{"id":38305,"date":"2018-09-05T23:11:22","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/falcon-9-booster-fires-up-as-astronauts-visit-spacex-fleet\/"},"modified":"2018-09-05T23:11:22","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:11:22","slug":"falcon-9-booster-fires-up-as-astronauts-visit-spacex-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/falcon-9-booster-fires-up-as-astronauts-visit-spacex-fleet\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcon 9 booster fires up as astronauts visit SpaceX Fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX has successfully static fired its latest Falcon 9 booster ahead of what was to be a weekend launch \u2013 prior to a 24 hour slip to allow for additional checkouts \u2013 from Cape Canaveral. The test was conducted as SpaceX\u2019s astronaut corp was visiting the company\u2019s fleet of ships at Port Canaveral.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is returning to launch action after the successful lofting of the&nbsp;Merah Putih nearly a month ago.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Falcon 9 Vantage 18V UPDATES<\/li>\n<li>SpaceX Missions Section<\/li>\n<li>L2 SpaceX Section<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The latest SpaceX mission \u2013 with the Telstar&nbsp;18 Vantage satellite \u2013 involves a new Block 5 booster,&nbsp;B1049.1, which is set to follow in the footsteps of another Block 5 that launched Telstar 19 Vantage in July.<\/p>\n<p>Telstar 18 Vantage\/Apstar-5C was set to launch last month. However, due to unspecified reasons \u2013 likely relating to the satellite\u2019s readiness \u2013 the launch was pushed out to its latest target, which is September 8, with the four-hour window opening at&nbsp;23:28 EDT.<\/p>\n<p>However, this launch date has slipped again, albeit for just 24 hours to the 9th.<\/p>\n<p>The Static Fire test \u2013 a required full dress rehearsal for the rocket, pad systems and launch control teams \u2013 was conducted at the opening of Wednesday\u2019s test window at 10 AM local time.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX confirmed the test was successful \u2013 per what they call a \u201cQuick Look\u201d review that mainly checks the performance of the nine Merlin 1D engines during the short firing sequence \u2013&nbsp;allowing the company to tweet confirmation of the launch date.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1037349185966751744&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2018%2F09%2Ffalcon-9-fires-up-astronauts-spacex-fleet%2F&amp;sessionId=171154f370f930717c880fb3ab224587763aa35c&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1037349185966751744\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783498399667788367=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">F9\/Telstar18V: SpaceX confirms a good hot fire test today of a Falcon 9 rocket at CCAFS pad 40; launch of Telstar 18V targeted for 11:28pm EDT Saturday; here&#8217;s an iPhone view of hotfire test from 10 miles away pic.twitter.com\/KFKilx2ZYS<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 William Harwood (@cbs_spacenews) September 5, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>NASA educational resources<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Spaceflight history books<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Space Shuttle models<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>\n<p>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n<p>Per the post-test flow, the booster is then detanked and rolled back to the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) at SLC-40 for payload integration. Notable, the booster was still vertical on SLC-40 as of Friday morning, before finally returning to a horizontal position for rollback after around 9 AM local. This may have been related to the additional checkouts.<\/p>\n<p>A Launch Readiness Review (LRR) will be conducted around 24 hours ahead of the launch window providing the final green light to rollout&nbsp;the integrated rocket and prepare for the launch countdown events.<\/p>\n<p>This will be another heavy payload for the Falcon 9, with the mass classed as 7,060 kg. However, this is slightly less than its Vantage 19V sister satellite.<\/p>\n<p>Telstar 18V telecommunications satellite is based on SSL\u2019s 1300 platform and is expected to have a service life of 15 years.<\/p>\n<p>The booster still has enough performance to return for a landing on the drone ship \u201cOf Course I Still Love You\u201d which was seen departing Port Canaveral on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-2\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-2&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1037075590766047234&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2018%2F09%2Ffalcon-9-fires-up-astronauts-spacex-fleet%2F&amp;sessionId=171154f370f930717c880fb3ab224587763aa35c&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1037075590766047234\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783498399667788367=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">@SpaceXFleet My roommate (@Kraken_Brad) just sent me this from Fishlips. #OCISLY movin out! pic.twitter.com\/QE0ObV9i79<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Stephen Marr (@spacecoast_stve) September 4, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It will take up station downrange from the Cape, ready to \u201ccatch\u201d the returning booster, which will be secured on deck by a robot nicknamed \u201cOctaGrabber\u201c. The booster will be returned to Port for recovery processing ahead of being assigned a future flight.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, there was some additional excitement at Port Canaveral on Wednesday when the SpaceX astronaut corp was spotted taking a tour around SpaceX\u2019s large amount of ships.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-57929\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57929\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/2018-09-05-192650.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1543\" height=\"877\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/2018-09-05-192650.jpg 1543w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/2018-09-05-192650-350x199.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/2018-09-05-192650-616x350.jpg 616w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/2018-09-05-192650-768x437.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/2018-09-05-192650-1170x665.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1543px) 100vw, 1543px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-57929\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX astronauts touring the SpaceX fleet \u2013 photos by Julia Bergeron<\/p>\n<p>The crew \u2013 recently selected and presented at a flagship NASA event \u2013 are set to launch on Dragon 2 spacecraft starting next year.<\/p>\n<p>The first mission (DM-2) is highly likely to be the first crewed mission to take place on American vehicles since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The SpaceX fleet at Port Canaveral will be involved with the recovery of Dragon 2 at the conclusion of the mission, along with the recovery of the Falcon 9 booster that will be utilized to loft the spacecraft on launch day. The Dragon also has the option to splashdown into the Pacific, as such using the West Coast SpaceX fleet, as is the situation with Cargo Dragon returns.<\/p>\n<p>The East Coast fleet will also be used to recover the SpaceX astronauts in the event of a problem either before (via a pad abort) \u2013 or shortly after \u2013 (via an in-flight abort) \u2013 launch. Both scenarios result in the Dragon 2 aborting to an Atlantic ocean splashdown.<\/p>\n<p>Go Searcher and Go Navigator would be likely contenders to play a role in such a recovery, with both ships now sporting similar appearances, thanks to a fresh application of paint.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-3\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-3&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1037392872704749569&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2018%2F09%2Ffalcon-9-fires-up-astronauts-spacex-fleet%2F&amp;sessionId=171154f370f930717c880fb3ab224587763aa35c&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1037392872704749569\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783498399667788367=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I spy an almost complete paint job on Go Searcher. What else did I see when I visited Port Canaveral today? You&#8217;ll have to wait for @NASASpaceflight to put out the article. #SpaceXFleet #SpaceX pic.twitter.com\/cVhhG5R37G<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Julia Bergeron (@julia_bergeron) September 5, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The \u201cGo\u201d ships hosted the astronauts during the tour, although due to the earlier departure of OCISLY to head to its booster recovery position for the weekend\u2019s mission, the crew missed out on meeting the East Coast Drone Ship and its booster grabbing robot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX has successfully static fired its latest Falcon 9 booster ahead of what was to be a weekend launch \u2013 prior to a 24 hour slip to allow for additional checkouts \u2013 from Cape Canaveral. The test was conducted as SpaceX\u2019s astronaut corp was visiting the company\u2019s fleet of ships at Port Canaveral. SpaceX is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38306,"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":[3353,479,675,316],"class_list":["post-38305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-asds","tag-falcon-9","tag-slc-40","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38305"}],"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=38305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}