{"id":14757,"date":"2017-03-30T23:46:54","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T15:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-ses-10\/"},"modified":"2017-03-30T23:46:54","modified_gmt":"2017-03-30T15:46:54","slug":"falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-ses-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-ses-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcon 9 launch timeline with SES 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday evening, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the SES 10 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 6:27 p.m. EDT (2227 GMT) Thursday at the opening of a 150-minute launch window.<\/p>\n

Perched atop the rocket is the SES 10 communications satellite, a spacecraft made by Airbus Defense and Space, ready to beam television programming and data services across Latin America. The rocket will place the satellite into a high-altitude geosynchronous transfer orbit.<\/p>\n

The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon 9 flight with SES 10, SpaceX\u2019s first 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
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 1.7 million pounds of thrust.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:01:22: Max Q<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:02:38: MECO<\/b><\/p>\n

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

T+0:02:41: 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+0:02:49: 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 SES 10 into a preliminary parking orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:03:49: 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+0:08:32: 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+0:08:34: 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 SES 10 begin a coast phase scheduled to last nearly 18 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:26:29: Second Ignition of Second Stage<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s second stage Merlin engine restarts to propel the SES 10 communications satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:27:22: SECO 2<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to put the SES 10 satellite in the proper orbit for deployment. The on-board computer will target an orbit with a low point of 135 miles (218 kilometers), a high point of 22,002 miles (35,410 kilometers), and an inclination of 26.2 degrees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:32:03: SES 10 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The SES 10 satellite separates from the Falcon 9 rocket in a geostationary 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 Thursday evening, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the SES 10 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 6:27 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":[1657,3353,1819,291,1573,2164,479,428],"class_list":["post-14757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-airbus-defense-and-space","tag-asds","tag-brazil","tag-commercial-space","tag-drone-ship","tag-eurostar-e3000","tag-falcon-9","tag-kennedy-space-center"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14757"}],"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=14757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}