WATCH REPLAY: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket Return-To-Flight Launch Goes Without a Hitch
By Space Coast Daily // January 14, 2017
first stage booster PERFECT LANDING AT SEA
ABOVE VIDEO: SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, marking the company’s return-to-flight after the Sept. 1 explosion destroyed a rocket and its payload at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, marking the company’s return-to-first after the Sept. 1 explosion destroyed a rocket and its payload at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying 10 Iridium communications satellites blasted off at 12:54 p.m. ET.
The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster added to the success of this launch as it made a perfect return landing at sea on the droneship.
First stage has landed on Just Read the Instructions pic.twitter.com/W0EoLaO4YR
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 14, 2017
SpaceX is planning six more launches for this year, which will replace all satellites in the current Iridium constellation network by early 2018.
This return-to-flight launch is big for SpaceX, after a fiery explosion destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket on the pad during a static test firing on Sept. 1, 2016 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Sation’s Space Launch Complex 40.
A post-accident SpaceX investigation revealed the cause of the Falcon 9 explosion was that one of three composite overwrapped pressure vessels in the second stage tank failed.
The reason was a buckled liner that caused liquid oxygen to build up. The buildup of liquid oxygen, friction, and a spark led to an explosion that destroyed the rocket.
SpaceX’s investigation scoured 93 milliseconds of video and telemetry data, which was the amount of time between the first signs of trouble and when the second stage exploded and destroyed a satellite owned by Facebook.
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