{"id":16407,"date":"2015-04-13T18:09:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T10:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-drone-ship-in-position-for-daring-rocket-landing\/"},"modified":"2015-04-13T18:09:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T10:09:00","slug":"spacex-drone-ship-in-position-for-daring-rocket-landing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-drone-ship-in-position-for-daring-rocket-landing\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX drone ship in position for daring rocket landing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated April 14 with Musk\u2019s comments, details<\/p>\n

\"SpaceX's
SpaceX\u2019s rocket landing platform \u2014 christened \u201cJust Read the Instructions \u2014 is on location in the Atlantic Ocean for Monday\u2019s launch. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Buoyed by lessons from past attempts and a forecast for calm seas, SpaceX engineers expect a good shot at landing a Falcon 9 booster on a stationary platform in the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

If the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage sticks the landing, it would mark SpaceX\u2019s biggest achievement yet in the company\u2019s long-held goal of making the launcher partially reusable.<\/p>\n

The launch \u2014 set for 4:10 p.m. EDT (2010 GMT) Tuesday \u2014 will send up 2.2 tons of supplies heading for the International Space Station, part of a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA covering 15 resupply missions through the end of 2017.<\/p>\n

The launch was delayed from Monday after the threat of lightning from a nearby thunderstorm forced an abort in the countdown.<\/p>\n

Scattered rain showers and clouds are forecast in the recovery zone 200 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, but seas are favorable with waves of four-six-feet.<\/p>\n

SpaceX plans to use the flight for another test of the rocket\u2019s descent system, a collection of technologies affixed to the booster including aerodynamic grid fins, variable thrust engines and four landing legs.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s launch marks the second time SpaceX has tried to recover a Falcon 9 first stage booster. Nearly everything worked the last time after a Jan. 10 launch, but the cylindrical rocket\u2019s stabilizing fins ran out of hydraulic steering fluid, causing the booster to topple over as it came in for landing on the specially-outfitted barge, which SpaceX calls an autonomous spaceport drone ship.<\/p>\n

Engineers added more fluid for subsequent launches, and SpaceX\u2019s chief engineer and vice president of mission assurance Hans Koenigsmann predicted better chance of recovering the rocket than the 50-50 odds he shared before previous attempts.<\/p>\n

\"SpaceX
SpaceX chief engineer and vice president of mission assurance Hans Koenigsmann (center) speaks during a press conference Sunday at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA\/Kim Shiflett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFour-to-six foot swells are nothing,\u201d Koenigsmann said. \u201cWe did also upgrade the drone ship so it can keep position better. We can tolerate a higher wind and swell level than previously.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX hoped to target a drone ship landing after a satellite launch in February, but the barge ran into technical snags and weather proved too severe for the vessel to handle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess together with the improvements on the vehicle\u2019s first stage and the improvements on the drone ship itself, I would up my probabiliy to 75 percent at this point in time,\u201d Koenigsmann told reporters Sunday. \u201cMaybe 80.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk was more circumspect. He predicted a 50 percent chance of landing successfully on Tuesday\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n