SpaceX: volo e atterraggio del razzo Falcon 9, 14 gennaio 2017

Accademia delle Stelle · July 9, 2017 · 10:13 · English · Launch

Watch on YouTube ↗

Video from the channel Accademia delle Stelle about Falcon 9, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:13. Language: English. Video type: Launch.

The mission

This is an excerpt from SpaceX's official broadcast, with commentators and mission control audio, of a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The main mission was to place ten Iridium telecommunications satellites into low Earth orbit. As a secondary, experimental objective, an attempt was made to land the first stage on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Pacific. According to the title, the flight took place on January 14, 2017.

Sequence

After the countdown, the rocket flies south over the Pacific and throttles down the engines as it crosses the region of maximum dynamic pressure. First-stage shutdown is expected around T+2 min 25 s, followed by stage separation and second-stage ignition. The commentators explain the recovery maneuvers: the stage flip, the boostback burn, the reentry burn (which reduces speed from about 2 km/s to 1 km/s), and the single-engine landing burn. They also explain the function of the payload fairing and the grid fins. The broadcast alternates between onboard cameras of both stages and shows the second stage's nozzle glowing red.

Outcome

The first stage landed on the droneship without losing video signal, to applause in mission control. At T+9 min 14 s the second stage shut down, leaving the satellites in the parking orbit awaiting a further burn.