Considering the company’s launch manifest through December, it is possible SpaceX will make a dozen or more flights of its Falcon 9 rocket in 2016, coming close to reaching its stated goal of a launching once every other week by the end of this year. The multi-hour exercise began with the 600-foot (nearly 200-meter) rollout of the two-stage rocket from SpaceX’s hangar, then the launcher rotated vertical to receive its load of liquid propellants. About 9 minutes later, the rocket’s first stage will attempt a soft landing on a robotic “drone ship” in the Atlantic Ocean, a few hundred miles off the Florida coast.
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SpaceX engineers planned to review data from the static fire test before issuing a “go” for final launch preps during a launch readiness review.
SpaceX launched the JCSAT-14 spacecraft in May – a mission that also featured a successful Falcon 9 first-stage landing.
SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:26 am EST Sunday morning from Cape Canaveral Air Base in Florida. Missions to lower orbits, like last month’s launch of International Space Station cargo, may try to return to a landing pad at Cape Canaveral.
The satellite, operated by SKY Perfect JSAT Corp., will serve as a backup transmitter for the rest of the communications company’s satellite fleet.
Despite the enthusiasm surrounding the landing, SpaceX’s main priority tonight is getting JCSAT-16 into orbit. The new satellite is tentatively assigned to a slot in geostationary orbit at 162 degrees east longitude, where it will back up the aging Superbird B2 satellite, which launched in 2000 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. However, the company has yet to actually reuse one of these reusable rockets.
Visit floridatoday.com at 1 a.m. Sunday for countdown chat and updates, including streaming of SpaceX’s launch Webcast starting 20 minutes before liftoff.
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The first relaunch of a landed Falcon 9 first stage could come as soon as this fall, Musk has said.
