SpaceX Completes Static Fire, FCC Approves Droneship Landing for May 1 NASA ISS Cargo Launch

SpaceX conducts successful daytime static fire test of new Falcon 9 first stage engines at 10 a.m. EDT on April 27 with exhaust wafting overhead at Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for CRS-17 resupply mission to the ISS targeted for launch May 1, 2019 - NASA KSC picturesque Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) seen nearby at left.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com 

Ken Kremer -- SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 27 April 2019

TITUSVILLE, FL  –  SpaceX completed a critical and successful static hot fire test of their Falcon 9 rocket first stage engines at 10 a.m. EDT this morning Saturday, April 27, clearing the path to blastoff on a NASA contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) overnight May 1 that will also feature the 1^st ever droneship landing that should be easily visible occurring just a few miles offshore of the Florida Space Coast beaches – following an emergency approval granted last night by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 

Furthermore the weather outlook is quite good with a forecast of 80 percent GO for conditions at launch time. 

The safe and successful SpaceX Falcon 9  engine test comes exactly one week after the failed engine test last Saturday involving the Super Draco abort engines of the Demo-1 Crew Dragon that suddenly sent thick smoke billowing into the air with a release of toxic chemicals over the Cape Canaveral test site and apparently resulted in the capsules catastrophic destruction. 

The brief hold down static hot fire test involving ignition of all nine Merlin 1D first stage engines was carried out by SpaceX engineers at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl., using a newly manufactured version of the upgraded Block 5 version of their workhorse Falcon 9.

Check out my exclusive Space UpClose eyewitness photos captured about 13 miles away this morning in Titusville, Fl – with NASAs iconic and picturesque Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) seen nearby in the scene. 

The ‘Sure to be Spectacular’ and ‘Middle of the Night’ 1^st of its kind space stunner will now take place a day later than previously planned with SpaceX and NASA now targeting 3:59 a.m. EDT (0759 GMT) Wednesday, May 1 for the Falcon 9 rocket launch of the unpiloted Dragon CRS-17 cargo ship from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The window is ‘instantaneous’ meaning any delay for weather or technical reason forces a minimum 1 day scrub. 
Dragon CRS-17 marks SpaceX’s 17^th cargo mission to the space station. 

Enjoy this sequence of our test fire images.  

SpaceX conducts successful daytime static fire test of new Falcon 9 first stage engines at 10 a.m. EDT on April 27 with exhaust wafting overhead at Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for CRS-17 resupply mission to the ISS targeted for launch May 1, 2019 - NASA KSC picturesque Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) seen nearby at left.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

SpaceX quickly confirmed the positive outcome of the engine test by tweet about 23 minutes later.

“Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete—targeting May 1 launch from Pad 40 in Florida for Dragon’s seventeenth mission to the @Space_Station.”

Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The launch was delayed a day after a delay to the static fire test operation.  

The first two stages of the Falcon 9 were rolled out and raised Friday morning by 8 a.m.  at pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

For reasons not known, SpaceX then delayed the test another day to Saturday morning.

Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The hold down static fire test is routinely carried by SpaceX to ensure all is ready with the rocket.

During the engine test all nine Merlin 1D first stage engines are briefly ignited for several seconds. 

During Saturday’s night’s hold down static fire test, the rocket’s first and second stages are fueled with liquid oxygen and RP-1 propellants just like an actual launch, and a simulated countdown was carried out to the point of a brief engine ignition lasting around 3 seconds or so.  

With the pad in daylight with prefect weather and visibility beside sunglare I was able to observe a large vapor cloud of exhaust emitted from the Falcon 9 first stage in the moments after ignition.  I did not hear the rockets engines ruble several seconds later as the vapor cloud dissipated.   

The hold down engine test with the erected Falcon 9 rocket involved the ignition of all nine Merlin 1D first stage engines generating some 1.7 million pounds of thrust at pad 40 while the two stage rocket was restrained on the pad – minus the Dragon payload.  

The rocket will now be lowered horizontal and rolled back down the ramp and returned to the pad 40 hanger to attach the Dragon cargo spacecraft. 

Up Close view of prior Dragon CRS-16 cargo ship bolted atop SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket poised for liftoff on mission to the ISS from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, on Dec. 5, 2018 at 1:16 pm EST. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The CRS-17 mission features an all new, never before flown Falcon 9 Block 5 version rocket. 

With approval from the FCC now granted in the form of a ‘Special Temporary Authorization'  (STA) SpaceX is swapping out the first stage booster landing target favoring touchdown on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ (OCISLY) platform vessel to be stationed some 17 miles offshore of Florida’s East Coast region in the Atlantic Ocean in place of the land landing at Landing Zone-1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 

The booster landing target was changed in order to ensure the integrity of the Landing Zone-1 area and thereby preserve valuable information useful in determining the root cause of the April 20 Crew Dragon mishap that caused chemical and debris contamination of the surrounding area. 

SpaceX static fire testing anomaly April 20, 2019 impacted Demo-1 Crew Vehicle sends smoke billowing into the skies over Cape Canaveral, FL. Credit: Craig Bailey/Florida Today

SpaceX applied for an emergency FCC license to conduct the potential droneship landing roughly 17 miles offshore of Cape Canaveral in the Atlantic Ocean on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ (OCISLY) platform vessel after the Crew Dragon mishap put  Landing Zone-1 off limits for the touchdown. 

The Dragon CRS-17 cargo freighter will carry over 2.7 tons of science experiments, research gear, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory to support the Expedition 59 and 60 crews for the 17th mission under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.

This Dragon is refurbished and recycled and previously flew on a prior CRS mission to the station. 

The 20-foot high, 12-foot-diameter Dragon CRS-16 vessel is jam packed with more than 5500 pounds (2500 kilograms) of science experiments, research hardware, space parts, food water, clothing and more supplies for the six person Expedition 59 and 60 crews.

The science payload alone amounts to 1601 pounds, 726 kg  - including the two unpressurized cargo payload carried up in the truck and to be mounted externally:  namely NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) which will measure levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during its planned 3 year mission and the Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6).

SpaceX Dragon CRS-17 mission truck carrying two payloads including NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) and the U.S. military’s Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) payloads. Credit: NASA

The back up launch date is May 2. 

The prior CRS-16 resupply flight successfully flew in December 2019 from pad 40. 

The two stage Falcon 9/Dragon rocket stands about 213-feet (65-meters) tall.

SpaceX was awarded an approximately $3.1 Billion contract from NASA to launch 20 Dragon cargo missions to the orbiting outpost through 2019 under the Commercial Resupply Services-1 (CRS-1) agreement that was amended in 2015 and increased from an original value of $1.6 Billion.  

NASA also awarded a CRS contract to Northrop Grumman that has likewise been increased.

Last week Northrop Grumman successfully launched the Cygnus NG-11 cargo craft to the ISS on April 17 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility with more than 7000 pounds of cargo and science.  Read my on site articles/photos here. 

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.
………….

Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events

Learn more about the upcoming/recent SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-17 launch to ISS, Falcon Heavy, SpaceX Demo-1 launch/test failure, SpaceX Beresheet launch, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, Northrop Grumman Antares, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, evenings: 

Apr 29/30 May 1: “SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS-17 resupply launch to ISS, Demo-1, Beresheet launches, SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches, upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9, ULA, NRO & USAF Spysats, SLS, Orion, Boeing and SpaceX Commercial crew capsules, OSIRIS-Rex, InSight Mars lander, Curiosity and Opportunity explore Mars, NH at Pluto, Ultima Thule and more,” Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings. Photos for sale

SpaceX CRS-17 mission patch