{"id":14005,"date":"2018-02-06T19:52:53","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T11:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/launch-timeline-for-falcon-heavys-maiden-flight\/"},"modified":"2018-02-06T19:52:53","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T11:52:53","slug":"launch-timeline-for-falcon-heavys-maiden-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/launch-timeline-for-falcon-heavys-maiden-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch timeline for Falcon Heavy\u2019s maiden flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

SpaceX\u2019s first Falcon Heavy rocket is set for liftoff Tuesday from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the heavy-lift launcher will head on an easterly course over the Atlantic Ocean atop nearly 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 between 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT) at 4 p.m. EST (2100 gMT) Tuesday during a 150-minute launch window.<\/p>\n

SpaceX will attempt to place a test payload \u2014 Elon Musk\u2019s road-worn Tesla sports car \u2014 on an Earth escape trajectory into heliocentric orbit around the sun.<\/p>\n

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

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

Elon Musk tweeted a graphic Tuesday illustrating the various launch and descent maneuvers planned on today\u2019s Falcon Heavy demo flight, including recovery attempts for the three first stage boosters and payload fairing.<\/p>\n

The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon Heavy\u2019s inaugural flight. A final Earth departure maneuver by the Falcon Heavy\u2019s upper stage is planned around six hours after liftoff to send the Tesla Roadster on a path into the solar system.<\/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 side boosters to ignite at T-minus 5 seconds, following by start-up of the nine engines on the core stage at T-minus 3 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+0:01:06: Max Q<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:02:29: 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+0:02:33: 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+0:02:50: 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+0:03:04: MECO<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:03:07: Stage Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:03:15: 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+0:03:24: Center Core Begins Boostback Burn<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon Heavy\u2019s center booster reignites three of its engines to begin its descent to SpaceX\u2019s drone ship \u201cOf Course I Still Love You\u201d in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:03:49: 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+0:06:41: 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+0:06:47: Center Core Begins Entry Burn<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:07:58: Side Booster Landing<\/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+0:08:19: 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+0:08:31: 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 Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla Roadster sports car \u2014 begin a coast phase scheduled to nearly 20 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:28:22: 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+0:28:52: SECO 2<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to raise its orbit, beginning a final six-hour coast before the upper stage engine ignites for a third time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

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

SpaceX\u2019s first Falcon Heavy rocket is set for liftoff Tuesday from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the heavy-lift launcher will head on an easterly course over the Atlantic Ocean atop nearly 5 million pounds of thrust. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is poised for launch from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in […]<\/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":[291,1045,678,3036,428,25,1702,2206],"class_list":["post-14005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-elon-musk","tag-falcon-heavy","tag-falcon-heavy-demo-flight","tag-kennedy-space-center","tag-launch","tag-launch-pad-39a","tag-launch-timeline"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14005"}],"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=14005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}