Dragon SpX-10 (CRS10) - Falcon 9 v1.2 - Canaveral SLC-40 - 19.02.2017 14:38 UTC

[tnt22]

Живая трансляция п-к на англ. яз.

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SpaceFlight Insider ‏@SpaceflightIns 6 мин. назад
 
.@SpaceX removed & replaced the thrust vector control actuator last night to resolve Saturday's #Falcon9's second stage launch issue. #CRS10

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А вот и зам главреда NSF - отдувается за шефа...

Chris B - NSF ‏@NASASpaceflight 48 сек. назадWho's this handsome fella? @CwG_NSF
 

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Бригаду с LC-39A направят на SLC-40

Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust 3 мин. назад

Jensen: crews that has been working on LC-39A will shift over to SLC-40 for repairs there. #SpX10

[tnt22]

Трансляция стыковки 4:30am ET/0930 GMT 2017-02-22

SpaceFlight Insider ‏@SpaceflightIns 8 мин. назад

.@SpaceX #CRS10 #Dragon rendezvous & capture live coverage begins Wednesday, Feb. 22 @ 4:30am ET/0930 GMT. Grapple begins 6am ET/1100 GMT.

[tnt22]

Ремонт SLC-40 не занял много времени, LC-39A нужна в первую очередь для поддержки запусков

Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust 3 мин. назад
 
Jensen: haven't spent a lot of time repairing SLC-40; focus on getting LC-39A done first to support launches. #SpX10

[tnt22]

Послеполётная п-к завершена.

[tnt22]

ТБМ! Через 2 часа после пуска  :evil:  

the Weatherboy ‏@theWeatherboy 2 мин. назад
 
Sun is out at @NASAKennedy's VAB & countdown clock, where just 2 hours ago #SpaceX made history. #CRS10
 
 

[Pavel Illarionov]

"Ремонт SLC-40 не занял много времени, LC-39A нужна в первую очередь для поддержки запусков"
И когда очередной пуск с SLC-40?

[tnt22]

Похоже, наш клиент... Данные n2yo

2017-009A
1 42053U 17009A 17050.62676480 -.00003590 11348-4 00000+0 0 9991
2 42053 51.6320 264.9784 0115859 44.2750 62.9999 15.98180622 00

Эпоха UTC 2017-02-19 15:02:32, орбита 209.5 km × 363.7 km × 51.6°, период 90.1 min

2017-009B
1 42054U 17009B 17050.62776838 -.00003591 11351-4 00000+0 0 9995
2 42054 51.6206 264.9517 0114721 44.3130 68.7626 15.98349943 02

Эпоха UTC 2017-02-19 15:03:59, орбита 209.8 km × 362.5 km × 51.6°, период 90.1 min

2017-009C
1 42055U 17009C 17050.62775403 -.00003579 11315-4 00000+0 0 9999
2 42055 51.6404 264.9999 0119099 46.2325 66.7082 15.96743354 03

Эпоха UTC 2017-02-19 15:03:58, орбита 211.3 km × 369.9 km × 51.6°, период 90.2 min

Всё-таки наванговал

[tnt22]

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/space-exploration-technologies/ksc-launch-complex-39a-begins-new-life-spacex-crs-10-launch/

Rebirth: Launch Complex 39A begins new life with SpaceX CRS-10 launch 
               
Bart Leahy
February 19th, 2017
             

SpaceX's CRS-10 Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 9:38 a.m. EST (14:38 GMT). Photo Credit: Vikash Mahadeo / SpaceFlight Insider

 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Launch Complex 39A began its third career after serving as the site for historic Apollo and Space Shuttle launches. Today it welcomed its first commercial launch, with SpaceX sending Cargo Resupply Service (CRS) 10 aboard the Dragon spacecraft perched atop the 'Full Thrust' Falcon 9.

Спойлер

Liftoff took place on a cloudy and somewhat rainy morning at 9:38 a.m. EST (14:38 GMT) Feb. 19, 2017. After providing a brief, fiery glimpse, the rocket disappeared behind a dense layer of clouds. However, the two-stage rocket refused to be ignored. The dense layer of clouds caused the thunderous noise of its nine Merlin 1D engines, arranged in the "Octa-Web" formation to powerfully resonate. SpaceFlight Insider staff, atop the CBS News building reported that they felt the structure shudder under the might unleashed by the NewSpace booster.
 

SpaceX Falcon 9 touches down at LZ-1 (formerly LC-13) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Landing took place at 9:47 a.m. EST (14:47 GMT). Photo Credit: Mike Deep / SpaceFlight Insider

 This was the second launch attempt, however. On Saturday, Feb. 19, the SpaceX team was working a couple of issues during an otherwise smooth countdown. The issue that ultimately resulted in the scrub of the attempt was an "out of family" reading on the second stage thrust vector control system.

"While [the Feb. 18] scrub with just 13 seconds to go is an obvious disappointment, space flight is hard and these events are not unexpected," Dan Batcheldor, interim department head of the Physics and Space Sciences department of Florida Institute of Technology told SpaceFlight Insider. "It is much better to scrub a launch than to lose an entire mission."

Batcheldor said he was grateful, however, to have had the experience of sharing the Feb. 18 launch attempt with space legends such as Buzz Aldrin, Al Worden, Bob Cabana and John Grundsfeld.

While the weather did not end up being a concern during the first launch attempt, for the second launch attempt, it was raining until about 45 minutes before liftoff. The cumulus cloud constraint remained no-go until about 25 minutes before launch.

The soggy weather was reminiscent of the final Space Shuttle launch in July of 2011. For that flight, however, weather was expected to only provide a 30 percent chance of favorable conditions while the CRS-10 mission had a 70 percent chance. In both cases, however, the weather cleared when it was most important.
 
Fire and smoke return to LC-39A

SpaceX's launches for LC-39A follow the same procedures that they follow for Space Launch Complex (SLC) 40. The major difference is the configuration of the pad itself, as LC-39A is built on a large reinforced concrete beam with a 42.6-foot (13-meter) deep flame trench to direct the powerful forces incurred during liftoff.

Fueling for the Falcon 9 began at approximately T-minus 70 minutes before launch for RP-1 ( a highly-refined version of kerosene) while the liquid oxygen began loading at about T-minus 45 minutes. The engines were chilled down for launch at T-minus 7 minutes.

While LC-39A already had tanks for storing liquid oxygen, SpaceX had to add tanks for RP-1 (kerosene) and their related plumbing.
 

The last mission to launch from LC-39A was STS-135 flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis on July 8, 2011. Photo Credit: Charles Twine / SpaceFlight Insider

 As is always the case with launches to the International Space Station, CRS-10 was on a tight schedule to be in the right place to catch up with the ISS. This is what is referred to as an "instantaneous" (one second) launch window. At T-minus zero, the nine Merlin engines crackled to life with orange flame and sent the rocket skyward. 

After clearing the tower, the vehicle executed a pitch and roll maneuver to turn in the direction of the 51.6-degree azimuth to match the space station's orbit, which took it over Russia.

Two minutes into the flight the Falcon 9's first stage separated and began its controlled return to Earth at T-plus 2 minutes, 41 seconds. Following the stage's entry burn at T-plus 6 minutes, 32 seconds, the Falcon 9's first stage made its descent to Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1), formerly known as SLC 13 at T+8:32. 

The third ground landing took place 7 minutes, 33 seconds after lifting out of LC-39A. Sonic booms, like cannon shots rumbled across the marshlands of Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Landing took place at 9:47 a.m. EST (14:47 GMT).

After the first stage separated, the second stage burned for an additional seven minutes to place the CRS-10 Dragon capsule into orbit. The spacecraft separated from the booster at T-plus 10 minutes, and deployed its solar arrays at T-plus 11 minutes.

Dragon, now on its own, is expected to rendezvous with the orbiting lab some two days later, on Feb. 22, for capture and berthing with the outpost.
 
Getting the pieces in place

SpaceX's journey to launch from LC-39A began back in 2014 when the company signed a 20-year lease with NASA to modify the launch pad for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches (the company hopes to conduct the first flight of the FH this summer).

The first Florida launch pad SpaceX received a license agreement to use was at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's SLC-40 in 2007. Since 2010, SpaceX has launched 26 Falcon 9 rockets from that pad (three from Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 4E and one from LC-39A).
 

SpaceX's CRS-10 Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 9:38 a.m. EST (14:38 GMT). Photo Credit: Mike Deep / SpaceFlight Insider

 As they did at SLC-40, SpaceX built a new horizontal integration facility (HIF) for LC-39A to assemble and prepare its launch vehicles. Additionally, a new transporter erector was constructed to carry rockets to the launch site and to position them for flight.

The HIF was built across the crawlerway originally laid out for the crawler-transporters NASA used during the Apollo and Shuttle Programs. SpaceX will use the Shuttle-era Fixed Service Structure at the top of the pad mound, though the Rotating Service Structure, which was used to place payload into the Space Shuttle's cargo bay, will eventually be removed and reduced to scrap.

LC-39B, which is just to the north of LC-39A, will continue to support NASA missions, particularly the super-heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS – currently scheduled to launch next year). A "third" launch pad, 39C, has been built within the 39B perimeter to support smaller launch vehicles. It is a concrete pad that measures about 50 feet wide by 100 feet long (15 by 30 meters).

SpaceX plans to launch its commercial crew missions from LC-39A. In order to accommodate that, a lot of work still needs to be done including the addition of a crew access arm. The first demonstration launch is expected in late-2017 with a crewed demo in 2018.

While there has been some concern by the Government Accountability Office about SpaceX not making its first commercial crew launch for NASA in 2018, in a Feb. 17 press conference, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell disagreed with that assessment.

"The hell we won't." Shotwell said.

For today however, that was not the focus. This mission was about ferrying cargo, crew supplies and science experiments to the space station. 

"Watching today was really different to yesterday. We were on the beach, but the atmosphere was quieter and we were watching the TV coverage on cellphones. We were so relieved that it was a success. Actually we were pretty speechless at first, we couldn't really believe it had happened, but then we started clapping and slapping each other on the back," Brigitte Schuermann, V3PO teacher, Edith-Stein School, Ravensburg, Germany told SpaceFlight Insider.

Schuermann's students not only got to see this historic launch, they were a part of it as their experiments were part of the payload that roared to orbit on CRS-10 thanks, in part, to CASIS.
 


SpaceX's first flight from LC-39A could potentially mark the return of crewed flights from the site, which are slated to take place as soon as 2018. Photo Credit: Michael Howard / SpaceFlight Insider

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Посадка. Вид с дрона (0:55)

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Техническая трансляция (30:37)

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Что там про птичек и указы    ? (1:50)
Birds chasing Falcon 9? (slow motion & close-up)

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После пуска...

Stephen C. Smith ‏@SpaceKSCBlog 1 ч. назадAfter the launch ...

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SpaceX launches supplies to space station; 'Baby came back,' Elon Musk says of booster's return

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-launch-20170219-story.html

SpaceX launches supplies to space station; 'Baby came back,' Elon Musk says of booster's return
 
 
 The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sits on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Feb. 18. (Red Huber / Associated Press)

 Samantha Masunaga - Contact Reporter
 
 FEBRUARY 19, 2017, 9:20 AM
 
SpaceX launched almost 5,500 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station on Sunday morning after scrubbing its Saturday attempt because of a potential issue with its Falcon 9 rocket.

The rocket lifted off at 6:39 a.m. PST fr om Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was the Hawthorne-based space company's first launch from Launch Complex 39A, the historic pad wh ere the Apollo and space shuttle missions launched.

Спойлер

This was the first commercial launch from the pad — the last mission to lift off from 39A was the final space shuttle launch in 2011.

About eight minutes after liftoff, the first-stage rocket booster landed back on land at the company's Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

"Baby came back," SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted, followed by a snapshot of the return landing.

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk 4 ч. назад
 
 6:08 pm - 19 Feb 2017
84 ответов 698 ретвитов 1 771 отметка «Нравится»

The Dragon spacecraft, which is carrying the supplies, deployed about 10 minutes after launch. It is set to arrive at the space station early Wednesday morning.

Saturday's launch was postponed just 13 seconds before liftoff so SpaceX could look into a potential issue with the thrust vector control system on the rocket's second stage.

Shortly after, the company tweeted that it would take a closer look at the positioning of the second-stage engine nozzle.

"99% likely to be fine," Musk tweeted Saturday. "But that 1% chance isn't worth rolling the dice. Better to wait a day."

SpaceX determined that the potential issue was with one of two thrust vector control actuators, which help steer the second-stage engine nozzle through flight, Jessica Jensen, Dragon mission manager for SpaceX, said in a post-launch news conference.

The company replaced the actuator Saturday night and then ran tests on the pad before launch, she said.

This was the company's second launch since a launch pad explosion in September destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and a commercial communications satellite.

Sunday's launch was SpaceX's 10th mission to deliver supplies to the space station for NASA.

This is the beginning of what SpaceX hopes will be a busy period for Launch Complex 39A.

The pad has been configured to accommodate the first flight of the company's highly anticipated heavy-lift rocket, Falcon Heavy, as well as the first flight of a previously launched first-stage booster, which is slated for March, Jensen said.

The company is hoping to launch from Pad 39A again in about two weeks, she said.

Meanwhile, Jensen said renovations will continue on Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, which was damaged during the September explosion. SpaceX has completed all of its inspections at the launch pad but still needs to do "a majority of the work there," Jensen said.

During a Friday briefing with reporters, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Space Launch Complex 40 should be operational by the summer.

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Статья обновлена автором. Приводится по состоянию на 9:21 a.m.

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Jonathan McDowell ‏@planet4589 32 мин. назад

Dragon and its two ejected solar panel covers cataloged as 42053 to 42055. (Looks like debris object 42061 from the other day was aberrant)

[tnt22]

Дважды    

Jonathan McDowell ‏@planet4589 21 мин. назад
 
Dragon spacecraft C112, flight CRS-10, now in 204 x 360 km x 51.6 deg orbit. ISS in 399 x 408 km x 51.6 deg orbit.

[opinion]

tnt22 пишет:
Ремонт SLC-40 не занял много времени, LC-39A нужна в первую очередь для поддержки запусков

Jeff Foust ‏@ jeff_foust 3 мин. назад
 
Jensen: haven't spent a lot of time repairing SLC-40; focus on getting LC-39A done first to support launches. # SpX10

Правильный перевод: Не тратили много времени на ремонт SLC-40; сосредоточились сначала на завершении работ на LC-39A, чтобы обеспечить пуски.

[tnt22]

Falcon 9 lifts off on Debut Mission fr om Kennedy Space Center, 1st Stage Masters On-Shore Landing

http://spaceflight101.com/dragon-spx10/falcon-9-spx10-launch-success/

Falcon 9 lifts off on Debut Mission fr om Kennedy Space Center, 1st Stage Masters On-Shore Landing               
  February 19, 2017
 
           Photo: SpaceX

It was over five years ago that the flames of an ascending rocket last graced a Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad when the Space Shuttle lifted off on its final voyage in 2011. Kennedy's historic Launch Complex 39 returned to rocket launch operations on Sunday with a most impressive liftoff of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket – ushering in a new era of commercial launch operations fr om the storied space center.

Спойлер

Launch Complex 39A, with an event-filled history dating back to the early 60s, saw off a dozen missions of NASA's mighty Saturn V rocket including all Apollo missions to the lunar surface before taking on a new role of supporting the Space Shuttle for 82 of its launches. With the end of the Shuttle program came the transition of the Kennedy Space Center into a multi-user spaceport as facilities were re-purposed for numerous commercial and government programs, including LC-39A that was turned over to SpaceX in 2014 for a 20-year lease.

 

Photo: NASA

Sunday's liftoff marked the culmination of what was essentially a re-build of the launch pad's critical propellant and ground support systems with frantic work in progress on a 24/7 schedule over the last weeks to activate the launch pad for Falcon 9 missions after SpaceX's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station pad suffered considerable damage in September's Falcon 9 explosion.

Falcon 9 lifted off fr om the southernmost of the two former Shuttle Pads at 14:39 UTC on Sunday, taking to the skies over a cloudy Space Coast to lift the tenth operational Dragon spacecraft into orbit for a critical supply delivery to the International Space Station. The 65-meter tall rocket swung to a north-easterly departure path and fired its first stage for the first two minutes and 21 seconds before the single-engine second stage took over for a nearly seven-minute burn to loft the Dragon into orbit.

For the first stage, the flight was not over at separation, firing up its engines again to slam into reverse and blaze back toward the Cape. Another burn followed at re-entry ahead of 50 seconds of atmospheric descent prior to start-up on the center engine on the critical landing burn. The 46-meter booster mastered its landing, coming to rest on its fold-out landing legs to mark SpaceX's third land-based recovery, the first daytime landing at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone-1, some 15 Kilometers south from wh ere the Falcon 9 had taken off just eight minutes prior.

Photo: NASA

SpaceX's Dragon has a critical role within the Space Station's cargo fleet as the only vehicle capable of returning hardware to the ground via a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. A return capability is critical in the Station's scientific mission as samples collected for hundreds of experiments need to be flown back to Earth for analysis using ground-based laboratory equipment. There is also a desire to fly failed systems hardware back to Earth for inspections into equipment failures.

Embarking on its tenth regular cargo run to ISS under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services, Dragon is carrying a total of 2,490 Kilograms of internal and external cargo. Riding in the spacecraft's trunk section are two external payloads – NASA's SAGE-III atmospheric sensing instrument, setting out to continue a long-term record of the ozone layer and suspended aerosols in the atmosphere, and the STP-H5 pallet hosting 13 experiments sel ected by NASA and the Department of Defense in a program dedicated to research and development of future spaceflight technologies.

Photo: SpaceX

One and a half metric tons of cargo are inside Dragon's pressure vessel; half of this mission's upmass is dedicated to science as ISS heads into a particularly busy summer of operations with 300 studies planned over the course of the next six months. Flying aboard the Dragon are 20 mice that will live aboard ISS for about one month to study how bone tissues regenerate in the microgravity environment. Other experiments headed to ISS on the Dragon include stem-cell research, protein crystallization studies relevant for the development of pharmaceuticals, and a barrage of medical experiments for the Station's crew to help understand the effects the space environment has on the human body.

Dragon was originally booked for a Saturday takeoff, but SpaceX decided to scrub that day's attempt just seconds before ignition to take the cautious route and investigate a suspect signature on the second stage's Mvac engine that was not expected to impact the mission but was off-nominal nonetheless. The decision to delay the mission was made personally by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk who explained on Twitter that the movement trace of one hydraulic piston in charge of vectoring the MVac engine was out-of-family with previous launches.

Photo: NASA TV

Falcon 9 was lowered to a horizontal position after completing de-tanking, enabling engineers to access the interstage and replace part of the steering actuator of the upper stage engine's redundant thrust vector control system. This work was complete by the early morning hours, local time, and Falcon 9 was back in a vertical position before sunrise to head into a multi-hour checkout activity.

With a clean rocket, well-behaved ground system and partially favorable weather outlook, the SpaceX launch team gave a go to head into the fully automated tanking sequence at T-70 minutes. Utilizing the conservative loading sequence introduced after the testing accident in September, Falcon 9 received over 500 metric tons of chilled Kerosene and sub-cooled Liquid Oxygen plus cryogenic Helium needed to pressurize the rocket's tanks in flight.

Photo: SpaceX

Comm loops remained very quiet as Falcon 9 checked off its critical pre-launch steps while Dragon did the same after entering its auto sequence at T-35 minutes. The speed of countdown events picked up noticeably at T-7 minutes when Falcon 9 began chilling its nine Merlin 1D engines at the base of the first stage to set the stage for ignition. The launcher made its transfer to internal power and the new Autonomous Flight Safety System, making its first operational flight, was armed. Final steering checks of the engines showed good results and Falcon 9 proceeded into the pressurization of its tanks.

The rocket came to life at T-3 seconds when the nine Merlin 1D engines soared to a collective liftoff thrust of 694 metric ton-force. LC-39A's Strongback structure rapidly moved away from the rocket at the moment of liftoff, an unfamiliar sight as SpaceX's other launch pads host a TEL that retracts several minutes before clocks hit zero.

 

Photo: SpaceX Webcast

Falcon 9 took flight at precisely 14:38:59.5 UTC under the loud rumble of its nine engines, burning 2,500 Kilograms of propellant per second to lift the 549-metric ton rocket off the ground. It took only seconds for Falcon 9 to disappear into a low-hanging band of clouds that had moved in overnight with an area of unsettled weather which threatened to become a problem for the mission throughout the early morning hours.

Falcon 9 passed the speed of sound one-minute into the mission and throttled back its engines briefly as it passed the area of Maximum Dynamic Pressure. While Stage 1 was still firing on all cylinders, the second stage's MVac engine prepared for ignition by chilling down its turbomachinery.

>>Falcon9 Launch Vehicle

First Stage Flip seen from Second Stage – Image: SpaceX Webcast

MECO was confirmed two minutes and 21 seconds into the flight after the nine engines accelerated the vehicle of 1,676 meters per second. Pneumatic pushers separated the two stages three seconds after MECO, 65 Kilometers in altitude from wh ere the first stage embarked on its return to Cape Canaveral and the second stage proceeded toward orbit.

Firing up its 95,000 Kilogram-force MVac, the second stage was in action for six minutes and 51 seconds to lift Dragon into Low Earth Orbit. Three minutes and 10 seconds into the mission, Dragon separated its nose cap as it was no longer needed outside the dense layers of Earth's atmosphere.

Image: SpaceX Webcast

According to real time call-outs, the second stage functioned admirably as it headed north-east across the Atlantic Ocean, safing its AFTS and heading into Terminal Guidance mode towards the end of its burn for a precise orbital injection.

Immediately after staging, the first stage fired its cold gas thrusters to swing around to an engines-first orientation for the boost back burn. Start-up of three Merlin 1D engines on the booster was confirmed right at T+3 minutes, tasked with reversing the booster's travel direction and accelerating it toward Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone 1 wh ere SpaceX established a large concrete pad.

Upon completion of the 35-second boost back, the first stage again used its thrusters to re-orient itself for re-entry. Onboard camera views showed the thruster pulses and the deployment of the four actuated grid fins at T+4 minutes to deliver three-axis attitude control during atmospheric descent.

First Stage Entry Burn – Image: SpaceX Webcast

After three minutes of passive flight outside the atmosphere, the first stage hit the brakes at T+6 minutes and 32 seconds, firing three of its engines for around 15 seconds to slow down and shield the engine section from the most dynamic environments occurring at entry. The booster's flight termination system was safed at the T+7 minute mark and its camera clearly showed the vibration of the stage in the dynamic entry environment, especially during the transsonic phase seven and a half minutes after launch.

The center engine fired up seven minutes and 41 seconds into the mission on the critical landing burn, set for some heavy throttling to set the 46-meter tall booster down on its four fold-out landing legs. Double sonic booms announced the booster's return to the Space Coast with much of its return hidden from view due to the dense cloud cover.

Photo: SpaceX

Onboard video showed fine-maneuvering by the grid fins as the booster punched through the cloud deck and entered a vertical descent to the central landing pad at SpaceX's Landing Zone 1, around 15 Kilometers south of Launch Complex 39A.

Stage 1 needed eight minutes and seven seconds for its round trip to the edge of space, in the process dispatching a payload of nearly ten metric tons into orbit. After a near-bullseye touchdown, teams headed into remote safing procedures before crews could head out to the landing site to salvage SpaceX's eight recovered booster, the third to make an on-shore landing.

While the first stage went through its propulsive return, the second stage accelerated into orbit, shutting down its engine nine minutes and 24 seconds into the flight. Launch Control reported a good orbit achieved by the second stage and orbital data later showed Dragon in an orbit of 202 by 357 Kilometers, inclined 51.63 degrees.

Dragon Separation – Image: SpaceX Webcast

Separation of the Dragon came one minute after propulsive flight ended, initiating a series of events aboard the spacecraft the most visible of which was the jettisoning of the solar array fairings and the deployment of the power-generating arrays 12 minutes after launch. SpaceX confirmed Dragon had begun firing its attitude control thrusters and initiated communications through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.

Starting off its mission with an impressive launch, Dragon is set for a series of engine burns beginning later on Sunday to maneuver closer to the Station's 400-Kilometer orbit. Rendezvous is set for Wednesday as Dragon closes in on ISS fr om behind and below ahead of a straight-up approach to the capture point wh ere the spacecraft will be grappled by the Station's robotic arm at around 11 UTC. Berthing to the Harmony module is planned later that day to kick off a five-week stay lasting until late March to facilitate busy cargo transfer operations inside and outside the Space Station.

For SpaceX, the next launch is coming up in around two weeks with the EchoStar-23 satellite that will require Falcon 9 to fly in an expendable configuration with no attempt of booster recovery. That mission's timing will depend on how fast LC-39A can be turned around with launch currently penciled in for NET February 28

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