{"id":14303,"date":"2017-10-03T00:53:41","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T16:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/previously-flown-falcon-9-booster-test-fired-for-weekend-launch\/"},"modified":"2017-10-03T00:53:41","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T16:53:41","slug":"previously-flown-falcon-9-booster-test-fired-for-weekend-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/previously-flown-falcon-9-booster-test-fired-for-weekend-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Previously-flown Falcon 9 booster test-fired for weekend launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket is test-fired Monday at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX test-fired a reused Falcon 9 booster Monday at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, checking the rocket\u2019s readiness for a planned liftoff Saturday with an Airbus-built commercial communications satellite.<\/p>\n

The two-stage rocket, featuring a previously-flown first stage booster, fired its nine Merlin 1D main engines for several seconds at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT). The engines throttled up to full power, generating around 1.7 million pounds of thrust, while the rocket remained firmly on the ground.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s launch team loaded super-chilled RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen propellant into the Falcon 9 launcher in the final hour of the mock countdown. The Falcon 9\u2019s tanks were pressurized just before ignition of the rocket\u2019s nine Merlin 1D first stage main engines.<\/p>\n

The engines fired for several seconds while hold-down restraints keep the Falcon 9 rocket firmly grounded at pad 39A.<\/p>\n

SpaceX tweeted shortly after the hotfire that the test was completed.<\/p>\n

SpaceX uses the customary prelaunch test-firings to check out the readiness of the Falcon 9 rocket, ground systems and launch team. Once the static fire is completed, ground crews will return the Falcon 9 rocket to its nearby assembly hangar at the southern perimeter of pad 39A for attachment of its satellite payload.<\/p>\n

The commercial SES 11\/EchoStar 105 communications satellite, made by Airbus Defense and Space, has been fueled and readied for launch at Cape Canaveral since arriving from its factory in Toulouse, France, last month.<\/p>\n

The satellite is heading toward an operating perch in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator at 105 degrees west longitude. SES 11\/EchoStar 105 will support video distribution and TV broadcasts over the North America during its mission.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 rocket is set for launch at 6:53 p.m. EDT (2253 GMT) Saturday, Oct. 7, at the opening of a two-hour launch window.<\/p>\n

It will be the 14th Falcon 9 flight of the year, a record pace of launch activity for SpaceX, and the 42nd launch of a Falcon 9 rocket overall.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s launch will fly with a reused Falcon 9 first stage booster, the third time SpaceX has used a previously-flown stage on an orbital launch. The first stage made its first flight Feb. 19 during the launch of a space station cargo ship, then landed at Cape Canaveral a few minutes later.<\/p>\n

The first stage on Saturday\u2019s launch will descend to a touchdown on SpaceX\u2019s floating rocket landing platform in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

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

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

SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket is test-fired Monday at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX test-fired a reused Falcon 9 booster Monday at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, checking the rocket\u2019s readiness for a planned liftoff Saturday with an Airbus-built commercial communications satellite. The two-stage rocket, featuring a previously-flown first stage booster, […]<\/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":[1657,291,3156,3157,2164,479,428,1702],"class_list":["post-14303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-airbus-defense-and-space","tag-commercial-space","tag-echostar","tag-echostar-105","tag-eurostar-e3000","tag-falcon-9","tag-kennedy-space-center","tag-launch-pad-39a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14303"}],"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=14303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}