Weather delays SpaceX launch
Capitalism in space: Weather has delayed a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg.
This launch is significant because once launched the first stage will become the first to have flown three times. It also will be the first to have launched from all three of SpaceX’s operating launchpads and to have landed on both of the company’s drone ships. And it will have done all this in less than seven months.
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Capitalism in space: Weather has delayed a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg.
This launch is significant because once launched the first stage will become the first to have flown three times. It also will be the first to have launched from all three of SpaceX’s operating launchpads and to have landed on both of the company’s drone ships. And it will have done all this in less than seven months.
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.
This makes a busy December schedule for SpaceX:
Dec 1: SSO-A from Vandenberg
Dec 4: CRS SpX-16 from Canaveral SLC-40
Dec 18: USAF GPS III-1 from Canaveral SLC-40
Dec 30: Iridium NEXT (Flight 8) from Vandenberg
SpaceX launched twice per month from December 2017 through July 2018, and once per month since August. If they manage all four of these in December, it will best their record of three per calendar month from both June and October of 2017.
That GPS launch is interesting in that it will be the first expendable launch of a block 5 booster. There has been a lot of debate on the lists as to why they don’t plan to recover this one since placing the < 4000 kg satellite in its expected transfer orbit should leave plenty of reserves for recovery.
Interestingly, JRTI is going to be only 30 someodd miles off the coast. I.e. They are doing an RTLS, but using a mobile pad, since the D-4H with an expensive NRO payload is too close to the landing pad.
The GPS 3 launch is an important event. Problems with the new ground system, OCX, and with the payload have delayed this for more than three years. Its signal will be three times more powerful which will make it harder to spoof or jam it. Let’s hope that they don’t have any problems with the satellite.
SpaceX: Now targeting December 2 for launch of Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1067959871230726144
SpaceX: Standing down from tomorrow’s launch attempt of Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express to conduct additional inspections of the second stage. Working toward a backup launch opportunity on December 3.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1069133406586363904
SpaceX CRS-16 ISS resupply mission is still scheduled for Tuesday, December 4, at 13:38:53 EST, from the Cape’s SLC-40. But they are predicting only a 40% chance of suitable weather for launch that day due to thick cloud concerns. The weather for delay day Wednesday is looking much better, at 90% chance suitable.
And in other news, Administrator Bridenstine is hinting at delay to DM-1, the SpaceX uncrewed test flight, currently penciled in for 7 January. NASA program to launch astronauts to space station facing delays but 2019 still on target
Apparently they are still looking into some anomalous and unmodeled behavior observed during the ultimately successful deployment of parachutes both during Dragon 2 drop tests and during Dragon 1 operation. Some parties believe that they should fly the DM-1 mission as is, and if they do ultimately decide to make changes in the parachute system, they could validate those changes via additional drop tests. Others, including NASA ASAP, feel that the final parachute configuration must be flown on an orbital uncrewed Dragon 2 test mission prior to the first crewed flight, and flying DM-1 now risks requiring an additional test flight. The administrator’s recent comments suggest that NASA administrations may be siding with the ASAP view.
Some observers are crying foul, saying that this is purely a delaying tactic to allow Boeing time to catch up with their Starliner, but ASAP revealed that Boeing, among their other problems, is also facing similar concerns over anomalies observed during their parachute test deployments.
Kirk–
Thanks for all the tidbits & information! Good stuff.