SpaceX fires engines on landed Falcon rocket
SpaceX on Friday fired the engines on the Falcon 9 rocket booster that launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 21, then returned for a historic landing 10 minutes later.
The “static fire” test, in which the booster was held down on its Launch Complex 40 pad while its nine main engines fired for seconds, was important to show if the rocket was in good enough condition to be reused. SpaceX believes reusable rockets will dramatically lower launch costs.
“Apparently it went very well,” Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president for mission assurance, said Friday evening.
Koenigsmann spoke during a news conference at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where SpaceX is preparing to launch another Falcon 9 at 10:42 a.m. Sunday local time with the U.S.-European Jason-3 mission to monitor sea level rise.
A short time later, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reported on Twitter that one of the outer Merlin engines had not performed perfectly.
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“Conducted hold-down firing of returned Falcon rocket,” said Musk. “Data looks good overall, but engine 9 showed thrust fluctuations.”
Musk said inspections would quickly investigate if debris had gotten into the engine.
What's next for the rocket is not yet known. SpaceX could move it to Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A to help confirm that pad's readiness to launch Falcon rockets. SpaceX has said it plans to keep the rocket for historical purposes rather than try to launch it again.
After launching the $180 million Jason-3 mission, SpaceX will attempt to land the Falcon 9’s first stage on an ocean platform instead of on land.
Koenigsmann said SpaceX does not yet have the environmental approvals needed to attempt a landing on pads at Vandenberg.
Air Force anticipates busy year of launches and landings
Instead, the booster will drop down to one of SpaceX’s two “autonomous spaceport drone ships,” the one nicknamed “Just Read the Instructions.”
Koenigsmann said he was “pretty hopeful” for a successful landing at sea.
“We had a really good landing last time, so things are looking good at this point in time,” he said.
Unlike on the last mission, live video of the landing is not expected to be available.
Kennedy Space Center’s Tim Dunn, of NASA’s Launch Services Program, is the NASA launch manager for the mission.
Cygnus back at KSC
Just over a month after an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo craft launched from Cape Canaveral for the first time, a key piece of the next Cygnus to launch from Florida has arrived at Kennedy Space Center.
The spacecraft's pressurized module, which holds most of the cargo bound for the International Space Station, arrived Friday to complete an overseas journey from Italy, where it was built by Thales Alenia Space.
A Cygnus service module, shipped from Orbital ATK facilities in Virginia, is expected to follow next week.
The second Cygnus launch by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is tentatively targeted for March 10. The mission is referred to as OA-6.
Orbital ATK on Thursday was one of three companies — along with SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. — to win a new round of NASA contracts to ship cargo to the ISS between 2019 and 2024.
Depending on the type of mission NASA wants, Cygnus vehicles could launch on Orbital ATK's Antares rocket from Virginia or on the Atlas V here on the Space Coast.
Atlas stacking continues
United Launch Alliance last week lifted the Centaur upper stage on top of the Atlas V booster slated to launch the first mission of the year from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The Atlas V remains on track for an 8:47 a.m. Feb. 3 launch of the Air Force's 12th and final satellite in the Global Positioning System IIF series built by Boeing.
The next step is to hoist GPS IIF-12 satellite atop the rocket at Launch Complex 41's Vertical Integration Facility.
Walk of Fame dinner
Bob Crippen, pilot of the first space shuttle mission in 1981 and a former director of Kennedy Space Center, will headline the U.S. Space Walk of Fame's Astronaut Dinner fundraiser on Thursday.
The early space program and sounds of the Rat Pack will be the theme for the dinner at the King Center in Melbourne.
"Patrons will have the chance to visit with the men and women who have touched the fringes of space and changed our world forever," the event description reads. Visit spacewalkoffame.com or call (321) 264-0434 to reserve a $150 ticket.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.