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Thrice flown/landed SpaceX Falcon 9 booster goes airborne
again at 135 PM ET Feb 24 after craning off the OCISLY drone ship (at left) on
which it soft landed – as oblivious tourists fling by in boat sailing in Port
Canaveral, FL. The spent recovered booster had just floated into Port a few
hours earlier towed by Signet Warhorse tugboat, just 2.5 days after launching Indonesian
Nusantara Satu comsat and privately funded Israeli Beresheet moon lander Feb
21, 2019 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 &
RocketSTEM -- 25 February 2019
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Scorched and sooty from a challenging droneship landing, a thrice flown and landed SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage booster sailed into Port Canaveral, FL, Sunday morning (Feb. 24) just two and a half days after launching the Beresheet commercial lunar lander for Israel, a commercial telecommunications satellite for Indonesia and an experimental surveillance satellite for the U.S. Air Force on Thursday evening Feb. 21.
SpaceX hopes to launch the ‘used’ booster for a fourth and last time sometime this spring on a critical mission for NASA - involving the high altitude abort test with a mock Crew Dragon to ensure the astronauts spacecraft can be safely pulled away in case of an emergency from a failing rocket in a split second using the Super Draco abort thrusters.
The 15 story tall SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage sailed into the mouth of Port Canaveral passing by Jetty Park Pier at about 9 a.m. EST, Sunday, Feb 24 under partly cloudy skies and wavy seas to a crowd of waiting space enthusiasts and some tourists with no idea of what was happening – but pleased by the unexpected sight of a rocket floating by.
Check out our expanding gallery of eyewitness Space UpClose photos of the arrival, docking.
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Scorched and sooty from a challenging droneship landing, a thrice flown and landed SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage booster sailed into Port Canaveral, FL, Sunday morning (Feb. 24) just two and a half days after launching the Beresheet commercial lunar lander for Israel, a commercial telecommunications satellite for Indonesia and an experimental surveillance satellite for the U.S. Air Force on Thursday evening Feb. 21.
SpaceX hopes to launch the ‘used’ booster for a fourth and last time sometime this spring on a critical mission for NASA - involving the high altitude abort test with a mock Crew Dragon to ensure the astronauts spacecraft can be safely pulled away in case of an emergency from a failing rocket in a split second using the Super Draco abort thrusters.
The 15 story tall SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage sailed into the mouth of Port Canaveral passing by Jetty Park Pier at about 9 a.m. EST, Sunday, Feb 24 under partly cloudy skies and wavy seas to a crowd of waiting space enthusiasts and some tourists with no idea of what was happening – but pleased by the unexpected sight of a rocket floating by.
Check out our expanding gallery of eyewitness Space UpClose photos of the arrival, docking.
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3 Roundtrips to Space and
Back: This recovered SpaceX Falcon 9 booster soft landed atop
OCISLY drone ship sailed into Port Canaveral past Jetty Park Pier Sunday morning,
Feb 24 towed
by Signet Warhorse tugboat just
2.5 days after launching privately funded Israeli Beresheet moon lander Feb
21, 2019 and Indonesian Nusantara Satu comsat from Space Launch Complex-40 on
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The triply launched, spent Falcon 9 first
stage successfully
touched down on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship (OCISLY) some 8 minutes after launch - stationed about 400
miles (600 km) offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.
However this landing was the most challenging to date. The booster experienced the hottest re-entry temperatures by a Falcon 9 first stage to date, said SpaceX billionaire CEO and founder Elon Musk.
And burning metal sparks were visible as proof!
“Highest reentry heating to date. Burning metal sparks from base heat shield visible in landing video. Fourth relight scheduled for April,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted soon after the safe and successful touchdown.
The booster had reached a maximum altitude of 42 miles (67 kilometers) traveling at maximum speed of 5,200 mph (8,500 kilometers per hour) after shutting down its nine Merlin 1D engines. It then relit between 1 to 3 of the Merlins to accomplish the pinpoint propulsive soft touchdown upright on OCISLY.
However this landing was the most challenging to date. The booster experienced the hottest re-entry temperatures by a Falcon 9 first stage to date, said SpaceX billionaire CEO and founder Elon Musk.
And burning metal sparks were visible as proof!
“Highest reentry heating to date. Burning metal sparks from base heat shield visible in landing video. Fourth relight scheduled for April,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted soon after the safe and successful touchdown.
The booster had reached a maximum altitude of 42 miles (67 kilometers) traveling at maximum speed of 5,200 mph (8,500 kilometers per hour) after shutting down its nine Merlin 1D engines. It then relit between 1 to 3 of the Merlins to accomplish the pinpoint propulsive soft touchdown upright on OCISLY.
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3 Roundtrips to Space and
Back: This recovered SpaceX Falcon 9 booster soft landed atop
OCISLY drone ship sailed into Port Canaveral past Jetty Park Pier Sunday morning,
Feb 24 towed
by Signet Warhorse tugboat just
2.5 days after launching privately funded Israeli Beresheet moon lander Feb
21, 2019 and Indonesian Nusantara Satu comsat from Space Launch Complex-40 on
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Thrice flown/landed SpaceX Falcon 9 booster goes airborne
again at 135 PM ET Feb 24 after craning off the OCISLY drone ship (at left) on
which it soft landed. Spent recovered
booster had just floated into Port Canaveral, FL hours earlier towed by Signet
Warhorse tugboat, just 2.5 days after launching Indonesian Nusantara Satu comsat
and privately funded Israeli Beresheet moon lander Feb 21, 2019 from Space
Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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It now becomes the second SpaceX Block 5 Falcon to launch 3 times after the first ever thrice flown Falcon 9 launched from the US West Coast last December from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Ca.
The recovered booster was towed into Port by
the Signet Warhorse tugboat. This recovery marked the first time this vessel
served as tug. It has a slightly fatster speed compared to the Hawk tug used
last time.
Time is of the essence because OCISLY must depart again as quick as possible because it is being deployed as the landing target for SpaceX’s next launch on March 2 for NASA on the Demo-1 mission – the inaugural uncrewed test flight of Crew Dragon spaceship that will ferry NASA astronauts to the ISS.
To accomplish that quick deploy of OCISLY it was also necessary to first quickly crane the recovered booster off the drone ship.
OCISLY docked at the ports normal north terminal by 10 a.m. EST.
Then the booster lifting cap was hoisted by the crane crew within 15 minutes of berthing. But it took another 30 minutes or so to move the cap and place it on top of the booster standing almost perfectly upright atop OCISLY.
Time is of the essence because OCISLY must depart again as quick as possible because it is being deployed as the landing target for SpaceX’s next launch on March 2 for NASA on the Demo-1 mission – the inaugural uncrewed test flight of Crew Dragon spaceship that will ferry NASA astronauts to the ISS.
To accomplish that quick deploy of OCISLY it was also necessary to first quickly crane the recovered booster off the drone ship.
OCISLY docked at the ports normal north terminal by 10 a.m. EST.
Then the booster lifting cap was hoisted by the crane crew within 15 minutes of berthing. But it took another 30 minutes or so to move the cap and place it on top of the booster standing almost perfectly upright atop OCISLY.
The crew then worked to detach the gripper arms
from the landing legs that held the booster upright and in place with the so
called ‘octograbber device.”
Post drone ship landing the octograbber is maneuver on rollers under the base of the Falcon 9 booster to directly beneath the 9 Merlin 1 D engines. Gripper arms then deploy to latch onto the side of booster each of the four landing legs.
Post drone ship landing the octograbber is maneuver on rollers under the base of the Falcon 9 booster to directly beneath the 9 Merlin 1 D engines. Gripper arms then deploy to latch onto the side of booster each of the four landing legs.
Finally all of octograbbers appendages were loosed from the side of the booster by the legs and with the hoisting cap firmly bolted atop the 156 foot tall booster was hoisted majestically off of OCISLY at about 1:35 p.m. EST.
See our photos detailing the process.
The booster was moved via crane roughly a few hundred to the mounting cradle platform that holds it in place for leg removal.
With the deck of OCISLY now cleared of the booster, the ship crew immediately set about to clean, refurbish, make any needed repairs and refuel the drone ship for the voyage back out to sea as soon as possible to get it in place for the landing of the Demo-1 booster on March 2.
Liftoff
of the recycled SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying the Nusantara Satu communications
satellite for Indonesia and the privately funded Beresheet moon launder for
Israel took place right on time Thursday evening Feb. 21 at 8:45 p.m. EST (0145 GMT Friday) at the opening of the 32 minute long launch window
from Space
Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.
To date only three countries have successfully landed on the Moon- the US, Russia and China and those were all government run missions.
Beresheet was developed at a cost of almost $100 million and will be the world’s first privately funded and developed moon lander.
To date only three countries have successfully landed on the Moon- the US, Russia and China and those were all government run missions.
Beresheet was developed at a cost of almost $100 million and will be the world’s first privately funded and developed moon lander.
The next launch follows quickly on NET March
2 involving the super critical inaugural test flight of the uncrewed SpaceX Crew
Dragon on the Demo-1 mission to the International Space Station for NASA.
The Demo-1 flight is the precursor flight to missions with astronauts aboard starting on the Demo-2 Crew Dragon later in the summer- thus restoring America’s capability to launch Americans to space from American soil and end out sole reliance on the Russian Soyuz capsule since the shutdown of the shuttles.
Watch my post launch interview on I24 Isreali TV News here:
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/195751-190222-israel-makes-space-history-as-rocket-carrying-moon-bound-spacecraft-lifts-off
The Demo-1 flight is the precursor flight to missions with astronauts aboard starting on the Demo-2 Crew Dragon later in the summer- thus restoring America’s capability to launch Americans to space from American soil and end out sole reliance on the Russian Soyuz capsule since the shutdown of the shuttles.
Watch my post launch interview on I24 Isreali TV News here:
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/195751-190222-israel-makes-space-history-as-rocket-carrying-moon-bound-spacecraft-lifts-off
For more all on this
Fox 35 Orlando interviewed me about the Nusantara Satu/Beresheet moon lander launch and Mr. Steven’s arrival and fairing recovery goals.
http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/spacex-plans-falcon-9-rocket-launch-for-thursday
http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/spacex-plans-falcon-9-rocket-launch-for-thursday
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman 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
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Learn more about the upcoming/recent SpaceX Demo-1, Falcon 9 Nusantara Satu launch, USAF GPS 3-01, SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-16 launch to ISS, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, evenings:
Feb 28/Mar 1/2: “SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 and Nusantara Satu launch, Dragon CRS-16 resupply launch to ISS, SpaceX Falcon GPS 3-01, SpaceX Falcon Heavy & Falcon 9 launches, upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 USAF GP3 3-01, 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, Kuiper Belt and more,” Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings. Photos for sale
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Learn more about the upcoming/recent SpaceX Demo-1, Falcon 9 Nusantara Satu launch, USAF GPS 3-01, SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-16 launch to ISS, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, evenings:
Feb 28/Mar 1/2: “SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 and Nusantara Satu launch, Dragon CRS-16 resupply launch to ISS, SpaceX Falcon GPS 3-01, SpaceX Falcon Heavy & Falcon 9 launches, upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 USAF GP3 3-01, 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, Kuiper Belt and more,” Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings. Photos for sale
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