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SpaceX sets February 18 for next Falcon 9 launch

9:09 pm

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.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

7 comments

7 comments

  • Orion314
    February 8, 2017 at 10:37 pm

    Can’t wait…if the weather cooperates , I’ll see it from my backyard :]

  • C Cecil
    February 9, 2017 at 5:41 am

    I am wondering if Space X will live feed the first stage burning in to the ocean.

  • Kirk
    February 13, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    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.

  • Kirk
    February 13, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    … 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.

  • Kirk
    February 13, 2017 at 10:50 pm

    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.

  • Kirk
    February 14, 2017 at 8:07 am

    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.

  • Kirk
    February 14, 2017 at 9:03 am

    … 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.)

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