STP-2 MISSION (Live)

[Elderberry]

SpaceX

https://www.spacex.com/webcast

SpaceX is targeting Monday, June 24 for a Falcon Heavy launch of the STP-2 mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The primary launch window opens at 11:30 p.m. EDT, or 3:30 UTC on June 25, and closes at 3:30 a.m. EDT on June 25, or 7:30 UTC. A backup launch window opens on June 25 at 11:30 p.m. EDT, or 3:30 UTC on June 26, and closes at 3:30 a.m. EDT on June 26, or 7:30 UTC. Deployments will begin approximately 12 minutes after liftoff and end approximately 3 hours and 32 minutes after liftoff.

Falcon Heavy’s side boosters for the STP-2 mission previously supported the Arabsat-6A mission in April 2019. Following booster separation, Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters will attempt to land at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Falcon Heavy’s center core will attempt to land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

You can watch the launch live below, starting about 20 minutes before liftoff, and learn more about the mission in our press kit.

https://www.spacex.com/webcast

[Elderberry]

The new launch time is 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT) on June 25.

The company announced on Twitter that it would be targeting 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT) on June 25, three hours into the launch window for the mission. The statement didn't offer any details about why the decision was made.

[Elderberry]

The Falcon Heavy rocket launched early Tuesday—two cores made it back safely
The center core had a fiery encounter with the Atlantic Ocean.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/06/falcon-heavy-rocket-set-to-attempt-spacexs-most-difficult-launch-ever/

Eric Berger - 6/25/2019, 1:50 AM

2:50am ET Tuesday Update: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket launched at 2:30am ET on Tuesday morning, sending its payload of 24 satellites into space. Less than three minutes after the launch, the rocket's two side-mounted boosters separated from the first stage's center core, and subsequently returned to make a safe landing near Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

At 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the flight, the rocket's upper stage separated from the center core and flew onward, into the first of several orbits. The center core then attempted to make the "hottest" landing of a Falcon rocket to date, more than 1,200km down range on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX founder Elon Musk had warned earlier that, because of the core's exceedingly high energy during its return to Earth, it only had about a 50 percent chance of landing on the drone ship. It didn't quite make it, making a visible explosion as it hit the water nearby.

Meanwhile, the Falcon Heavy's upper stage still had much work to do. Over the next 3 hours and 30 minutes, it was slated to drop off 24 satellites into three different orbits.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX caught the nose cone of its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time in the net of a boat

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/spacex-caught-falcon-heavy-rocket-nose-cone-in-net-of-high-speed-boat.html

    SpaceX high speed boat “Ms. Tree” caught the fairing in a net strung up above the boat’s deck.

    The fairing is the bulbous nose cone on top of the rocket.

    The boat was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean for the attempt after Tuesday’s Falcon Heavy rocket launch.

SpaceX caught the fairing, or nose cone, of its Falcon Heavy rocket on Tuesday, passing another milestone as the company seeks to consistently reuse an expensive part of its rocket.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches first-ever ‘solar sail’ spaceship powered entirely by sunlight

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/9368740/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-lightsail-2/

SPACEX has launched the first ever fully solar powered 'sailing' spacecraft and it could solve the issue of fuel storage that is holding back further space travel.

The LightSail 2 was launched into the Earth's orbit by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and will deploy fully on July 2.

he sail-like spacecraft project is being led by The Planetary Society.

Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye said: "This is history in the making — LightSail 2 will fundamentally advance the technology of spaceflight."

LightSail 2 has been sent into space wrapped up in a bread loaf shape.

It will soon be dropped off in orbit by a smaller rocket and become a floating cube, which is how it will remain for a few weeks until it unfurls to reveal an antenna, solar panels and its solar sails, which will work like solar panels to power the craft.

More at link.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Delivers All 24 Satellites To Orbit In 'Most Difficult Launch Ever'

https://www.investors.com/news/spacex-launch-falcon-heavy-most-difficult/?src=A00220&yptr=yahoo

SpaceX successfully delivered two dozen satellites overall, including Bill Nye and the Planetary Society's crowd funded Lightsail 2, NASA's Deep Space Atomic Clock, new hurricane tracking satellites for NOAA and a satellite that will test new greener fuel, to multiple orbits.

Elon Musk has said this is SpaceX's "most difficult launch ever" because the mission will take a record four rocket-engine firings. The 24 satellites were deployed into three distinct orbits over three and a half hours. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Demonstration and Science Experiments was the last satellite deployed.

The SpaceX launch also carried the ashes of more than 100 people into space, including those of Apollo 11 astronaut Bill Pogue. A trip on the Celestis satellite, which will orbit the Earth for 25 years, costs $4,995 per cremated remains.
Air Force Watching SpaceX Launch

This was the third Falcon Heavy launch and the first with Air Force payloads aboard. This was also the first time the Air Force has allowed any of its payloads on a used rocket.

One Air Force requirement is the ability to hit nine different orbits, which SpaceX demonstrated.

More at link.