SpaceX to resume launches at second launchpad in December
Capitalism in space: SpaceX plans to resume launches in December at its second Kennedy launchpad that was damaged in the September 2016 explosion.
This means that after the mid-November launch of Northrop Grumman’s Zuma payload, they will begin the reconfiguration of that launchpad for Falcon Heavy. Initially the company had said it would take two months to complete that work, which would push the first Falcon Heavy launch into 2018. More recently they say they can get the work done in six weeks. Either way, this suggests that the first attempt to launch Falcon Heavy around the first of the year.
Posted on the road from Tucson to the Grand Canyon. This weekend I am running a new cave survey project there, and we are hiking down this afternoon, with the plan to hike out on Monday.]
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX plans to resume launches in December at its second Kennedy launchpad that was damaged in the September 2016 explosion.
This means that after the mid-November launch of Northrop Grumman’s Zuma payload, they will begin the reconfiguration of that launchpad for Falcon Heavy. Initially the company had said it would take two months to complete that work, which would push the first Falcon Heavy launch into 2018. More recently they say they can get the work done in six weeks. Either way, this suggests that the first attempt to launch Falcon Heavy around the first of the year.
Posted on the road from Tucson to the Grand Canyon. This weekend I am running a new cave survey project there, and we are hiking down this afternoon, with the plan to hike out on Monday.]
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
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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.
Some work has already been done on the TEL (Transporter Erector Launcher) on pad 39a between launches, hence probably the decrease in the estimate of time to complete the work to 6 weeks.
I suspect they have concrete work to do, which takes time to cure, especially if you plan on dumping 3.6 millions lbs of thrust on top of it.
They have been stripping down the RSS a fair bit, but that is not in the way of Heavy launch.
There are images showing at least 2 more hold downs installed on the launch tablet.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171002/be32d7c04f9d708740d41bf84ba39885.jpg
So they definitily have been sneaking the work in, hopefully using teh August break for other parts.
geoffc, the Koreasat-5A photos are showing that they’ve installed two more hold downs (the outboardmost clamps for the side boosters) beyond that. They aren’t wasting the time between launches.
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=43901.0;attach=1456949;image
NSF is now reporting publicly that NASA has approved the use of a reused booster for the upcoming SPX/CRS-13 mission (currently scheduled for a December 4 launch), to fly on the booster recovered from the June 3 CRS-11 flight.
When they catch that booster, they will for the first time have recovered a booster which has twice flown on gentle LEO missions — possibly making it a candidate for a third flight. The three booster reflown so far each had an initial LEO flight, followed by a GTO flight and recovery, though sometimes rather crispy, as with the June 23 BulgariaSat-1 flight.
We are still waiting for the first flight of a “Block 5” Falcon 9 which incorporates both increased engine thrust and improvements to facilitate reuse, with the goal being ten flights with only inspection, not refurbishment between flights. Only Block 5 will be used for commercial crew flights, so they need to get some of them flying successfully before their Commercial Crew demo missions.
NSF has updated their article, clarifying that while NASA has internally cleared reflying used boosters for CRS flights, starting with CRS-13, “NASA’s official stance remains one of no decision being made”.