Workers secure Space X Crew Dragon capsule after Crew 7 astronauts splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico last March. Image: NASA
NASA’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will be making its final splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean next year . The upcoming Crew-9 mission, set to launch no earlier than August 18, 2024, could be the last to conclude with a landing off the U.S. East Coast.
A Falcon 9 launching from LC-39A Photo: Charles Boyer/FMN
SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 carrying twenty-three Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad LC-39A early Saturday morning. The launch window for the Falcon 9’s “return to flight” opens at 12:21 AM EDT on July 27 and extends until 04:21 AM the same day. If needed, the company has a backup launch window at the same time, twenty-four hours later, on July 28.
Falcon 9 launching from Pad LC-39A Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN
SpaceX has been cleared to resume launching Falcon 9 by the FAA. Almost immediately afterward, the company announced a launch of the venerable rocket from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center early Sunday morning.The company stated that the Starlink 9-3 mishap in a statement on their website “The cause of the leak was identified as a crack in a sense line for a pressure sensor attached to the vehicle’s oxygen system. This line cracked due to fatigue caused by high loading from engine vibration and looseness in the clamp that normally constrains the line,” SpaceX said.
Starliner docked to the International Space Station photo: NASA
No Return Date Set, Readiness Review May Come Late Next Week
NASA’s Steve Stich and Boeing’s Mark Nappi provided an update on the Boeing Starliner CFT flight today in a teleconference. They stated that while no return date has been set for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to return aboard the spacecraft, the agency and Boeing are relatively close to a Readiness Review that must be conducted prior to Starliner undocking from ISS and returning to Earth. According to NASA, that review may come as soon as the end of next week — or August 2, 2024.
“I think we’re starting to close in on those final pieces of the flight rationale to make sure that we can come home safely,” said Steve Stich.
Closeup of Falcon 9’s Merlin engines as the rocket lifts off. The static fire conducted last night was testing this part of the spacecraft. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX conducted a static-firing of the nine Merlin engines of a Falcon 9 booster first stage at SLC-40 last night as the company prepares to return to flight after a very rare in-flight failure on July 11.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars skyward moments after liftoff from launch complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Image by Richard P Gallagher
On July 11, 2024, SpaceX experienced a rare in-flight failure with its Falcon 9 rocket during the Starlink 9-3 mission. This mission aimed to deploy 20 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The launch initially appeared successful, but the second stage encountered an anomaly during its critical burn phase, which prevented the rocket from achieving its intended orbit.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches a load of Starlink satellites to orbit earlier this year. Photo: Mark Stone/FMN
SpaceX has petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to permit the resumption of its Falcon 9 rocket flights, despite an ongoing investigation into a recent mission anomaly. The request comes just days after a malfunction during a Starlink mission led to the grounding of the reusable launch vehicles.
KSC’s Pad 39A sits empty as uncertainty looms about the Falcon 9 launch schedule following a booster failure on July 11, 2024. Falcon 9 boosters have been grounded by the FAA pending investigation. Photo: Mark Stone-FMN
The Commercial Crew Program – All About Redundancy
SpaceX’s second-stage failure on their venerable Falcon 9 booster Thursday demonstrates exactly why NASA wants dissimilar redundancy for crewed flights. The idea is simple: if one launch provider is grounded for a technical issue or a launch failure investigation, the other can take up the slack. The duopoly of crewed launch providers is meant to assure the nation of continuous access to orbit while launching from American soil.
Booster 1063 safely lands on a SpaceX Droneship. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX encountered its first in-flight failure of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2015 Thursday night, resulting in 20 Starlink satellites being deployed into a lower-than-intended orbit. The incident occurred during SpaceX’s 70th orbital launch of the year. The mission, designated Starlink 9-3, initially appeared to proceed without issue after lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday night at 7:35 p.m. PDT .
Liftoff of Falcon 9 carrying Türksat-6A to orbit on July 8, 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / Florida Media Now
SpaceX weathered lightning in the area until skies cleared early this evening, allowing the company to launch the Turksat-6A mission aboard a Falcon 9. Originally scheduled for 5:20 PM EDT, Turksat liftoff was delayed several times until 7:30 PM when the afternoon’s storms were far away enough to allow the rocket to safely ascend towards orbit.
A Falcon 9 lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 in May 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / Florida Media Now
SpaceX is planning to launch a Falcon 9 carrying a Turkish telecommunications satellite later Monday afternoon from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, weather permitting. The launch window opens at 05:20 PM EDT and extends over four hours to 09:43 PM EDT Monday.
Official rendering of a Polaris Dawn astronaut egressing from Crew Dragon with the help of the the Skywalker attachment (Zdroj: SpaceX)
The upcoming Polaris Dawn mission is poised to make history as the first commercial spaceflight to include a spacewalk. Billionaire Jared Isaacman is funding the mission, which is scheduled to launch no earlier than July 31, 2024, from Florida’s Space Coast.