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Birds
of a different feather. As water fowl frolick 1st reflowed and re-recovered upgraded
SpaceX Falcon 9 sails into the mouth of Port Canaveral past Jetty Park Pier, FL, on Aug. 9, 2018. The SpaceX rocket launched the Merah Putih
comsat on Aug. 7 from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Ken Kremer
-- SpaceUpClose.com -- 10 August 2018
PORT CANAVERAL, FL – Less than 3 Days after sailing into space for the second time and successfully landing on a platform at sea, the first re-flown model of SpaceX’s upgraded Block 5 version of their workhorse Falcon 9 booster sailed back into Port Canaveral Thursday late afternoon, Aug. 9.
The 15-story tall first stage booster arrived sooty but beautifully in a rather surreal setting as it floated majestically into the mouth of Port Canaveral, around 5 p.m EDT, Thursday, Aug. 9.
I witnessed the Port Canaveral arrival from Jetty Park Pier and moved along the channel as it sailed further along to its berthing stop.
PORT CANAVERAL, FL – Less than 3 Days after sailing into space for the second time and successfully landing on a platform at sea, the first re-flown model of SpaceX’s upgraded Block 5 version of their workhorse Falcon 9 booster sailed back into Port Canaveral Thursday late afternoon, Aug. 9.
The 15-story tall first stage booster arrived sooty but beautifully in a rather surreal setting as it floated majestically into the mouth of Port Canaveral, around 5 p.m EDT, Thursday, Aug. 9.
I witnessed the Port Canaveral arrival from Jetty Park Pier and moved along the channel as it sailed further along to its berthing stop.
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SpaceX Falcon 9 ocean landed/recovered booster sails into the mouth
of Port Canaveral past Jetty Park Pier, FL, on Aug. 9, 2018.
This SpaceX rocket launched the Merah Putih comsat on Aug. 7 from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station, FL. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Check out our expanding and exclusive Space UpClose gallery of the Port arrival, launch, prelaunch and static fire test photos.
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Wide view of monstrous shelf cloud that
rapidly overtook Port
Canaveral and the just arrived reflown/recovered
SpaceX Falcon 9 booster that
just launched Merah Putih
comsat Comsat 2 days ago
and sailed into port this afternoon Aug. 9, 2018 on OCISLY droneship. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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This story is posted belatedly and as a work in progress due to its overlap with the successful launch campaign for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.
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End of Jetty Park Pier view of Reflown SpaceX Falcon 9 sailing into Port Canaveral mouth
on Aug. 9, 2018 - as tourists gaze in wonder 2 days post launch the Merah
Putih comsat on Aug. 7 from Space
Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, FL. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The off white singed cylinder with four landing legs was standing
proudly upright on the “Of Course I Still Love You” (OCISLY) flat topped droneship
upon which it made a precision guided soft landing barely 8 minutes after
liftoff.
OCISLY was towed into the mouth of Port Canaveral by GO
QUEST accompanied by a small SpaceX leased naval fleet.
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End of Jetty Park Pier view of Reflown SpaceX Falcon 9 sailing into Port Canaveral mouth
on Aug. 9, 2018 - as tourists gaze in wonder 2 days post launch the Merah
Putih comsat on Aug. 7 from Space
Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The twice flown and twice landed booster looked to be in
excellent shape.
SpaceX CEO Elon Muck hopes to fly the Block 5 models up to
100 times. They have been significantly upgraded to minimize refurbishment between
flights.
Indeed Musk said at a briefing that his goal is to refly a
Block 5 with 24 hours of landing – sometime in 2019.
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Celestial Wonders of the technological and
natural kind - as a SpaceX
breakthrough in space
exploration namely the recycled Falcon 9 Block 5 - sails by Jetty Park
Pier at Port Canaveral, FL on Aug. 9, 2018. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Up
Close look at landing legs and 1st
stage engines of SpaceX Falcon 9 ocean
landed/recovered booster sailing into the mouth of Port Canaveral, FL, on Aug. 9, 2018. This SpaceX rocket
launched Merah Putih comsat on Aug. 7 from pad 40 on Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The Block 4 version never flew more than twice – still a
remarkable achievement!
The booster could have entered the Port even soon but had
to wait for the departure of the massive carnival Cruise ship at 4 p.m. ET –
see photos.
Liftoff
of the Merah Putih telecommunications satellite took place
right at the opening of the two-hour long launch window in the dead of night at
1:18 a.m. EDT (0518 GMT) Tuesday, Aug. 7, from seaside Space Launch Complex-40
on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.
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Departing
cruise ship steams past SpaceX Falcon 9 booster soft landed on OCISLY drone
ship being simultaneously towed into Port Canaveral on Aug. 9. 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Just
minutes later the Falcon 9 first stage made a pinpoint rocket assisted
re-landing on a droneship waiting some 400 hundred miles (640 km) offshore in
the Atlantic Ocean.
Overall
this counted as the second launch and second ocean landing for the Block 5
booster.
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Coupling with a Falcon - and
its a recycled SpaceX Falcon 9. What are they thinking? About Merah Putih
and rocket recycling? or something else entirely? Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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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
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