Kennedy Space Center

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SpaceX Ready to Launch Again this Sunday

Posted by Chris Tobias on June 30, 2017
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by Chris Tobias

For many of us Americans, summer is a time to dial it back a bit.  We enjoy a more lazy pace that fits the mild weather and the longer days, and we associate the months of summer with vacations, trips to the ball park and hours spent relaxing on the beach.  Perhaps no weekend of the summer embodies this more than Independence Day weekend, with its tradition of picnics, baseball and fireworks.

It comes as no surprise to us that SpaceX sees things a bit differently.

falcon 9 static fire

Static test fire of the Falcon 9 on June 29 in preparation for Sunday’s Intelsat 35e mission.  (SpaceX photo)

Following two successful Falcon 9 launches last weekend, SpaceX plans to launch again this Sunday, July 2.  This launch, which will be from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, has an evening launch window that is set to open at 7:36pm EDT (2336 GMT), and if the weather cooperates (the latest forecasts call that into question) it should make for some spectacular viewing that will rival any 4th of July fireworks display.  For those who want to watch online, the live webcast will begin approximately twenty minutes before liftoff on SpaceX’s YouTube channel and at spacex.com.

The payload for Sunday’s mission, the Intelsat 35e satellite, is built by Boeing, who along with SpaceX is contracted to provide manned space capsules to NASA as part of the Commercial Crew Program.  It is designed for broadband data delivery, Ultra HD television broadcasts, and services for mobile and government customers.  Due to the heavy weight of the Intelsat 35e satellite, there is no plan to attempt recovery of the Falcon 9’s first stage following Sunday’s launch.

SpaceX will have a recovery of a different sort in mind this Sunday though, as the Dragon capsule that has been berthed at the International Space Station since early June is set to return this weekend and is scheduled to splash down on Sunday.  So, if all goes according to plan, the theme for the day will be “one up, one down.”

Once Sunday’s mission is completed, SpaceX will likely turn its attention to its next Dragon resupply mission to the ISS and its first launch of the Air Force’s top-secret X-37B space plane, which some have dubbed the “drone space shuttle.”  Those flights aren’t scheduled until August, however.  After all, even Elon Musk and company deserve a little time to kick back, grill some hot dogs, catch a Dodgers game and enjoy some fun in the sun.

Of course, this is SpaceX we’re talking about, so they’ll probably just head back to 1 Rocket Road and get right back to the business of making history!

Bulgaria’s First Satellite to Launch Aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

Posted by Chris Tobias on June 14, 2017
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bulgaria_sat_1

by Jeff Cunningham

BulgariaSat-1 will launch into space atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this coming Saturday afternoon from Cape Canaveral, FL, USA.

In addition to being the nation’s first geostationary communications satellite, this launch will also add a note to the history of spaceflight as the second such launch to utilize a previously flown booster.  The flight is the latest in SpaceX’s ambitious development program to make reusable launch vehicles 100% reusable in the hopes of reducing the overall cost of access to space by an order of magnitude. The first stage of this particular rocket was launched on January 14 and carried multiple satellites to add to the Iridium communications constellation before successfully landing under its own power.

“Elon Musk and his SpaceX team have convinced me that people like them bring us closer to a new quality of life through providing access to cutting-edge technology,” stated BulgariaSat chief executive Maxim Zayakov. “This is a chance for Bulgaria to join the efforts to develop these new aspects of space industry.”

The scheduled two-hour long launch window opens at 1410 EDT (1810 UTC) from the historic Launch Complex 39A, the former launching pad of the American Space Shuttle. The launch will be streamed live from SpaceX’s YouTube channel and at spacex.com.

CRS-11: SpaceX to Launch Resupply Mission to ISS June 1

Posted by Chris Tobias on May 31, 2017
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SpaceX_CRS-11_Patch

by Chris Tobias

SpaceX is set to launch yet another commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).  A Falcon9 will carry an unmanned Dragon into the black from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:55pm EDT on Thursday evening, June 1 (If no attempt at a launch is possible during the instantaneous launch window, a backup launch window is set for Saturday, June 3 at 5:07pm EDT).

As is often the case with SpaceX launches, this one aims to make a bit of history.  First off, it will be the 100th launch from LC-39A, which has been the site of myriad launches from the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs as well as more recent SpaceX launches.  In addition, the Dragon space capsule being used to support the CRS-11 mission previously resupplied the International Space Station on SpaceX’s CRS-4 mission in September of 2014.

CRS-11 is the eleventh of up to twenty planned commercial resupply missions to the ISS by Elon Musk and company.  This time around, the Dragon will carry almost 3 tons of supplies and payloads, including critical materials that are needed to support many of the more than 250 science experiments that will occur during ISS Expeditions 52 and 53. ISS crew members will use the station’s robotic “Canadarm2” to reach out and capture the Dragon spacecraft and attach it to the station on June 4.  She’ll stay berthed to the station for approximately one month, at which time she’ll return to Earth laden with experiments and other materials being sent home from the ISS and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

And when the Falcon9 breaks atmo and sends the Dragon on her way, the first stage booster will return to land at SpaceX’s LZ-1 landing zone at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.  Considered to be impractical if not impossible by many skeptics just a few years ago, this has now become almost a standard feature of SpaceX launches, with the only real question asked nowadays being “will they bring it back by land or by sea?”

CRS-11 is also a special mission for us here at Take Back the Sky, because we hope to convince SpaceX to name the first Dragon 2 variant of this very spacecraft (which is being developed to transport American crews to and from the station as early as 2018) after the transport ship Serenity from Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series Firefly (and the subsequent motion picture that shared its name with the ship).  A successful resupply mission involving a Dragon is always a great opportunity for Browncoats to write a letter to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk and president Gwynne Shotwell to congratulate them on their ongoing success and let them know that they think Serenity would be a very shiny name for the first Dragon to take US astronauts into the black.

SpaceX’s webcast of the launch will go live approximately 20 minutes before liftoff.  We invite you to watch along with us, and envision what it will be like to watch a Dragon named Serenity return US astronauts to space from American soil in the not-so-distant future. 

SpaceX Launch of Inmarsat-5 F4 Set for May 15

Posted by Chris Tobias on May 14, 2017
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Inmarsat-5-F4

by Jeff Cunningham

So far, 2017 has been a busy and successful year for SpaceX, and Elon Musk and company look to continue that run of good luck with the launch of another Falcon 9 rocket on Monday evening, May 15.  This mission will deliver Inmarsat-5 F4, a commercial communications satellite, to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).

The launch will take place at historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with a 49-minute launch window opening at 7:21pm EDT.  (A backup launch window opens at 7:21pm EDT on Tuesday, May 16 if necessary.)  Due to the specific requirements of this mission, there will be no attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 following this launch.

For those not lucky enough to be able to watch the launch in person, SpaceX’s webcast of the launch will go live approximately 15 minutes before liftoff.

SpaceX Set to Make History (Again) with SES-10

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 29, 2017
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SES-10 Green

by Chris Tobias

On Thursday evening, March 30, SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 into the black for the second time in less than a month.  This launch, SpaceX’s fourth so far this year, will be to deploy the SES-10 satellite, which is designed to facilitate video broadcasts and internet connectivity to Latin America and the Caribbean.

It’s a good bet that this mission will attract more attention because of the booster than it will for its payload though.  That’s because this will be the first time that SpaceX carries out a mission using a Falcon 9 that has already been launched and recovered as part of a previous mission.  If everything goes according to (the gorram) plan, SpaceX will prove without a doubt that we have entered the age of rockets that can be launched, recovered and relaunched effectively and affordably.  If we are to have any hope of becoming a multi-planet species, or even one that lives and works out in the black, that is a milestone that must be achieved, and Elon Musk and his crew are poised to make that happen sooner rather than later.

SES-10 will launch from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center at 6pm EDT on Thursday, March 30.  (There is a backup window on Friday, March 31 if necessary, but the weather actually looks more favorable for a Thursday launch at this point.)  Following the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable (and newly reused!) first stage will attempt a (second!) controlled landing on the autonomous drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean.

Coverage of the mission should be live on SpaceX’s YouTube channel approximately twenty minutes before liftoff.

Next SpaceX Launch Slated for March 14

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 13, 2017
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echostar-23-1by Chris Tobias

If everything goes according to plan, a SpaceX Falcon 9 will break atmo for the third time this year in the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 14.

This Falcon will be carrying a commercial communications satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) for EchoStar Corporation.  According to SpaceX’s mission press kit, the satellite, called EchoStar XXIII, is a highly flexible, Ku-band broadcast satellite services (BSS) satellite with four main reflectors and multiple sub-reflectors that will support multiple mission profiles.

There is a two-and-a-half-hour launch window for this mission, which opens Tuesday morning at 1:34am EDT.  The satellite will be deployed approximately 34 minutes after launch.  This will be SpaceX’s second launch from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center.  There will be no attempt to land the Falcon 9’s first stage after launch because the specific requirements of this mission make landing the booster prohibitive.

One interesting aspect of this mission is that it will likely be the last SpaceX launch that has an Air Force officer ready at the console as part of a traditional flight termination system.  SpaceX’s launch on February 19 marked the first time that responsibility for commanding the rocket to self-destruct lay with computers on board the Falcon instead of a human being monitoring the flight from the Mission Flight Control Officer’s console at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  SpaceX is the first and only US launch company approved to use the Automated Flight Safety System, or AFSS, which continually records the rocket’s position and trajectory and commands the rocket to self-destruct if it repeatedly crosses pre-programmed boundary lines or violates flight rules.  With the successful use of the system during the February 19 launch as well as thirteen previous tests in “shadow mode,” there is a high probability that SpaceX will use the AFSS, which is capable of responding faster than a human being could in the event that a flight needs to be terminated, for all future Falcon launches.  (The system has yet to be approved by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program for planned launches of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, one of which we hope they’ll name after Serenity.)

For those who feel sufficiently recovered from Daylight Saving Time to stay up for it, SpaceX’s launch webcast will go live about 20 minutes before liftoff.

If necessary, a backup launch window opens on Thursday, March 16, at 1:35am EDT.

LC-39A Rises Again with SpaceX Launch of CRS-10

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 18, 2017
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crs10

by Chris Tobias

If there’s one thing SpaceX has become very good at, it’s making history.  And in just a couple of hours, they’ll do it again.

Elon Musk and company will launch their tenth resupply mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral this morning at 10:01 am, EST.  A Falcon 9 will break atmo with a Dragon capsule that’s ISS bound, and shortly thereafter, if all goes according to plan, SpaceX will once again land the first stage of the rocket– this time at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral.  The Dragon will then rendezvous with the International Space Station on February 20.

It’s not the cargo of this 10th of 14 planned resupply missions to the ISS that’s particularly historic, nor is it SpaceX’s recovery of the Falcon’s first stage– something that the world used to watch for in anticipation during launches but is now practically taking for granted (a real credit to SpaceX).  What makes this launch so special is where it’s taking place.

columbia-sts-1-01

Columbia in launch configuration at LC-39A prior to the first Space Shuttle launch in 1981. (photo:  Wikipedia)

SpaceX will send CRS-10 into the black from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.  This particular launch site last saw action in 2011, during the waning days of the Space Shuttle program.  Prior to that, though, it was the site from which America went to the Moon.  In fact, every manned Apollo flight except for one (Apollo 10) was launched from LC-39A, and the Skylab space station was sent into orbit from there as well.  In 1981, LC-39A ushered in a new era of American spaceflight with the launch of Space Shuttle Columbia, and the pad supported the shuttle program all the way through the final shuttle mission of Atlantis in 2011.

SpaceX is now leasing LC-39A from NASA, and this morning it will once again be the site from which we witness the next step in American spaceflight.  This time around the future takes the shape of a privately-built, privately-owned rocket that will be carrying a privately built, privately-owned space capsule into the black in support of a space station that is internationally manned and operated by the joint efforts of several of the world’s government space agencies, after which that same rocket will return to Earth to land and be reused for future missions.  And as if that’s not enough, within the year SpaceX may be ready use LC-39A to launch American astronauts into space in a manned version of that very same capsule.  (If you agree with us that that first Crew Dragon should be named Serenity, be sure to write to SpaceX and let them know.)  If a launch complex could talk, we bet LC-39A would find it appropriate to quote Firefly’s Malcolm Reynolds:

“I’m thinking we’ll rise again.”

You can watch SpaceX’s historic launch online this morning on NASA TV starting at 8:30am.  SpaceX’s coverage of the launch should begin around 9:30am at spacex.com.  Should the launch be postponed for any reason, the backup launch window is Sunday, February 19 at 9:38 am EST.  Here’s to history.

falcon-on-39a

Falcon 9 and Dragon stand ready to rise again at LC-39A.  (photo:  NASA)

Peace, love and rockets…

Ad Astra Per Aspera: the Courage to Die Trying

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 1, 2017
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columbia-disaster

News of the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia, as America first saw it on CNN.  (Many of us saw it live.)

by Chris Tobias

Every year, we observe a week of very rough anniversaries in the space community.  It begins on January 27, the anniversary of the flash fire that killed three Apollo 1 astronauts in the cockpit of their capsule during a launch pad test in 1967.  The following day, January 28, is the date on which the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded during launch in 1986, killing all seven crew members aboard.  The week of remembrance concludes today– February 1, the date on which the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry in 2003, again claiming the lives of all seven crew members.

This year, the brave astronauts who were lost in all three of these accidents were remembered at a special ceremony at Cape Canaveral on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 1 tragedy, at which the original hatch from that Apollo 1 capsule, long kept in storage and out of the public eye, was unveiled for the first time as part of a new display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex designed to honor America’s fallen astronauts and remind all of us that it is indeed a rough road that leads to the stars.

Apollo 1 Exhibit

The three-part hatch of Apollo 1 is now on display at Kennedy Space Center (NASA photo).

Over the past four years, we at Take Back the Sky have written at length about these tragedies and the brave men and women who lost their lives as a result of them.  (You can find those posts by searching the January/February archives on the home page.)  As we honor their memory again this year, it’s both appropriate and important that we recognize that their bravery went beyond a mere willingness to risk their lives, and was instead a willingness to die trying on behalf of the whole human race.

Of course, a large part of the legacy of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia is that they led to improvements in the vehicles and techniques used to send people into the black, which in turn made subsequent missions both safer and more efficient.  But their legacy also serves as a reminder to us that if we are to become a multi-planet species, then going to space has to be something for which we’re willing to pay the ultimate price.  We will always mourn the loss of brave, intelligent men and women, but if we as human beings truly wish to live among the stars, then we must believe that doing so is important enough that we are also willing to die there.  Fortunately for us, and especially for future generations, the men and women of NASA’s Astronaut Corps understand that and still hold to it with every fiber of their being.  That’s just one of the many things that makes them the “Big Damn Heroes” that they are.

So, as we honor the memory of Roger Chaffee, Gus Grissom, Ed White, Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Judy Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Clark, let us be thankful that their are still men and women like them, heroes whose mettle is summed up so eloquently in the words of the English poet Sarah Williams:

“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”

Dragon’s Popularity Unaffected by CRS-7

Posted by Chris Tobias on August 15, 2015
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by Chris Tobias

The failure of SpaceX’s seventh commercial resupply mission may have some in Washington doubting the reliability of the Falcon 9 and Dragon, but if merchandise sales alone are any indication, SpaceX’s workhorse rocket and space capsule haven’t lost any popularity with the general public, and it looks like Dragon remains the real “belle of the ball.”Bo2fWm4CQAEHjM1.jpg-large

How would I know this? Well, just four days ago (August 11) I had the pleasure of visiting the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.  That’s something I’ll talk a lot more about in a future post, but for now I’d like to share one particular experience to make my point.  As with most Florida attractions, the Visitor Complex at Kennedy Space Center has a rather substantial gift shop, where visitors can buy everything from books about space authored by astronauts to patches from historic missions and replica space suits.  A guy like me could easily blow a day’s wages in a place like that and justify it by convincing himself that the money was going to further the efforts of the American space program.  When we had finished our tour of the launch facilities and the various other attractions (including Space Shuttle Atlantis on static display), I naturally had to pay “The Space Store” a visit before our group left the complex to spend the rest of the afternoon at Cocoa Beach.

As I approached the main gift shop, the first thing I noticed was a window display that featured mannequins wearing “Occupy Mars” t-shirts! “Hey,” I said to myself, “Those are SpaceX shirts! What’re they doing here? This is a NASA gift shop…”  No sooner had those thoughts flashed through my mind than the shop’s automatic doors opened before me to reveal a very large display right in the front of the store featuring an array of familiar SpaceX merchandise and a sign that said “New Arrival.”  There were SpaceX t-shirts, hats and polo shirts in various colors, “Occupy Mars” t-shirts, hats and coffee mugs and t-shirts bearing the logos of both the Falcon 9 and the Dragon.  Even more astounding than the selection was the fact that these items were being given prime real estate– right at the front of the store!

SpaceX merch

This display is currently front and center at NASA’s Space Store at Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex at Cape Canaveral.

“How cool,” I thought.  “NASA must be showing a little love to its Commercial Crew partners by carrying their merchandise in its shops.”  After a quick look around the store, though, that theory fell out of the sky faster than a ship with a Capissen-38 engine.  Not only could I not find any CST-100 merchandise, there was no Boeing merchandise of any kind to be found anywhere, let alone at the store’s front entrance.  I had to conclude that the marketing push was strictly “a SpaceX thing,” and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t tickle me a bit.

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SpaceX Rockets into the New Year with Launch of CRS-5 Tomorrow

Posted by Chris Tobias on January 5, 2015
Posted in: Launches. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

by Chris Tobias

In many parts of the world, people ring in the New Year with fireworks. Here in the US though, we tend to prefer watching a glass ball drop (more like slowly descend) in the middle of town while stockpiling our big fireworks displays for the Fourth of July.  Personally, I’ve never understood why.  I’ve always thought the whole “ball drop” thing would be a lot more exciting if they just cut the cord at midnight and let the whole gorram thing come crashing down to the pavement below!

If, like me, you found that New Year’s ball-drop to be unrewarding and still want to kick off the year with a really spectacular display, SpaceX has just the thing to scratch that itch. Tomorrow morning a Falcon 9 will blast off from Kennedy Space Center at 6:20am EST, carrying an unmanned Dragon capsule into orbit for SpaceX’s fifth resupply mission (CRS-5) to the International Space Station. And as if that weren’t exciting enough, the Falcon 9 carrying the Dragon craft will re-ignite its engines as it falls back to Earth, deploy specially designed legs, and conduct the first landing and recovery of a heavy-lift vehicle on an oceanic platform atop a drone-piloted barge ship in the Atlantic Ocean!

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Coverage of the launch begins at 5am EST at www.nasa.gov and at 6am EST at www.spacex.com.

And hey, there will even be a countdown…