Next Dragon Resupply Mission to the ISS Slated for April 2

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 31, 2018
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by Chris Tobias

Hot off the success of its most recent Iridium launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, SpaceX now turns its attention to the East Coast and the next in a series of resupply missions to the International Space Station.  A Falcon 9 is scheduled to carry an unmanned Dragon capsule into the black from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday, April 2 at just past 4:30 pm EDT (20:30 UTC) for ISS resupply mission CRS-14.

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CRS-14 Mission Patch (image: Wikipedia)

The Falcon 9 first stage for this mission is a recovered booster that was previously re-flown during the CRS-12 resupply mission to the ISS.  At this time it is still unknown whether or not SpaceX will attempt to recover the first stage again during this mission.

As was the case with previous CRS resupply missions, Dragon will deliver cargo and material to support science investigations aboard the International Space Station.

According to NASA, some of the investigations Dragon will deliver on this mission will look at severe thunderstorms on Earth, study the effects of microgravity on the production of high-performance products from metal powders, and even grow food in space!

Dragon will also deliver cargo for research in the National Laboratory operated by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS).  These materials will aid in the testing of the effects of the harsh environment of space on materials, coatings and components, as well as identifying potential pathogens aboard the ISS and investigating an antibiotic-releasing wound patch that is in development.

Dragon will remain berthed at the ISS for about a month before returning to Earth with results of earlier experiments and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

Those who watched the Iridium-5 launch may recall that SpaceX was not permitted to continue its live broadcast from space using cameras on the 2nd stage of the Falcon 9.  This was because the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US Department of Commerce deemed the cameras to be a “remote sensing space system” and required SpaceX to apply for a provisional license in order to use them, which they would not have been able to obtain in time to stay on schedule for a March 30 launch that had already experienced delays for numerous other reasons.  SpaceX has already stated that there is no such restriction for this mission.  And that makes sense… since this resupply mission is being carried out on behalf of the very same federal government that put the restrictions on SpaceX’s most recent mission for a private client in the first place!

As is usually the case, those who wish to watch Monday’s CRS-14 launch can tune into SpaceX’s live webcast approximately 20 minutes before liftoff at spacex.com or on the company’s YouTube channel.

Peace, love and rockets…

SpaceX Iridium-5 Launch Planned for March 30

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 28, 2018
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by Chris Tobias

SpaceX’s next launch, the latest in a series of missions to deploy satellites of the Iridium Next mobile communications fleet, will liftoff on Friday, March 30 from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

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Iridium-5 mission patch (courtesy nasaspaceflight.com)

A Falcon 9 rocket that was previously launched, recovered and then re-flown during the Iridium-3 mission will carry 10 satellites into the black and deploy them into Polar Low Earth Orbit.  Liftoff is scheduled for 10:13am EDT (14:13 UTC).

This mission was to have launched on Thursday, March 29, but Iridium reported an issue with one of the ten satellites during preparation for the mission, which necessitated a postponement until Friday.

It is still unknown whether SpaceX will attempt to land and recover the first stage of the Falcon 9 for this mission.  At this point it looks unlikely, but if there’s one thing we’ve come to expect from SpaceX, it’s a willingness to defy expectations.

For those who would like to watch the launch live, SpaceX’s webcast of the launch will go live approximately 20 minutes before liftoff at spacex.com and on the company’s YouTube channel. 

Peace, love and rockets…

What Browncoats Can Learn from Hellblazers

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 25, 2018
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Matt Ryan as John Constantine (Photo:  CW Seed)

by Chris Tobias

Back in 2014, one of my favorite characters from DC Comics, John Constantine, was given his own television series on NBC.  The series, which was simply called Constantine, starred Welsh actor Matt Ryan in the title role and used many of the classic stories from the original Hellblazer comics that were published by DC’s subsidiary comics imprint Vertigo.  Despite strong stories and a very good cast, NBC never quite figured out how to promote Constantine properly, and it was cancelled after just one 13-episode season due to poor ratings in its Friday night time slot, much to the disappointment of a small but loyal fan base.

Does any of this sound familiar?

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SpaceX Hispasat 30W-6 Mission Will Be 50th Falcon 9 Rocket Launch

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 5, 2018
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by Chris Tobias

SpaceX makes history at breakneck speed.  In just a few hours, Elon Musk and company will launch their 50th Falcon 9 rocket!

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Hispasat 30W-6 mission patch (via spacexnow.com)

Although it’s become the norm for SpaceX to refly its Falcon 9 boosters, it is actually a brand new Falcon 9 that will carry the Hispasat 30W-6 satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).  The milestone launch is scheduled for the early morning of Tuesday, March 6 from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.  The two-hour launch window opens at 12:33 am EST, or 5:33 UTC.  (If necessary, a two-hour back-up launch window is available at the same times on Wednesday, March 7.)  The Hispasat 30W-6 satellite, which is designed to provide television, broadband, corporate networks and other telecommunications, will be deployed approximately 33 minutes after launch.

It appears that one of the trickier aspects of SpaceX’s launch-recover-relaunch operations might be the effect that launch delays can have on the ability to recover boosters.  This particular launch was scheduled for late February, but was delayed because additional testing was needed on the fairing’s pressurization system.  Back in February, the plan was to recover this brand new Falcon 9 booster aboard SpaceX’s drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, and the company had even debuted its brand new “spider boat” Mr. Steven, which has been specially designed to catch fairings.  But the SpaceX recovery fleet was called back to port over the weekend, and the official press kit for this mission confirmed that SpaceX will not attempt to land the Falcon 9’s first stage after launch due to rough seas in the recovery area off Florida’s Atlantic Coast.  It’s probably a good bet that SpaceX would have preferred to recover this shiny new booster to fly it another day, but Badger’s assessment of crime and politics in the pilot episode of Firefly applies to the business of launching rockets as well:  “The situation is always… fluid.”

Speaking of fluid, if you’re on the East Coast, you might want to put on a pot of coffee if you plan on staying up to see the 50th Falcon 9 break atmo, but for those who want to watch the launch live online, SpaceX’s webcast of the mission will go live approximately fifteen minutes prior to liftoff at spacex.com.

Peace, love and rockets…

SpaceX Back to Business with PAZ Launch February 21

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 20, 2018
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by Chris Tobias

There is a sports car in deep space.  Everyone with a smart phone knows what the Falcon Heavy is.  It’s official:  SpaceX has made launching rockets sexy.

But while the public recovers from its “Falcon Heavy hangover,” SpaceX is already focused on the next mission.  And that mission is the launch of the PAZ satellite to Low Earth Orbit aboard a Falcon 9 this Wednesday morning, February 21 from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

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PAZ Mission Patch (SpaceX)

The Falcon 9’s first stage that is being used for the PAZ mission previously flew for the FORMOSAT-5 mission from SLC-4E in August of 2017.  SpaceX will not attempt to recover the Falcon 9’s first stage after launch, which is almost becoming standard operating procedure for launches involving the older model of their previously-flown boosters.

The PAZ satellite was to have been launched this past Sunday, but SpaceX’s team at Vandenberg wanted to take some additional time to perform final checkouts of the upgraded fairing, which necessitated a postponement to February 21 due to mission requirements.  It is perhaps a testament to just how much SpaceX has raised public awareness of the private space industry that the initial delay of this West Coast rocket launch actually made the local news broadcasts in this writer’s hometown of Pittsburgh, PA!

Tomorrow’s PAZ mission is scheduled for liftoff at 9:17am EST (14:17 UTC).  For those who’d like to enjoy a rocket launch with their eggs and coffee, SpaceX’s live webcast should begin approximately 20 minutes before liftoff on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

And don’t forget, there has never been a better time to write SpaceX Founder and CEO Elon Musk and/or President and COO Gwynne Shotwell to congratulate them on their recent success and ask them to consider the name Serenity for the company’s first Crew Dragon.  If you’re not sure what else to write, just tell them we Browncoats think Serenity is the perfect name for a space capsule that will become the flagship of a company that makes doing the impossible look routine!

Peace, love and rockets…

SpaceX Enters the Big Leagues with Falcon Heavy

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 5, 2018
Posted in: Launches. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments
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Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster loaded inside the spacious Falcon Heavy payload fairing, which will throw it into a Martian Transfer Orbit during this week’s demonstration launch.

by Jeff Cunningham

On Tuesday, February 6th, during a launch window that opens at 1:30 PM and ends at 4:30 PM EST, SpaceX will attempt the maiden launch of its newest launch vehicle, the Falcon Heavy.  As a demonstration flight, rather than a commercial or government satellite, it will instead launch a test payload consisting of CEO Elon Musk’s own Tesla electric roadster.

The historic significance of this launch will be lost on most, dismissed by cynics as just another corporation debuting a new product they hope to court the masses with.  What a majority of people fail to realize is that not all rockets are created equal.

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SpaceX Has One More Launch Before Things Get Heavy

Posted by Chris Tobias on January 29, 2018
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SES-16

Image: SpaceXNow

by Chris Tobias

Now that Elon Musk has officially announced a target launch date of February 6, it’s hard not to be excited about SpaceX’s upcoming maiden launch of the Falcon Heavy.  Before that happens though, there is the not-so-small matter of another launch of a (literally) tried-and-true Falcon 9 this week.

This Tuesday, January 30, SpaceX is scheduled to launch the GovSat-1 (SES-16) satellite into the black from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.  If everything goes as planned, a previously-flown Falcon 9 will lift off Tuesday afternoon (or maybe evening, since there is a launch window of two hours and twenty-one minutes) and carry the multi-mission satellite into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit for LuxGovSat S.A. (a public-private joint venture between the government of Luxembourg and SES).

There will be no landing of the Falcon 9’s first stage during this launch, perhaps because SpaceX continues to phase out its older booster models in favor of newer ones.

The weather could definitely be a factor in this launch.  At present weather forecasts only look about 40% favorable for a Tuesday launch, with high winds expected on that day.  If the launch is delayed to Wednesday, January 31, conditions look to improve significantly.  Current forecasts put the conditions at 90% GO on the back-up launch date.

The launch window for GovSat-1 is scheduled to open at 4:25pm EST (21:25 UTC) on Tuesday.  As usual, live online coverage of this launch will be available on SpaceX’s website and on the company’s YouTube channel, with live streaming of the launch webcast beginning 20-30 minutes before liftoff.

Peace, love and rockets…

Ad Astra Per Aspera: Honoring Our Heroes through Education

Posted by Chris Tobias on January 27, 2018
Posted in: Ad Astra Per Aspera, Articles. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

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by Chris Tobias

Since the earliest days of this site, I have written annually about a very somber week in the space community.  That week begins today, with the anniversary of the flash fire that occurred on the launch pad during an Apollo 1 test 51 years ago, killing astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.  Tomorrow will mark the 32nd anniversary of the mid-launch explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which claimed the lives of astronauts Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Francis (Dick) Scobee, Ronald McNair, Mike Smith and Ellison Onizuka.  Just four days later, on February 1, we will see the 25th anniversary of the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated during re-entry with the loss of astronauts David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool, and Ilan Ramon.

Over the years I have written so much about these men and women, their bravery, their sacrifice and their willingness to give their lives if it meant that humanity would come one step closer to a future in which living and working out in the black was a regular part of our daily existence.  (If you’d like to read any of it, simply search this site’s archives for any given year in the months of January and February.)  As this week of remembrance approached again this year, I realized that I really didn’t have anything new to say that hadn’t already been said about them.  I felt that at this point, if there is any one thing that bears repeating, it is that they should be remembered as heroes.  Big.  Damn.  Heroes.  Every one of them.

So this year, I would simply like to call your attention to how NASA has decided to honor these astronauts, the crew of Challenger in particular.

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First SpaceX Launch of the New Year Will Be Close to the Vest. But Then…

Posted by Chris Tobias on January 2, 2018
Posted in: Launches, Updates. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
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Zuma mission patch (Image: Ars Technica)

by Chris Tobias

After an impressive slate of achievements and historic firsts in 2017, SpaceX will kick off the new year with the launch of its still top-secret Zuma mission on January 5, 2018.  The clandestine government payload, which was to have launched on board a Falcon 9 November 15 of last year, was delayed due to a payload fairing issue.  That issue now appears to have been resolved, and a Falcon 9 is scheduled to take Zuma into the black this Friday, with a two-hour launch window opening at 8:00 PM EST.  At this time the weather is 90% GO for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) in Florida.

Not much more has been revealed about this mission or its payload since we first previewed it back in November of 2017.  While it may seem unusual for anything that an Elon Musk-owned company does to have so little fanfare, it’s doubtful that we’ll have to get used to it.

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Falcon Heavy vertical on the launch pad last month.  (Photo:  John Kraus)

SpaceX is set to have a spectacular 2018, starting with the planned maiden launch of the Falcon Heavy, which could happen as early as late January.  The Falcon Heavy already caused quite a stir on social media when it briefly went vertical for fit checks at LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center at the end of last month, and Musk’s claim that its first payload would be his own Tesla Roadster has only added to the hype surrounding what will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world.  We’ll be discussing the Falcon Heavy and its inaugural launch in more detail in the near future.

But the SpaceX milestone that we’re most anticipating in 2018 is the launch of the very first Crew Dragon, which will finally take US astronauts back out to the black from American soil for the first time in seven years.  That launch should happen sometime late this summer or early in the fall, and when it does, we hope that the capsule will be named Serenity, after the Firefly-class transport ship in Joss Whedon’s TV series Firefly and its follow-up motion picture Serenity.

2018 marks our sixth year of lobbying SpaceX to name its first Crew Dragon Serenity, and if you’re a Browncoat (or if you just agree that it would be a good name), you can still help us bring our efforts to fruition.  All you really need to do is write a brief letter to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, along with company president Gwynne Shotwell, urging them to christen SpaceX’s first manned spaceship with that name.

In the meantime, you should be able to watch a live webcast of the Zuma launch at spacex.com and on SpaceX’s YouTube channel on January 5.  Coverage should begin approximately 20-30 minutes before liftoff.

On behalf of everyone here at Take Back the Sky, may your New Year be filled with peace, happiness, prosperity, and of course Serenity!

Peace, love and rockets…

December 22 SpaceX Launch Won’t Feature a Landing, but Will Still Make History

Posted by Chris Tobias on December 20, 2017
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Iridium_Mission-4by Chris Tobias

This Friday evening, December 22, at just after 8:32pm EST, SpaceX is scheduled to launch the Iridium-4 mission from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base.  The mission will carry a fourth set of 10 Iridium Next satellites into the black aboard a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket, but at the moment there seems to be more attention being paid to what the mission won’t be doing.

SpaceX confirmed earlier this week that it will not make any attempt to recover the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket during this mission.  The previous Iridium missions all incorporated the landing of the first stage of the Falcon 9 aboard one of SpaceX’s drone-piloted barges, so it is curious that there is no landing attempt planned following this launch.

SpaceX hasn’t offered much in the way of an explanation, but the speculation is that this particular model of the Falcon 9, which is one of the “Block 3” variants, is now considered to be outdated and the company is no longer interested in keeping it in service.  SpaceX currently uses a combination of “Block 3” and “Block 4” rockets to carry out its missions, but the company is expected to roll out an updated “Block 5” variant early next year that will be more suitable for reuse.  With the “Block 5” rockets joining the fleet, it stands to reason that the “Block 3” models need to make way on the line for their more sophisticated cousins.

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Iridium-4 mission patch

Despite the lack of a landing (something that has now become a rarity for a SpaceX launch), the Iridium-4 mission will still be an historic flight.  SpaceX will be using the same first stage Falcon 9 rocket for this mission that it used to launch the second set of Iridium satellites back in June of this year.  That means this weekend’s launch will mark the first time in history that a company will launch two different sets of satellites in two completely separate missions using the same rocket!

SpaceX’s webcast of Friday’s launch will begin approximately 20 minutes before liftoff at spacex.com and on the company’s YouTube channel.  There is an instantaneous launch window, and the backup launch date is December 23.