{"id":13151,"date":"2019-06-12T17:55:50","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T09:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/timeline-of-the-falcon-9-rockets-launch-of-the-radarsat-constellation-mission\/"},"modified":"2019-06-12T17:55:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T09:55:50","slug":"timeline-of-the-falcon-9-rockets-launch-of-the-radarsat-constellation-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/timeline-of-the-falcon-9-rockets-launch-of-the-radarsat-constellation-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Timeline of the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s launch of the Radarsat Constellation Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s ascent to orbit with three Earth observation satellites for Canada\u2019s Radarsat Constellation Mission.<\/p>\n

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket will lift off Wednesday at 7:17 a.m. PDT (10:17 a.m. EDT; 1417 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Falcon 9\u2019s first stage booster, which previously completed a launch and landing in March, will return for a propulsive touchdown at Vandenberg around eight minutes later.<\/p>\n

Data source: SpaceX<\/p>\n

T-0:00:00: Liftoff<\/b><\/p>\n

\"After
After the rocket\u2019s nine Merlin 1D engines pass an automated health check, the Falcon 9 is released from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:01:03: Max-Q<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure. The first stage\u2019s nine Merlin 1D engines produce about 1.7 million pounds of thrust.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:13: MECO<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:17: Stage 1 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:24: Stage 2 Ignition<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for an approximately 6-minute burn to inject the Radarsat Constellation Mission satellites into a parking orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:48: Fairing Jettison<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The 5.2-meter (17.1-foot) diameter payload fairing jettisons once the Falcon 9 rocket ascends through the dense lower atmosphere. The 43-foot-tall fairing is made of two clamshell-like halves composed of carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb core. The fairing halves will deploy parafoils for a controlled descent into the Pacific Ocean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:03:18: Stage 1 Boost-back Burn Complete<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A subset of the Falcon 9\u2019s engines ignited to help the rocket reverse course and target a landing on Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:06:04: Stage 1 Entry Burn<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A subset of the first stage\u2019s Merlin 1D engines ignite for an entry burn to slow down for landing. A final landing burn will occur just before touchdown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:07:53: Stage 1 Landing<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage booster touches down on Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:08:28: SECO 1<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin 1D vacuum engine turns off after placing the Radarsat satellites in a temporary parking orbit, beginning at 42-minute coast in space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:50:08: Stage 2 Restart<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s second stage engine ignites again for a 4-second burn to circularize its orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:50:12: SECO 2<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin 1D vacuum engine shuts down after reaching a target orbit about 373 miles (600 kilometers) high with an inclination of 97.7 degrees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:54:43: RCM 1 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The first of the 3,152-pound (1,430-kilogram) Radarsat Constellation Mission satellites separates from a specially-designed dispenser on the Falcon 9\u2019s upper stage produced by Ruag Space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:58:24: RCM 2 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The second of the Radarsat Constellation Mission satellites deploys from the Falcon 9 rocket.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+1:02:13: RCM 3 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The last of the three Radarsat Constellation Mission satellites deploys from the Falcon 9 rocket.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s ascent to orbit with three Earth observation satellites for Canada\u2019s Radarsat Constellation Mission. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket will lift off Wednesday at 7:17 a.m. PDT (10:17 a.m. EDT; 1417 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Falcon 9\u2019s first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[584,880,159,479,685,25,2206,1084],"class_list":["post-13151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-canada","tag-canadian-space-agency","tag-earth-observation","tag-falcon-9","tag-landing-zone-4","tag-launch","tag-launch-timeline","tag-maxar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}