Author Topic: SpaceX drone ship moves to California for West Coast rocket landings  (Read 263 times)

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Offline Elderberry

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Space.com by Amy Thompson 7/7/2021

Of Course I Still Love You has a new home port.

The most prolific SpaceX drone ship has arrived on the West Coast.

The floating Falcon 9 rocket landing pad "Of Course I Still Love You" (or OCISLY for short) departed Port Canaveral on June 10, to change coasts in support of SpaceX's increasing launch operations. Currently, there are minimal flights blasting off from the company's California-based launch facilities, but that is all about to change.

OCISLY and its tug Mr. Jonah bid Florida farewell and sailed out of the Port on a multi-week journey to the other side of the country. It was smooth sailing throughout the trip, with the only dicey parts being actually crossing the Panama Canal. The drone ship is so massive that according to canal officials, a semi-submersible transport vessel had to help it through the canal. 

After a 26-day journey, the massive drone ship arrived at its ultimate destination: the Port of Long Beach. OCISLY sailed into port on the deck of an even larger ship, called Mighty Servant 1, just in time for SpaceX's first polar Starlink internet satellite mission, estimated for sometime in July.

More: https://www.space.com/spacex-rocket-landing-drone-ship-reaches-california