{"id":14517,"date":"2017-06-24T00:11:01","date_gmt":"2017-06-23T16:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-bulgariasat-1\/"},"modified":"2017-06-24T00:11:01","modified_gmt":"2017-06-23T16:11:01","slug":"falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-bulgariasat-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-bulgariasat-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcon 9 launch timeline with BulgariaSat 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Friday afternoon, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the BulgariaSat 1 communications satellite into orbit 35 minutes later.<\/p>\n

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is poised for launch from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:10 p.m. EDT (1810 GMT) Friday at the opening of a two-hour launch window.<\/p>\n

Perched atop the rocket is the BulgariaSat 1 communications satellite, a spacecraft made by Space Systems\/Loral, ready to beam television programming across Bulgaria and neighboring countries in the Balkans. The rocket will place the satellite into a high-altitude \u201csupersynchronous\u201d transfer orbit.<\/p>\n

The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon 9 flight with BulgariaSat 1, SpaceX\u2019s second launch with a previously-flown first stage booster.<\/p>\n

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

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

\"\"
After the rocket\u2019s nine Merlin engines pass an automated health check, hold-down clamps will release the Falcon 9 booster for liftoff from pad 39A.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:01:10: Mach 1<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound, as the nine Merlin 1D engines provide more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:01:19: Max Q<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:36: MECO<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:02:40: Stage 1 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:02:47: First Ignition of Second Stage<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for a nearly 6-minute burn to put the rocket and BulgariaSat 1 into a preliminary parking orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:03:40: 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:06:19: 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+0:08:31: Stage 1 Landing<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage booster touches down on SpaceX\u2019s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:08:38: SECO 1<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket shuts down after reaching a preliminary low-altitude orbit. The upper stage and BulgariaSat 1 begin a coast phase scheduled to last more than 18 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:27:08: Second Ignition of Second Stage<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s second stage Merlin engine restarts to propel the BulgariaSat 1 communications satellite into a supersynchronous transfer orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:28:13: SECO 2<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to put the BulgariaSat 1 satellite in the proper orbit for deployment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:34:55: BulgariaSat 1 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The BulgariaSat 1 satellite separates from the Falcon 9 rocket in a supersynchronous transfer 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":"

SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Friday afternoon, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the BulgariaSat 1 communications satellite into orbit 35 minutes later. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is poised for launch from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:10 p.m. EDT […]<\/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":[2955,3264,3265,291,479,3269,428,25],"class_list":["post-14517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-bulgaria","tag-bulgariasat","tag-bulgariasat-1","tag-commercial-space","tag-falcon-9","tag-iridium-next-mission-1","tag-kennedy-space-center","tag-launch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14517"}],"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=14517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}