![]() September: Falcon 9 - Polaris Dawn: Civilian Astronauts take off to perform the first civilian space walk.The history making first use of a recycled Falcon 9 carrying the SES-10 communications satellite could follow as soon as March, if all goes well. "The launch vehicles, Dragon, and the EchoStar satellite are all healthy and prepared for launch," SpaceX stated. Once the pad is ready, SpaceX plans an aggressive launch schedule in 2017. "Following the launch of CRS-10, first commercial mission from 39A is currently slated to be EchoStar XXIII." "The launch is currently targeted for no earlier than mid-February," SpaceX elaborated. Thus the current launch target of mid-February for CRS-10 remains a target date and not a firm launch date. All the fit checks with a real rocket remain to be run. To date SpaceX has not rolled a Falcon 9 rocket to pad 39A, not raised it to launch position, not conducted a fueling exercise and not conducted a static fire test. So SpaceX has had to switch launch pads for near term future flights and press pad 39A into service much more urgently, and the refurbishing and repurposing work is not yet complete. Credit: Ken Kremer/įurthermore it is not known when the pad will be ready to resume launches. View from atop Exploration Tower in Port Canaveral. ![]() EDT on Jcarrying Dragon CRS-9 craft to the International Space Station (ISS) with almost 5,000 pounds of cargo and docking port. SpaceX Falcon 9 launches and lands over Port Canaveral in this streak shot showing rockets midnight liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 12:45 a.m. NASA now gets the first dibs for using pad 39A which has lain dormant for nearly six years since Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on the final shuttle mission STS 135 in July 2011. SpaceX successfully resumed launches of the Falcon 9 earlier this month when the first flock of 10 Iridium NEXT mobile voice and data relay satellites blasted off on the Iridium 1 mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Jan. 3 as the most recently targeted 'No Earlier Than' NET date. However, the Falcon 9 launch date from pad 39A has slipped repeatedly in January, with this week on Feb. It could have come as soon as by the end of this week. Until now, EchoStar 23 was slated to be the first satellite launched by a Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A on NASA's Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX is renovating Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center for launches of commercial and human rated Falcon 9 rockets as well as the Falcon Heavy, as seen here during Dec 2016 with construction of a dedicated new transporter/erector. The surprise switch in customers means that the previously planned first Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A of the commercial EchoStar 23 communications satellite is being pushed off to a later date – perhaps late February. ![]() "This schedule change allows time for additional testing of ground systems ahead of the CRS-10 mission," SpaceX announced in a statement. The transporter will move the rocket horizontally up the incline at the pad, and then erect it vertically. Also, the newly built transporter erector launcher was seen raised at the pad multiple times in recent days. "SpaceX announced today that its first launch from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will be the CRS-10 mission to the International Space Station," said SpaceX in a statement.ĬRS-10 counts as SpaceX's tenth cargo flight to the ISS since 2012 under contract to NASA.Ĭrews have been working long hours to modify pad 39A and get it ready for Falcon 9 launches. The late breaking payload switch will allow SpaceX additional time to complete all the extensive ground support work and pad testing required for repurposing seaside Launch Complex 39A from launching the NASA Space Shuttle to the SpaceX Falcon 9.īlastoff of the 22-story tall SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying an unmanned Dragon cargo freighter with NASA as customer on the CRS-10 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) could come as soon as mid-February, said SpaceX. ![]()
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