SpaceX Pull Off Yet Another Booster Return
24/7/2016
This single time exposure of the SpaceX July 18 2016 CSR-9 mission captures the Falcon 9 rocket's booster-stage flight.
The mission was to lift their Dragon cargo spacecraft to orbit, via the rocket's 2nd stage, to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. The bright streaks are all from the engines of the booster stage. Only three of the four burns needed for the flight are captured. First and brightest is the long arc of the launch burn of all three engines, penetrating the thin layer of cloud cover about halfway up, and ending just before the second stage (not in frame) separates and carries on with the task of hefting the Dragon capsule to orbit. The second, boostback burn, required to re-direct the booster's flight back towards the landing site at Cape Canaveral, is not in frame either. It takes place after nitrogen thrusters flip the booster to set the direction of the burn. The third, reentry burn, is the short streak at top of frame. It is a braking burn of all 3 engines, although the booster is still descending at 3x the speed of sound afterwards. The fourth, landing burn, at lower right, uses only one engine, and ends with a soft touchdown at a max speed of 6m/s. (At 3.6 km/h, this is slower than car bumper protection spec of 8 km/h!) |
As I have said before, it is this consistent repetition
of a return and soft landing, making re-use of the booster possible,
that is SpaceX's remarkable and admirable achievement.
They are not perfect by any means.
This is the second of only two ground pad landings attempted so far, both successful.
So far this year drone ship landings are at 3 failures and 3 successes, in order, F F S S S F.
Update 16/02/2024: - See update video below for the current state of affairs.
of a return and soft landing, making re-use of the booster possible,
that is SpaceX's remarkable and admirable achievement.
They are not perfect by any means.
This is the second of only two ground pad landings attempted so far, both successful.
So far this year drone ship landings are at 3 failures and 3 successes, in order, F F S S S F.
Update 16/02/2024: - See update video below for the current state of affairs.
At left is shown a schematic diagram of the whole sequence from launch to landing, although it shows a drone ship landing, rather than this mission's spaceport ground pad landing. Click to embiggen. |
Video of the launch and landing
Video below cued to 15:00, just before liftoff.
At 17:55 you can see the rocket pass through the cloud cover visible in the picture above.
At 24:58 is the rapid deceleration at landing, only 8 minutes & 18 secs after liftoff.
I am puzzled as to why neither the video nor the picture show the boostback burn.
Conspiracy theorists have an opening here!
At 17:55 you can see the rocket pass through the cloud cover visible in the picture above.
At 24:58 is the rapid deceleration at landing, only 8 minutes & 18 secs after liftoff.
I am puzzled as to why neither the video nor the picture show the boostback burn.
Conspiracy theorists have an opening here!
360 Pan video, click & hold then drag the mouse to point
Update 16/02/2024: - Below is a great piece of telescope work following the whole of the launch, MECO, stage separation, boostback burn, re-entry burn and landing burn sequence of Falcon 9 Flight No. 298, 14 February 2024.
Booster model: F9 Block 5
Booster name: B1078. This was its 7th launch, previous launch was 73 days ago
Payload: USSF-124 (2 HBTSS and 4 SDA Tranche 0 Tracking Layer satellites)
Launch site: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Space Launch Complex 40.
Booster model: F9 Block 5
Booster name: B1078. This was its 7th launch, previous launch was 73 days ago
Payload: USSF-124 (2 HBTSS and 4 SDA Tranche 0 Tracking Layer satellites)
Launch site: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Space Launch Complex 40.