Author Topic: Falcon Heavy to flex muscles on demanding demo launch for U.S. Air Force  (Read 705 times)

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Online Elderberry

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Spaceflight Now June 23, 2019 Stephen Clark

On its third flight Monday night, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket will fly to three different orbits with two dozen spacecraft on a mission set to last more than six hours, prompting SpaceX founder Elon Musk to declare it the company’s “most difficult launch ever.”

The triple-core rocket, made by combining three Falcon 9 boosters on a single launcher, is set for liftoff from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a four-hour launch window opening at 11:30 p.m. EDT Monday (0330 GMT Tuesday).

There is a 70 percent chance of favorable weather during the overnight launch window, which officials selected to satisfy the payloads’ thermal requirements on their ride into orbit.

It will be the first night launch by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket currently in service. The rocket’s 27 Merlin main engines will drive the rocket off the ground with 5.1 million pounds of thrust, nearly twice the thrust of any other operational launch vehicle.

What’s more, the rocket’s two side boosters will come back to Cape Canaveral minutes after liftoff. The fiery night launch and landings, coupled with the roar from the Falcon Heavy’s 27 main engines and crackling sonic booms upon return of the boosters, will be a can’t-miss spectacle for space enthusiasts and local residents, weather permitting.

SpaceX completed a pre-launch engine test-firing Wednesday night at pad 39A, then returned the rocket to its hangar Friday to receive its 24 satellite payloads. The research and weather observation satellites come from the U.S. Air Force, NASA, NOAA, universities, international partners and non-profit organizations.

The Air Force is overseeing the launch through the Defense Department’s Space Test Program, a unit that arranges rides to space for the military’s experimental satellites.

The mission is designated STP-2.

“STP-2 is the government’s first launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy vehicle, and is one of the most challenging missions the Space and Missile Systems Center has ever launched,” said Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of the launch enterprise systems directorate at SMC. “We’re putting 24 research and development satellites into three separate orbits, with a first-ever four engine start and burn of the second stage.”

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, agrees, calling the STP-2 mission SpaceX’s “most difficult launch ever.”

More: https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/06/23/falcon-heavy-to-flex-muscles-on-demanding-demo-launch-for-u-s-air-force/

Offline jpsb

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Good luck Falcon Heavy, you can do this.