Falcon 9 still go for launch on Saturday
Reports indicate that Wednesday’s Falcon 9 prelaunch static fire test was a success and that all systems are go for a September 2:14 am launch of Dragon to ISS.
If this launch happens has planned, it will occur only 13 days after the previous Falcon 9 launch in Florida, the shortest turnaround by SpaceX yet.
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Reports indicate that Wednesday’s Falcon 9 prelaunch static fire test was a success and that all systems are go for a September 2:14 am launch of Dragon to ISS.
If this launch happens has planned, it will occur only 13 days after the previous Falcon 9 launch in Florida, the shortest turnaround by SpaceX yet.
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.
Which poses several questions on how they did that… The article I believe notes they already had the core for CRS-4 at the Cape. We know they need X days to drive first stage from Hawthorne to McGregor. Y days to test in McGregor. Z days to drive it to CCAFS. Then how much time is needed to prep it at the Cape? (A days).
So X + Y + Z +A is the bare minimum. Be interesting to see values on those variables.
Where did they store it at the Cape, while delayed on AsiaSat-6? I was under the impression there was only room for one core in the current LC-40 hangar.
They have access to the SPIF (http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/3288/what-is-the-alternate-hangar-spacex-has-available-at-the-cape) which is not really big enough for a F9 first stage. (maybe in the SMAB part? But I have seen nothing suggesting they have access to that. It was where the SRB’s were partially assembled so must have had enough room).
They might have simply parked the truck outside and waited for AsiaSat-6 to leave the hanger. The booster must be protected from weather while its on the truck.
Good point. You know, when they drive across the country from texas to Florida, I wonder what truck stop they stop at. That would be a cool truck to leave overnight…