{"id":13247,"date":"2019-04-11T00:43:20","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T16:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/launch-timeline-for-falcon-heavys-second-flight\/"},"modified":"2019-04-11T00:43:20","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T16:43:20","slug":"launch-timeline-for-falcon-heavys-second-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/launch-timeline-for-falcon-heavys-second-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch timeline for Falcon Heavy\u2019s second flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated after SpaceX scrubbed Wednesday\u2019s launch attempt.<\/strong><\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s second Falcon Heavy rocket is set for liftoff Thursday from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the heavy-lift launcher will head on an easterly course over the Atlantic Ocean atop more than 5 million pounds of thrust.<\/p>\n

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is poised for launch from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a launch window Thursday that opens at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT) and closes at 8:31 p.m. EDT (0031 GMT).<\/p>\n

The payload mounted atop the Falcon Heavy rocket is Arabsat 6A, a communications satellite built by Lockheed Martin for Arabsat, an operator based in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Read our Mission Status Center for live coverage of the countdown and launch.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The graphic above illustrates the paths of the Falcon Heavy\u2019s two side boosters, center core stage, and second stage during the rocket\u2019s launch and landing operations. Four different components of the Falcon Heavy will follow trajectories toward different landing zones, or toward Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon Heavy\u2019s second mission \u2014 and first commercial flight.<\/p>\n

Data source: SpaceX<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

\"\"
The Falcon Heavy\u2019s engine controllers will command nine Merlin 1D engines on each of the rocket\u2019s three first stage boosters to ignite at T-minus 2 seconds. Hold-down clamps will open to release the Falcon Heavy from launch pad 39A as the countdown clock reaches zero, once the vehicle passes an automated health check.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:01:09: Max Q<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon Heavy rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:30: BECO<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Merlin 1D engines on the two side boosters shut down a few seconds before booster separation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:34: Booster Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The two 15-story-tall side boosters separate from the Falcon Heavy rocket to begin their descent back to Cape Canaveral.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:51: Side Cores Begin Boostback Burn<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
After flipping around to fly tail-first, the Falcon Heavy\u2019s two side boosters each reignite three of their engines to begin their return to Cape Canaveral for landing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:03:31: MECO<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:03:35: Stage Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:03:42: First Ignition of Second Stage<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for a five-minute burn to put the rocket and its payload into a preliminary parking orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:04:07: Fairing Jettison<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The 5.2-meter (17.1-foot) diameter payload fairing jettisons once the Falcon Heavy 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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:06:11: Side Boosters Begin Entry Burn<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon Heavy\u2019s two side boosters reignite a subset of their Merlin engines for an entry burn prior to touchdown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:07:00: Center Core Begins Entry Burn<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon Heavy\u2019s center core stage begins its entry burn targeting SpaceX\u2019s drone ship \u201cOf Course I Still Love You\u201d in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:07:51: Side Booster Landings<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon Heavy\u2019s two side boosters touch down at Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:08:48: SECO 1<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The second stage of the Falcon Heavy rocket shuts down after reaching a preliminary low-altitude orbit. The upper stage and and its payload \u2014 the Arabsat 6A communications satellite \u2014 begin a coast phase scheduled to nearly 19 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:09:48: Center Core Landing<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon Heavy\u2019s central core stage touches down on \u201cOf Course I Still Love You,\u201d SpaceX\u2019s drone ship positioned a few hundred miles east of Cape Canaveral in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:27:34: Second Ignition of Second Stage<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon Heavy\u2019s second stage Merlin engine restarts to head into a higher orbit around Earth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:29:00: SECO 2<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to inject the Arabsat 6A communications satellite into a supersynchronous transfer orbit ranging between 124 miles (200 kilometers) and 55,923 miles (90,000 kilometers) in altitude, with an inclination of 23 degrees to the equator.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:34:02: Arabsat 6A Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The 14,252-pound (6,465-kilogram) Arabsat 6A communications satellite separates from the Falcon Heavy rocket into an elliptical supersynchronous transfer orbit, on the way to a perch in geostationary orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

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

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated after SpaceX scrubbed Wednesday\u2019s launch attempt. SpaceX\u2019s second Falcon Heavy rocket is set for liftoff Thursday from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the heavy-lift launcher will head on an easterly course over the Atlantic Ocean atop more than 5 million pounds of thrust. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is poised for launch […]<\/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":[2301,1589,2671,291,678,428,25,1702],"class_list":["post-13247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-a2100","tag-arabsat","tag-arabsat-6a","tag-commercial-space","tag-falcon-heavy","tag-kennedy-space-center","tag-launch","tag-launch-pad-39a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13247"}],"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=13247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}