With a busy year already in the books, the Eastern and Western Ranges in the United States are readying for the next salvo of missions from SpaceX and United Launch Alliance following a stand down of launch operations to provide time for maintenance. Specifically for the Eastern Range, the stand down period allowed the Air Force to complete more than 70 operations that will enable the Range to maintain its commitment and support to its users.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Eastern Range maintenance and stand down:<\/b><\/p>\n
While not usually visible to the public, this year\u2019s first semi-annual multi-day stand down period on the Eastern Range became a much more noticeable affair thanks to SpaceX\u2019s rapid fire pace of missions which from 1 May through 5 July averaged an impressive one launch every two weeks off of LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-06-29-195207-350x231.jpg\")
With this rapid pace of missions, the last month has been a newly strange time on the Eastern Range with a total launch drought of 39 days (assuming a 13 August launch of SpaceX\u2019s CRS-12 mission to the Space Station) seeming like a time of \u201cnothing\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, that could not be further from the truth.<\/p>\n
While part of the launch drought is due to pacing and mission order, with United Launch Alliance\u2019s (ULA\u2019s) and NASA\u2019s TDRS-M mission delaying from 3 Aug, the stand down period \u2013 known as recapitalization \u2013 was initiated by the U.S. Air Force and the Eastern Range itself so that critical maintenance work could be performed on Range assets.<\/p>\n
\u201cEastern Range recapitalization is used as a predictable pause in operations for range users and the range itself so we can perform semi-annual maintenance requirements encompassing critical engineering projects, more intrusive maintenance actions and infrastructure work,\u201d said Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing Commander.<\/p>\n
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring recapitalization, we can perform maintenance and sustainment actions not possible during our busy launch schedule that includes not only launches, but daily pre-launch major milestone operations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe planning process is collaborative in nature and includes all range users in determining the dates for range closure.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/45th-space-wing-350x350.jpg\")
This collaborative nature became a prime talking point for those eagerly following the Intelsat 35e launch by SpaceX in July.<\/p>\n
An initial launch attempt on 2 July was halted by a faulty ground computer at T-9 seconds \u2013 pushing the next attempt to 3 July.<\/p>\n
When that attempt was stopped by the same ground computer at T-9 seconds again, SpaceX opted to forgo a launch attempt on 4 July in favor of additional testing of the ground computer to ensure the issue didn\u2019t repeat a third time.<\/p>\n
This caused some to wonder when the hard cutoff for Range down time was and how far into July SpaceX could continue to attempt to launch Intelsat 35e. <\/p>\n
In the end, the 5 July attempt was a success, and according to Brig. Gen. Monteith, the range down period began the very next day.<\/p>\n
![](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Maj.-Gen.-Monteith-e1490027922437.jpg\")
\u201cThe first Eastern Range recapitalization period of 2017 was conducted July 6-18. More than 70 planned tasks were accomplished 26% quicker as opposed to working these items around an \u2018active range,\u2019\u201d noted the Brig. Gen.<\/p>\n
Of the work performed in the 12-day stand down period of recapitalization, some of these efforts included work to the Range Communications Facility Corridor Military Construction and replacing the uninterruptable power supply at the Falcon launch support facility.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the Digital Range Communications Switch enhancement projects and server re-host for the 45th weather squadron were also completed. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis period also allowed us to focus on maintaining Cape Canaveral Air Force Station infrastructure as well as training and testing our crews so we can continue keeping pace with our high launch ops tempo,\u201d notes Brig. Gen. Monteith.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_5725-350x233.jpg\")
This work is not only necessary to the continued smooth operation of the Range, but also represents a concerted effort to avoid unanticipated issues and outages at the Range.<\/p>\n
\u201cRange recap has proven successful in our ability to plan longer periodic, more intrusive, maintenance and sustainment projects on a stable schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only does range recap allow us to take care of our mission critical assets, but it supports Air Force Space Command\u2019s commitment to sustaining the world\u2019s premier spaceport of choice as our team drives to executing 48 launches a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The semi-annual maintenance ability to maintain Range readiness was seen last year with 2016 being the \u201chealthiest\u201d in range history at Cape Canaveral with 34 consecutive days of no significant instrumentation issues.<\/p>\n
Launch schedule shuffle:<\/b><\/p>\n
While the down period prevented SpaceX from launching missions, it did not stop them from getting some needed work accomplished at LC-39A \u2013 mainly fixing the ground computer that twice stopped the Intelsat 35e countdown and removing a significant portion of the no-longer-needed Shuttle era\u2019s RSS while prepping for their first mission following the Range closure.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/2017-06-01-140037-350x250.jpg\")
The CRS-12 flight, now scheduled to launch from LC-39A at 12:57 EDT on Sunday 13 August, will serve to end the 39 day launch drought in the U.S.<\/p>\n
In fact, SpaceX has advanced the CRS-12 launch date from 14 August and in turn has also advanced the static fire date from 9 to 8 August.<\/p>\n
The original mission that was to have been the first off the ground from the Range stand down was another NASA mission, TDRS-M. Up until last week, that was still the case, with TDRS-M originally maintaining its status as being more important \u2013 in terms of launch order \u2013 over CRS-12.<\/p>\n
However, when it became known that the replace and repair option for TDRS-M\u2019s omni S-band antenna would take 10 days longer than originally expected, with a launch not possible until at least 20 August, priority in the launch order shifted to CRS-12 \u2013 which at that point was targeting 14 August for launch.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-07-17-113648-350x270.jpg\")
With CRS-12 now at the top of the pecking order, SpaceX and NASA reviewed their schedules and determined it was possible to pull the mission one day back to the right to the 13th.<\/p>\n
Likewise, as TDRS-M repairs progressed, NASA realized that the craft would actually be ready by 18 August, not the 20th. However, the TDRS-M date remains \u201cUnder Review\u201d.<\/p>\n
With CRS-12 now set for 13 August and TDRS-M for 18 August, the knock on effect to the launch manifest began to bear out on both coasts.<\/p>\n
The first major shift occurred on the Western Range, with ULA having to move the 14 August scheduled launch of the NROL-42 mission by nearly a month to 11 September.<\/p>\n
The shift of NROL-42\u2019s launch on an Atlas V 541 from SLC-3E did not impact SpaceX\u2019s plan for the Formosat 5 satellite launch for Taiwan\u2019s National Space Organization \u2013 which held steady on its planned 24 August launch date.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Screen-Shot-2017-08-01-at-16.42.12-281x350.png\")
Back on the Eastern Range, the realignments of CRS-12 and TDRS-M did not have an effect on the Minotaur 4 launch on 25\/26 August with the U.S. military\u2019s Operationally Responsive Space program 5 mission, also called SensorSat.<\/p>\n
However, the first flight of the Air Force\u2019s X-37B spaceplane aboard the Falcon 9 did move from its 28 August target to 7 September \u2013 with processing notes acquired by L2 noting that the timeline to a 7 September launch is tight and had nothing to do with CRS-12\u2019s slip.<\/p>\n
However, exactly which pad OTV-5 will now launch from is unknown.<\/p>\n
Recent statements by Elon Musk of a planned November debut for SpaceX\u2019s heralded Falcon Heavy rocket point to SLC-40 being on track for an August completion \u2013 making a 7 September OTV-5 mission a contender for first flight from SLC-40 after the AMOS-6 static fire conflagration.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the pad OTV-5 uses, ULA is now expected to return on 25 September for the NROL-52 launch from the Cape, delayed in the wake of TDRS-M from 31 August.<\/p>\n
This will then be followed two days later by SpaceX\u2019s SES-11\/EchoStar 105 mission on 27 September.<\/p>\n
(Images: SpaceX, Air Force, NASA, and Chris Gebhardt and Brady Kennison for NASASpaceFlight.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With a busy year already in the books, the Eastern and Western Ranges in the United States are readying for the next salvo of missions from SpaceX and United Launch Alliance following a stand down of launch operations to provide time for maintenance. Specifically for the Eastern Range, the stand down period allowed the Air […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30244,"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":[7841,675,728,316,363],"class_list":["post-38751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-39a","tag-slc-40","tag-slc-41","tag-spacex","tag-ula"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38751"}],"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=38751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}