Weather delays Falcon 9 launch till Thursday
High winds has forced SpaceX to delay today’s commercial Falcon 9 launch two days.
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High winds has forced SpaceX to delay today’s commercial Falcon 9 launch two days.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
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I have a couple of questions that may seem silly but they intrigue me.
Shortly after the second stage engine starts up a band of some sort can be seen flying off the the bottom of the bell. What function is being performed?
Secondly, where is the Space X firing room for LC39A? For Shuttle we used FR1 for most OPF and Pad operations, even when we went off Pad B. We occasionally used FR2, and FR3 was left as a monument to Apollo. I imagine FR1 is reserved for SLS, between the various OPF bays and on-going projects I can imagine FR2 being used, and I cannot see NASA giving up FR3. So where? I see a building adjacent to the HIF that may be the location, but I keep thinking about how close it is to the launch mount –- but then I remember at Vandenberg you could spit from the control room at Slick 6 and hit the pad.
Anyway, just curious.
Michael–
I’ve noticed that band as well.
–I could speculate, but I know we have actual rocket-scientists, who can & will enlighten us, so I’ll refrain.
(There are no silly questions— just silly answers!!)
Per reddit:
That is the second stage engine nozzle stiffener ring. The bell nozzle on the MVac is not very rigid (this is for a variety of reasons, most importantly are weight savings and ensuring good thermal radiative properties to keep it cool), especially when the engine is not firing. The ring keeps the nozzle from flexing too much during the first stage burn. After the MVac is ignited, the positive pressure from the engine firing pushes on the inside of the nozzle which prevents it from flexing, so the stabilizer ring is no longer needed and it falls off, as it is designed to do.
Calvin Dodge–
Thank you very much for that factoid!
Calvin Dodge–
Thank you for the info