Heavy rocket Falcon Heavy successfully coped with the "most difficult" mission
Yesterday, June 25, a truly historic event took place for SpaceX Corporation. The super-heavy Falcon Heavy rocket launched 24 experimental satellites, one of which has an atomic clock, and 152 special capsules with the ashes of the dead (commissioned by Celestis Memorial Spaceflights, a company specializing in such services).
The joint mission with the U.S. Air Force, called Space Test Program-2, according to Elon Mask, is the most difficult in the entire history of the company, since this time a promising rocket will have to launch the aforementioned research vehicles into not one, but three different orbits. This will require multiple starts of the Merlin 1D engine installed in the second stage.
Initially, the launch from the site of the launch complex 39A of the Space Center. Kennedy (Florida, USA) was scheduled for 6.30 Moscow time, but then he was moved to 3 hours. A few minutes after takeoff, the side boosters separated from the rocket and successfully landed on the zones LZ-1 and LZ-2 prepared at the cosmodrome. You can’t say about the central block, which “missed” past the barge and fell into the water. According to sources, the failure to return the first stage may be associated with a record distance of the water platform from the cosmodrome, which this time amounted to 1240 km.
In addition to the successful launch of satellites into three different orbits, it is worth noting another significant event for SpaceX Corporation that occurred as part of this mission. For the first time in the company's history, they managed to catch one of the halves of the Falcon Heavy fairing in the network. The second was quickly removed from the water by the GO Navigator.
It is not yet known what condition both parts are in. However, it is worth noting that the possibility of reusing the head fairing of the rocket, the manufacture of which costs $ 6 million, will significantly reduce the cost of launches.
The joint mission with the U.S. Air Force, called Space Test Program-2, according to Elon Mask, is the most difficult in the entire history of the company, since this time a promising rocket will have to launch the aforementioned research vehicles into not one, but three different orbits. This will require multiple starts of the Merlin 1D engine installed in the second stage.
Initially, the launch from the site of the launch complex 39A of the Space Center. Kennedy (Florida, USA) was scheduled for 6.30 Moscow time, but then he was moved to 3 hours. A few minutes after takeoff, the side boosters separated from the rocket and successfully landed on the zones LZ-1 and LZ-2 prepared at the cosmodrome. You can’t say about the central block, which “missed” past the barge and fell into the water. According to sources, the failure to return the first stage may be associated with a record distance of the water platform from the cosmodrome, which this time amounted to 1240 km.
In addition to the successful launch of satellites into three different orbits, it is worth noting another significant event for SpaceX Corporation that occurred as part of this mission. For the first time in the company's history, they managed to catch one of the halves of the Falcon Heavy fairing in the network. The second was quickly removed from the water by the GO Navigator.
It is not yet known what condition both parts are in. However, it is worth noting that the possibility of reusing the head fairing of the rocket, the manufacture of which costs $ 6 million, will significantly reduce the cost of launches.
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