SpaceX sets February 18 for next Falcon 9 launch
SpaceX has scheduled its next launch, and first from Florida since the September 1 launchpad explosion, for February 18.
This will also be the company’s first launch from the former Apollo and shuttle launchpad that it now leases.
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SpaceX has scheduled its next launch, and first from Florida since the September 1 launchpad explosion, for February 18.
This will also be the company’s first launch from the former Apollo and shuttle launchpad that it now leases.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Can’t wait…if the weather cooperates , I’ll see it from my backyard :]
I am wondering if Space X will live feed the first stage burning in to the ocean.
C Cecil, they shuffled the order and this Saturday’s 10:01 EST launch will be the SPX/CRS-10 resupply mission, with the first stage set to return to launch site. If successful, it will be the third landing at their LZ-1 a.k.a. LC-13, and their first daylight one. The Echostar 23 launch with the expendable first stage is now set for early March.
… and I just read that they have optimistically moved the Echostar 23 NET up to Feb 28 (0027– 0257 Eastern). That would be a quick turnaround on LC-39A of only ten days.
Orion314, observers believe that the X-37B mission OTV-4 has maneuvered for a possible landing at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility soon, after spending nearly 21 months in orbit. Reports of range activity suggest it might happen in the next few days. Tomorrow morning at about 11:10 is one possibility, but the AF isn’t talking and NOTAMs don’t mention it yet, so perhaps Wednesday morning at about 11:25 is more likely.
Perhaps you will hear the sonic booms.
New for this first SpaceX launch from LC-39A is the Falcon Heavy capable Transporter Erector. Part of its design is that instead of retracting several minutes prior to launch, it remains in place until T-0 when it rapidly retracts in a “throwback” maneuver. This allows for shorter umbilicals and is expected to result in less launch damage, cutting refurbishment efforts.
… and back to the X-37B, here is NSF’s article on its expected landing: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/02/air-forces-x-37b-landing-kscs-slf/
It does mention the Air Force’s statement that it is simply “conducting a regularly scheduled exercise”, but there is a NOTAM for the restriction of airspace around the Shuttle Landing Facility from 0800 to 1600 local today, and it has been extended for the same times tomorrow, though perhaps it is unrelated to the X-37B.
A good way to follow this is on NSF’s forum thread for the mission: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36415
(And don’t put much stock in the time predictions from my previous post. I don’t know how reliable their source is.)