{"id":14621,"date":"2017-05-14T17:44:39","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T09:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-inmarsat-5-f4\/"},"modified":"2017-05-14T17:44:39","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T09:44:39","slug":"falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-inmarsat-5-f4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-inmarsat-5-f4\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcon 9 launch timeline with Inmarsat 5 F4"},"content":{"rendered":"

SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral early Thursday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the Inmarsat 5 F4 communications satellite into orbit 32 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 7:21 p.m. EDT (2321 GMT) Thursday at the opening of a 49-minute launch window.<\/p>\n

Perched atop the rocket is the Inmarsat 5 F4 communications satellite, a spacecraft made by Boeing, ready to join Inmarsat\u2019s Global Xpress network providing broadband connectivity to airline passengers and maritime crews. 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 Inmarsat 5 F4. On this mission, SpaceX does not plan to attempt a recovery of the rocket\u2019s first stage booster due to the high performance required to place the heavy Inmarsat 5 F4 spacecraft into a high-altitude orbit.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 does not carry landing legs or grid fins, which are not required for the expendable mission.<\/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+0:01:13: Mach 1<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound, as the nine Merlin 1D engines provide more than 1.5 million pounds of thrust.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:01:17: Max Q<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:02:45: MECO<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:02:49: 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+0:02:56: 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 Inmarsat 5 F4 into a preliminary parking orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:03:35: 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+0:08:38: 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 Inmarsat 5 F4 begin a coast phase scheduled to last more than 18 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:26:59: Second Ignition of Second Stage<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s second stage Merlin engine restarts to propel the Inmarsat 5 F4 communications satellite into a supersynchronous transfer orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:27:55: SECO 2<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to put the Inmarsat 5 F4 satellite in the proper orbit for deployment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:31:48: Inmarsat 5 F4 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Inmarsat 5 F4 satellite separates from the Falcon 9 rocket in a supersynchronous transfer orbit. Due to a decision to burn the second stage nearly to depletion, there is some slight uncertainty on the orbital parameters based on the exact performance of the launcher.<\/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 early Thursday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the Inmarsat 5 F4 communications satellite into orbit 32 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 7:21 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":[670,3294,291,479,3141,2607,3313,428],"class_list":["post-14621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boeing","tag-boeing-702hp","tag-commercial-space","tag-falcon-9","tag-global-xpress","tag-inmarsat","tag-inmarsat-5-f4","tag-kennedy-space-center"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14621"}],"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=14621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}