Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Yes, The Historic SpaceX Launch Was Historic

In case everyone hasn't heard this already, this morning's (for 3/4 of the time zones in the CONUS) SpaceX launch that was going to double the number of successful launches over the next closest rockets was successful, completely by the book and by the numbers, including landing Booster B1061 for its 14th flight and the company's 196th successful recovery of the orbital-class booster.  

It was their 8th launch for the month of May.  Richard Angle at Teslarati adds:

Coming up next for SpaceX looks to be a busy start of June, there could be up 5 Falcon 9 launches within the first 10 days of the month, however, 4 of those are scheduled to launch from Florida where the weather could play spoiler and would require a very rapid turnaround of the launch pads on the Space Coast. With SpaceX, you can never rule out such a cadence if the weather holds.

I don't have access to a detailed schedule, just NextSpaceflight.com's SpaceX page.  That shows only the next three launches have a No Earlier Than (NET) date and only two of three show a time.  The page shows 10 launches in June, with all but that first three saying "NET June." 

Angle also adds this note about B1061.

Currently, no Falcon 9 has flown more than 15 times but SpaceX is currently in the process of extending the 15 flight certification to 20 as they prove the reusability capabilities of the Falcon 9.

And that's not all.  They continue to totally redefine the world’s access to space.

Last night, the Ax-2 crew returned to splashdown near Panama City Beach, Florida, capping their visit to the ISS for Axiom Space.  In last Thursday's Rocket Report, Eric Berger added this historical note. 

For SpaceX, this was its 10th human space mission since the Demo-2 flight for NASA that launched in May 2020. In less than three years, the company has now put 38 people into orbit. Of these, 26 were professional astronauts from NASA and its international partners, including Russia; eight were on Axiom missions, and four on Jared Isaacman's Inspiration4 orbital free-flyer mission. Isaacman is due to make a second private flight on board Dragon, Polaris Dawn, later this year. In just three years, SpaceX has become the world's most prolific provider of orbital human spaceflight. The company now flies more people into orbit annually than the rest of the world combined.

Dragon Freedom, after splashdown last night (5/30), upper right, next to the recovery ship with a really photogenic light display on the top of the ship.  I don't believe Dragons are capable of landing on the ships so I don't really know why the lights are arranged like that - unless they're used for aircraft or maybe even the Dragon itself to help determine where to aim.  SpaceX photo via Twitter.  Just because it's a cool picture.



9 comments:

  1. Relatively certain that the lights are for a helipad. Good way to medivac people out if needed due to problems before/during landing among other uses.

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    1. D'oh! Thanks!

      For some reason, I didn't even think of that. Yeah, a helicopter lands on the recovery ship pretty soon after the crew is out of the Dragon, to take them to the next stop. I'm not sure if it's Eglin Air Force Base or the Pensacola Naval Air Station - both are close to where they landed (and to each other). From there, they fly to Houston pretty much ending the mission.

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  2. Yep, a helopad. But it also satisfies the need to meet the "Rule of Cool."

    I mean, anyone can have a helopad outlined in white lights. But SpaceX makes it look like some SciFi version of a countergrav landing pad, like in Blade Runner or something.

    And, yes, SpaceX is redefining Space Lauch every day.

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    1. I'm thinking a scene out of TRON.

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  3. Every time that I get depressed from the constant drumbeating of how our country is falling apart, the future is bleak, and the handbasket we are in is picking up speed, I come across something like this and say "Yeah, this country is still doing stuff that nobody else in the world can match".

    Thanks for keeping us posted on this stuff,

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    1. Yeah, as screwed up as we are, we're still the first place anyone comes to, and we're pretty much tops on cool usage of tech.

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    2. This is precisely why I watch what's going on in Boca Chica every day.

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  4. SpaceX manages to do things with flair and panache. Even Bozos' ain't got that swing!

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  5. Nearly 200 flights. Amazing. Imagine if we'd had him in the 1970s . . .

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