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Stunning blastoff of triple barreled SpaceX Falcon Heavy on
April 11, 2019 at 6:35 PM ET from Launch Complex-39A at the Kennedy Space
Center, FL carrying the Arabsat-6A telecommunications satellite to Earth orbit,
on 1st commercial launch of Falcon Heavy. From my remote camera placed at pad 39a. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – SpaceX awed the world with the stunningly beautiful and loud blastoff of only the second ever Falcon Heavy launch entailing never before accomplished triple stick launch and triple landings Thursday, April 11 from America’s premier Spaceport – overall accomplishing a flawless feat of engineering and science.
After a 24 hour delay forced by dangerous levels of upper altitude winds and wind shear that could have destroyed the rocket as it ascended to space, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy triple core rocket roared to life at dinnertime Thursday right on time and soared off historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. ET on its first ever commercial mission.
And with this flawless performance, the path is clearly open for NASA to consider using the Falcon Heavy to launch the first critical elements of the Gatemay mini space station to the Moon such as the power and propulsion and habitation modules for subsequent visits by astronauts in the Orion Crew Capsule.
Enjoy our Space UpClose gallery of imagery of the Falcon Heavy launch and prelaunch activities during our media remote camera setup.
Check back as the gallery grows.
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Stunning blastoff of triple barreled SpaceX Falcon Heavy on
April 11, 2019 at 6:35 PM ET from Launch Complex-39A at the Kennedy Space
Center, FL carrying the Arabsat-6A telecommunications satellite to Earth orbit,
on 1st commercial launch of Falcon Heavy. From my remote camera placed at pad 39a. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The folks were not disappointed as the rocket cleared the tower gushing a side by side trio of fire, flames and exhaust plumes as the crackling engine thunder screamed out for miles around Rocket Central USA.
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Stunning blastoff of triple barreled SpaceX Falcon Heavy on
April 11, 2019 at 6:35 PM ET from Launch Complex-39A at the Kennedy Space
Center, FL carrying the Arabsat-6A telecommunications satellite to Earth orbit,
on 1st commercial launch of Falcon Heavy. From my remote camera placed at pad 39a. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The vehicle was visible for some 4 or more minutes
until at disappeared into the distance – growing ever fainter but never
obscured by clouds.
Myself and many others could see the twin
side boosters separate cleanly to begin their magnificent descent back to
Earth.
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Twin side booster separate from Falcon Heavy core stage two
minutes after blastoff on April 11, 2019 at 6:35 PM ET from Launch Complex-39A at
the Kennedy Space Center, FL on 1st commercial launch of Falcon
Heavy. They both landed back at Cape
Canaveral. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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And in a truly amazing and remarkable feat that
was truly science fictionesque turning science the SpaceX team nailed all 3 Falcon
first stage booster touchdowns – two by land back at the Cape and one by sea on
an ocean going platform – think parking lot - timed to touchdown some eight and
nine minutes after launch respectively.
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Spectacular double landing
of SpaceX twin side cores as legs deploy just above ground moments before touchdown about 8 minutes after stunning Falcon Heavy launch on April 11, 2019 at 6:35 PM ET from Launch Complex-39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com |
This second ever Falcon Heavy launch was payed
for by Arabsat to deliver the seven-ton Lockheed Martin built Arabsat-6A
telecom satellite payload to orbit for Saudi Arabia.
The satellite was deployed approximately 34
minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX successfully recovered all 3 of the booster
cores by propulsive soft landings -the twin side boosters landed back at Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station side by side at Landing Zone-1 and Landing Zone-2.
“The Falcons have landed,” tweeted SpaceX CEO
billionaire and founder Elon Musk along with photos.
They created rocking sonic booms numbering perhaps
a dozen or more screeching across the region as they plummeted and passed through
the speed of sound barrier just hundreds of feet in the air above ground level.
I watched from on base at NASA from just a
few miles away as they reignited their engines for the landing burns and formed
an eerie pair of lights from the engine flames high above in the sky.
Then they fell back to Earth - one just slight behind the other.
Finally the quartet of landing legs deployed just a few hundred feet above the landing zone and just in the nick of time to accomplish soft landings nearly simultaneously.
Finally the quartet of landing legs deployed just a few hundred feet above the landing zone and just in the nick of time to accomplish soft landings nearly simultaneously.
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Falcon Heavy center core sticks upright landing
on OCISLY droneship on April 11, 2019. Credit: SpaceX
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SpaceX also recovered the center core at sea
on the “Of Course I Still Love You” (OCISLY) drone ship – for the first time -
stationed several hundred miles off shore in the Atlantic Ocean.
During the first Falcon Heavy launch the
center core engines failed to fire properly, and it was ditched into the ocean
to avoid smashing into OCISLY.
The side cores touched down approximately 8
minutes after liftoff and the center core nearly 10 minutes after liftoff.
Beyond that SpaceX was also able to recover both
payload fairing halves.
“Both
fairing halves recovered. Will be flown on Starlink mission later this year,”
Musk tweeted.
“They each have avionics,
several nitrogen thrusters & steerable parachutes.”
This launch also marked the debut of the first
all Block 5 version of Falcon Heavy compared to all Block 4 Falcon 9’s for the
maiden liftoff 14 months ago in Feb. 2018.
The two stage Falcon Heavy rocket stands 229.5 feet (70 meters) tall. The first stage is powered by a trio of Falcon 9 rockets lashed together and a combined total of 27 Merlin 1-D engines fueled with liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene and generate 1.7 million pounds of liftoff thrust each at ignition.
Propellant loading began approximately 50 minutes prior to liftoff and went off without a hitch.
Vigorous venting of liquid oxygen was visible for about the last 20 minutes or so.
The overall sea level thrust for Falcon Heavy is 5.1 million pound of thrust at sea level.
This rises to 5.5 million pounds of thrust in a vacuum.
This 2nd Falcon Heavy features roughly 10 percent more liftoff thrust at 5.1 million pounds vs 4.7 million pounds.
The Arabsat-6A telecom satellite payload is built for Saudi Arabia by prime contractor Lockheed Martin.
Arabsat-6A is a high-capacity telecommunications satellite that will deliver television, radio, Internet, and mobile communications to customers in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
It has a wet, fueled mass of 6450 Kg, 14000 pounds.
The pair of solar arrays have a massive wing span of 140 feet and generate 20 kw.
The two stage Falcon Heavy rocket stands 229.5 feet (70 meters) tall. The first stage is powered by a trio of Falcon 9 rockets lashed together and a combined total of 27 Merlin 1-D engines fueled with liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene and generate 1.7 million pounds of liftoff thrust each at ignition.
Propellant loading began approximately 50 minutes prior to liftoff and went off without a hitch.
Vigorous venting of liquid oxygen was visible for about the last 20 minutes or so.
The overall sea level thrust for Falcon Heavy is 5.1 million pound of thrust at sea level.
This rises to 5.5 million pounds of thrust in a vacuum.
This 2nd Falcon Heavy features roughly 10 percent more liftoff thrust at 5.1 million pounds vs 4.7 million pounds.
The Arabsat-6A telecom satellite payload is built for Saudi Arabia by prime contractor Lockheed Martin.
Arabsat-6A is a high-capacity telecommunications satellite that will deliver television, radio, Internet, and mobile communications to customers in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
It has a wet, fueled mass of 6450 Kg, 14000 pounds.
The pair of solar arrays have a massive wing span of 140 feet and generate 20 kw.
Watch my Falcon Heavy prelaunch commentary for 1st SpaceX launch attempt April 10 - in these two News 6 WKMG / ClickOrlando TV News reports from correspondent James Sparvero
and:
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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:
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:
Apr 12: “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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