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11-24-20

Sentinel-6 Liftoff

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NASA dicit:

The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, carried atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on November 21, 2020. Launch occurred at 9:17 a.m. PST (12:17 p.m. EST). The mission is an international collaboration between NASA and several partners, and it will collect the most accurate data yet on global sea level and how our oceans are rising in response to climate change. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center was responsible for launch management.

Video credit: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

 

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11-23-20

SpaceX Crew-1 Liftoff

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NASA dicit:

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission gets underway with the successful liftoff of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Launch occurred November 15, 2020, at 7:27 p.m. EST from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew-1 is the first regular crew mission of a U.S. commercial spacecraft with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Video credit: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

 

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10-29-20

100

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SpaceX dicit:

On Saturday, October 24, 2020, SpaceX completed its 100th successful flight since Falcon 1 first flew to orbit in 2008. Over the course of these flights, SpaceX landed Falcon’s first stage booster 63 times and re-flew boosters 45 times.

Video credit: SpaceX

 

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09-22-20

SAOCOM 1B Launch

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Wikipedia dicit:

Falcon 9 is a partially reusable two-stage-to-orbit medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX in the United States. It is powered by Merlin engines, also developed by SpaceX, burning cryogenic liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) as propellants. Its name is derived from the fictional Star Wars spacecraft, the Millennium Falcon, and the nine Merlin engines of the rocket’s first stage. The rocket evolved with versions v1.0 (2010–2013), v1.1 (2013–2016), v1.2 “Full Thrust” (2015–present), including the Block 5 Full Thrust variant, flying since May 2018. Unlike most rockets, which are expendable launch systems, since the introduction of the Full Thrust version, Falcon 9 is partially reusable, with the first stage capable of re-entering the atmosphere and landing vertically after separating from the second stage. This feat was achieved for the first time on flight 20 with the v1.2 version in December 2015.

Falcon 9 can lift payloads of up to 22,800 kilograms (50,300 lb) to low Earth orbit, 8,300 kg (18,300 lb) to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) when expended, and 5,500 kg (12,100 lb) to GTO when the first stage is recovered. The heaviest GTO payloads flown have been Intelsat 35e with 6,761 kg (14,905 lb), and Telstar 19V with 7,075 kg (15,598 lb). The latter was launched into a lower-energy GTO orbit achieving an apogee well below the geostationary altitude, while the former was launched into an advantageous super-synchronous transfer orbit.

In 2008, SpaceX won a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) using the Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule. The first mission under this contract launched on October 8, 2012. Falcon 9 has been human-rated for transporting NASA astronauts to the ISS as part of the NASA Commercial Crew Development program. Falcon 9 has been certified for the National Security Space Launch program and NASA Launch Services Program as “Category 3”, which can launch the priciest, most important, and most complex NASA missions. Falcon 9 has been considered as the world’s most advanced space launch vehicle by various sources.

Video credit: SpaceX

 

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NASA dicit:

Dragon 2 is a class of reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by U.S. aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, intended as the successor to the Dragon cargo spacecraft. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and returns via ocean splashdown. When compared to Dragon, Crew Dragon has larger windows, new flight computers and avionics, redesigned solar arrays, and a modified outer mold line.

The spacecraft has two planned variants – Crew Dragon, a human-rated capsule capable of carrying up to seven astronauts, and Cargo Dragon, an updated replacement for the original Dragon. Crew Dragon is equipped with an integrated launch escape system in a set of four side-mounted thruster pods with two SuperDraco engines each. Crew Dragon has been contracted to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with crew under the Commercial Crew Program, with the initial award occurring in October 2014 alongside Boeing CST-100 Starliner. Crew Dragon’s first non-piloted test flight to the ISS launched in March 2019.

SpaceX conducted an in-flight abort test from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A in Florida on 19 January 2020 at 15:30 UTC. The Crew Dragon test capsule was launched in an atmospheric flight to conduct a separation and abort scenario in the troposphere at transonic velocities, at max Q, where the vehicle experiences maximum aerodynamic pressure. The test objective was to demonstrate the ability to safely move away from the ascending rocket under the most challenging atmospheric conditions of the flight trajectory, imposing the worst structural stress of a real flight on the rocket and spacecraft. The abort test was performed using a regular Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket.

Video credit: NASA/SpaceX

 

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03-5-19

Crew Dragon

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NASA dicit:

“Crew Dragon is designed to transport up to four astronauts for NASA missions, along with critical cargo and supplies, to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The Crew Dragon features solar arrays affixed to the side of the spacecraft’s trunk, a launch escape system that will allow crew members to escape an anomaly at any point during flight, a large hatch and windows, and a redesigned outer mold line to enhance crew comfort. The first uncrewed flight is an important step in returning human launches on American rockets and spacecraft to the space station from U.S. soil since 2011.

Astronauts will board the SpaceX Crew Dragon using the Crew Access Arm, which provides a bridge to the spacecraft from the crew access tower at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.”

Video Credit: NASA/SpaceX

 

 

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