Space Fan Red Alert! Scorched and Sooty SpaceX Falcon Heavy Side Booster Briefly Displayed at KSC Visitor Complex - Gallery

Scorched and sooty SpaceX Falcon Heavy landed side booster after two trips to space and back is briefly on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, FL, outside the Space Shuttle Atlantis pavilion. Photos taken 19 Feb. 2018 following maiden blastoff and landing on 6 Feb. 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   19 Feb 2018

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER VISITOR COMPLEX, FL – Space and SpaceX fan Red Alert !! The scorched and sooty SpaceX Falcon Heavy landed side booster that successfully traveled to space and back twice!- including earlier this month - is briefly on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, FL.

Calling all Space Enthusiasts now! You’ll need to make travel plans without delay and travel at near light speed because the Falcon Heavy side booster is only on display through Wednesday, February 21, the visitor complex announced today as a gift to space fans.

“The booster display will remain through Wednesday, February 21!”

Enjoy my gallery of photos here - taken on Monday, Feb. 19.

Catch it while you can! Don’t dawdle !

See Space History ‘Up Close and Personal’ with you own eyes in this temporary, one time only event.

The ultra short and ultra popular booster display was extended 1 day.   

With no fanfare and no notice the 156 foot long first stage booster sans its quartet of landing legs arrived in the dead of night Sunday morning. 

The inaugural test flight of the triple stick Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off magnificently at 3:45 p.m. EST (2045 GMT) on Feb. 6, 2018 from historic pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  

The three core rocket generated the loudest roar to space by far since NASA’s space shuttles were retired in July 2011. 

Both side boosters landed nearly simultaneously at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) some eight minutes after liftoff.  This used booster had previously flown on the CRS-9 Dragon cargo resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS). 

The nose cone capped, blackened side booster that truly looks like it’s been roasted to thousands of degrees is resting rather comfortably and horizontally flat on a bright white multi-wheeled transporter parked rather incredulously right outside the Space Shuttle Atlantis pavilion at KSCVC.

The booster is parked here only through Wednesday – that’s a total of just four days. 

And it’s so readily accessible you’ll can hardly believe your eyes until you see it because it’s right there out in the open next to the magnificent shuttle Atlantis exhibit. The public has never had a chance to see a Falcon 9 so close before so take advantage of this ultra-rare opportunity if you can. 

It’s been “There and Back Again” – Twice! 

Think about that fact as you leisurely stroll right underneath it and look up to the nose cone through gaps in the transporter vehicle.  

The twice launched twice landed recycled booster is powered by 9 Merlin 1D engines fueled by cryogenic liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene propellants.   

After two round trips to space and back, viewing the 15-story tall booster is well worth your time and effort.  

The Falcon Heavy is now the world’s most powerful currently operational rocket with twice the lifting ability of the next most powerful rocket - the Delta IV Heavy from United Launch Alliance.  

Read our detailed prelaunch and launch stories. 

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

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