of Course I Still Love You" or OCISLY for short.


Sea landed SpaceX Falcon 9 1st stage booster arrives at sunrise into Port Canaveral, FL on July 25 passing by Jetty Park Pier. Following launch of Telstar 19v telecomsat from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station July 22, 2018.   Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Basically it looks like a pencil sticking up out from the middle of the vast ocean.  A rare sight that’s science fictionesque and hard to believe anyone can land a rocket at sea - but that has actually been  accomplished more than two dozen times.

Sea landed SpaceX Falcon 9 1st stage booster arrives at sunrise into Port Canaveral, FL on July 25 passing by Jetty Park Pier. Following launch of Telstar 19v telecomsat from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station July 22, 2018.   Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com




Hawk towed OCISLY into Port aided by several tugboats  - and as multiple spped boat and other pleasure craft sped out of the Channel for a day of adventure on the high seas – passing right by the booster and in many cases likely oblivious to the remarkable goings on.



OCISLY had been prepositioned some 400 miles (640 km) off shore in the Atlantic Ocean.



It arrived at the Ports mouth shortly after 7 a.m. EDT.



The booster and OCISLY continued into the narrow channel slowly for about another half hour or so as numerous ships and craft of all shapes and sizes sailed by.



Finally they were guided into the berthing port by 8 a.m. to soon begin the process that eventually leads to craning off onto land. Read all about that in our follow up story



The adventure began three days earlier with the magnificent post-midnight liftoff of the massive 7.8 ton Telstar 19 VANTAGE (or Telstar 19v) Canadian commercial telecommunications satellite atop the upgraded Falcon 9 taking place right at the opening of the lengthy launch window at 1:50 a.m. EDT (0550 GMT) Sunday, July 22 from seaside Space launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. 






The launch used the newly upgraded Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 first stage – that launched on Sunday for only the second time.


The Block 5 Falcon 9 will be cheaper to produce and much easier to turnaround with minimal maintenance, says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. His goal is to relaunch a recovered Block 5 a second time within 24 hours by sometime next year.

Overall Musk’s goal is to radically slash the cost of building and launching rockets and enabling much cheaper access to space - with airline like efficiencies for science, commercial enterprises and people.

Musk want to make flying rockets as routine as flying airplanes.

SpaceX successfully recovered this new Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 booster which replaces the older, now discontinued Block 4.

The last Block 4 launched in late June for NASA on the Dragon CRS-15 resupply mission to the ISS.

This was SpaceX’s 13th launch of the year.


And as I reported on Tuesday, July 24, a large broken off mangled piece of the payload fairing was hauled into Port Canaveral on the GO Pursuit vessel. 



Check out my fairing arrival story and photos that accompany this story.



The newly built two stage 229-foot tall (70-meter) SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered the Telstar 19 VANTAGE comsat to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) for for Telesat, one of the world’s leading commercial satellite operators.





Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.


Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com




Sea landed SpaceX Falcon 9 1st stage booster arrives at sunrise into Port Canaveral, FL passing by Jetty Park Pier. Following launch of Telstar 19v telecomsat from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station July 22, 2018.   Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com